WHILE IT WAS THE SMOKEY ROBINSON COVER TEARS OF A CLOWN WHICH LAUNCHED THE BEAT IN 1979, THE 2-TONE SKA REVIVAL BAND WILL ALWAYS BE REMEMBERED FOR ANTI-THATCHER ANTHEM STAND DOWN MARGARET.

Though The Beat would only exist for five years, the mix of pop and politics so chimed with the times that the band has lived long in the memory. At the heart of its success was toaster Ranking Roger.
Following the band’s 1983 split, Roger formed General Public with The Beat’s frontman Dave Wakeling, and also had a brief spell as a member of Mick Jones’ Big Audio Dynamite. As well as a pair of solo albums, in the 1990s Roger was a founding member of Special Beat, the group comprising ex-members of The Specials and his former band. He now fronts a reformed version of The Beat, with his son – Ranking Junior – taking on his previous prime MC duties.
Selling out UK shows on a regular basis and making appearances at several festivals each summer, even as Roger reaches his mid-fifties his version of The Beat shows no signs of letting up. In this new Q&A, he discusses the high levels of energy at his shows, reveals how Ranking Junior got involved, and talks about mixing pop and politics – specifically that The Beat’s STAND DOWN MARGARET still resonates for many people almost a quarter of a century after its subject was forced into standing down…

YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH MUSIC FOR MANY YEARS, SO IS THERE A CERTAIN PERIOD WHICH YOU MIGHT LOOK BACK ON WITH THE MOST FONDNESS?
Yeah. I think it would have to be between 1982 and 1984, really. It was a great time. That’s when The Beat became more ‘wordly’, if you like. We became popular in places like America. We started meeting some of our favourite bands; people like The Clash, The Pretenders, REM and The Police… It seemed like we were role models for how people should be – down to earth and grounded. Though on one side there were out-and-out popstars – people like Duran Duran – on the other you had bands like The Specials, us and The Clash who were really grounded: ‘the people’s bands’… if you will.

WHEN THE BEAT BEGAN, WAS THIS SOMETHING YOU WERE AWARE COULD HAPPEN? DID YOU THINK THAT THE BAND COULD BE SUCH A PHENOMENON?
I knew that there was a chance of it to do something, but I could have never known it would get as big. Thirty-five years later people still rave about the words we sung, and tell me we were very prophetic – though I always say “No, no. We weren’t prophetic – it’s just that everything is happening all over again”. It’s a cycle that’s come back around, really. We were just politically aware and environmentally aware as a band. We had subtle political messages which we managed to get across, alongside the love songs that broke into the charts. It was the best of all worlds, as far as I could see.

STAND DOWN MARGARET – FROM THE BEAT’S 1980 DEBUT ALBUM I JUST CAN’T STOP IT – WAS CONTROVERSIAL…
We still sing it now and people look at us as if we’re heroes. When we originally did STAND DOWN MARGARET we were hated by all of the establishment. We were viewed as being too political. We were banned from the radio, banned from the TV and pretty much outlawed in the UK… So we went to America – but that wasn’t really the plan. We’d hoped to continue just putting out our message to people. That had been the plan, really. To be this ‘normal’ band…

THE SONG’S STRONGLY ANTI-THATCHER SENTIMENT SEEMED TO BRING THE DISENCHANTED TOGETHER…
That song did more politically than the Labour Party of the time. It just seemed to have more effect than politicians had. Music can do that. We moved the miners and we moved the women at Greenham Common. People on the miners’ strike were singing STAND DOWN MARGARET. Music can have such a powerful effect – even more than the Queen can in her speech. We were lucky that the song struck such a chord, but unlucky that it led to us being banned pretty much across the UK. So we obviously found that part hard. But, as I say… thirty years later people are still looking at me like I’m some kind of legend. I just think “Well, we just sang what we meant”.

IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE WOULD SOMETHING SO CHARGED – STAND DOWN DAVID, SAY – GET RELEASED?
I’ve often wondered about that. I think that the right people could do it and probably get away with it. But it seems like, for instance, if you write something on Twitter you can be arrested for it and end up in prison. So, what ever happened to our freedom of speech? That, and freedom of movement, have been taken away from us over the years. You’d have to be very brave to do it.

ARE BANDS IN THIS DAY AND AGE EVEN THAT POLITICAL? 
I’d like to see some young blood come in now and do what we did. It needs someone from the younger generation to come out and speak for the younger generation. I don’t hear it in music. Well, I do hear it a little bit in rap and hip-hop, but I also hear too much violence in that type of music. I’d like to think that there is a way politics and pop can be unified and someone musical can really have an effect on society, like others have done in the past. In the 1950s music affected people and society; then in the 1960s it got political and had more of an effect; and then it the late 1970s it happened too. I’m waiting for it to come around again now, though. It needs to happen to revive people and encourage them to be free thinkers and allow them to become free spirits again. It’s been too long…

SKIPPING FORWARD SEVERAL YEARS… AT WHAT POINT DID YOU THINK “OKAY, I’M GOING TO START UP THE BEAT AGAIN, AND I’LL SING THE SONGS” ..?
It was 11 or 12 years ago. Everett (Morton), the original drummer in The Beat, had a band called Twist & Crawl, but I wasn’t really doing much. I was playing around with some solo stuff, but nothing much. I started jamming with them and doing two or three numbers on stage. After about six months of that, we decided to put together a show at the Royal Festival Hall in London, getting as many original members of The Beat back together as we could. Thankfully, it sold out and was a roaring success. That prompted me to think I’d give The Beat a go. Dave Wakeling lives in America now, and he tours as The English Beat – which is what we were known as over there – and I decided that I’d tour The Beat in England…

… DAVE WAKELING AND THE ENGLISH BEAT ARE TOURING THE UK THIS YEAR. DOES THAT BRING FORTH OLD RIVALRIES? OR DO YOU THINK YOU’RE BOTH ESTABLISHED ENOUGH FOR IT NOT TO MATTER?
I really have no comment on that. I wish him all the best.

… SINCE YOU GOT YOUR VERSION OF THE BEAT TOGETHER, IT’S GONE WELL FOR YOU…
Yeah! Ever since, it has been an amazing success. It’s been nothing but a good, positive thing. People come back again and again and again and, honestly, I can’t believe it. I don’t know what it is that we do… but we do something, and the audiences all leave with smiling faces and sweaty, having had a good workout that’s value for money. It’s all about having fun. I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it still. And I suppose they’re all the reasons that I’m still doing it a decade down the line. First time around The Beat only lasted four years or so – but we’ve kept this current incarnation as close as we can to the original so that the fans know it’s us. But we’ve made it a bit more psychedelic, too – which is great as the crowds seem to really love that. And we’ve added some new numbers as well.

YOUR SON, RANKING JUNIOR, IS A MEMBER OF THE CURRENT INCARNATION OF THE BAND… HOW DID HE GET INVOLVED? IF IT HAD BEEN UP TO YOU, WOULD YOU HAVE CHOSEN A LIFE IN MUSIC FOR HIM?
I’ve always thought he was destined to make music. From the time he was two or three I stuck a keyboard in front of him and he just did his own thing. I didn’t teach him anything about music – he just got on with it, making his own tunes… and by the time he was 12 or 13 he was writing his own lyrics and making his own songs. When he was 15 we went into the studio together and recorded a track for English roller-hockey – an anthem that they played wherever they went in the world, WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. It’s a father-and-son rap. That worked and, after that, he’s been on board with most things I’ve done. At the start of his involvement with The Beat, he’d just come on for the end of MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM or a couple of other numbers… but, eventually, as he got more into it, I realised that he could be a frontman alongside me.

SO, MUSICALLY, HOW DOES THAT WORK?
It gives me more of a chance to do the singing, and he does my MCing. It’s just gone from strength to strength, as far as I can see. It’s provided the band with a new sound, taken us down a different avenue. The younger generation enjoy it – and it’s probably half of the reason why we have so many young people at the shows… though we are all across the board with our crowds, in terms of ages… I love it, it’s the best way to be. No age limits, just anyone and everyone.

YOU HAVE A LIVE CD AVAILABLE, RECORDED IN LONDON LAST DECEMBER. HAD YOU DECIDED LONG BEFORE THE LONDON SHOW THAT IT WAS THE ONE TO RECORD – OR WAS IT JUST LOGISTICS AND CIRCUMSTANCE?
We just thought that London would be a good place for it – not even necessarily the right venue, but just because it was London and we always go down well. It turned out to be a good gig, anyway. We’d been going down great with crowds for years, people were enjoying coming to the shows, and we wanted them to be able to have something to show for it. Some memorabilia. So, about a week or two before the gig we decided that we’d like to record it for a live CD. We got some people down who recorded it and then sold copies after the gig, and then gave us some to put up on the website. It’s certainly not perfect, and you can hear some mistakes – but that’s good, it’s organic. You can tell that it’s live.

… IT DOES SOUND LIKE QUITE A GIG…
It was very enjoyable – especially MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM. We did the special version that night, the version that transforms into TWIST AND CRAWL. There’s loads of dub and psychedelia going on… and it’s probably about 17 minutes long overall… certainly more than a 12-inch version. But the crowd really got off on it, and that’s what’s important. Playing MIRROR IN THE BATHROOM in that form that I just mentioned sort of sums up what I’m trying to do with the band. Play the tunes the way they were, but give them something new, too. Give them a new dimension to keep things fresh. That’s where I’m trying to go. Extend The Beat tunes so they’re transformed into dance tracks, or more dub, or even more atmospheric if you like, so you won’t always get a straight version of the song. Sometimes you will, of course, but sometimes you’ll hear this weird version – and keeping it different is the direction that I’m heading in.

WAS THAT SHOW ‘THE TYPICAL GIG’ FOR THE BEAT?
Well, each show is special in its own way. The music is so diverse. You get a pop tune, followed by a reggae tune, followed by soul, followed by ska, followed by a mix-up – and you don’t know what’ll come next. We never play with a set list, I just tell the band what the next number is, as and when it comes to me. Ten seconds before a tune finishes I’m thinking about what we should play next. Everyone has to be on the top of their game. The band have to enjoy that spontaneity. It could be BEST FRIEND or DOORS OF YOUR HEART. Refreshing it keeps it fresh. That’s the beauty of it as we are now. Every night is different and we don’t know what’s going to happen, or where it’s going to go. We could go up, we could go down – but by the end we’ve built the audience in a huge crescendo, and that’s just lovely. It’s great.

YOUR CURRENT SCHEDULE – AS IT HAS FOR A LONG TIME -APPEARS TO BE MANIC, WITH A CONSTANT FLOW OF GIGS. IS THERE ACTUALLY THE TIME TO WORK ON FRESH MATERIAL? WILL THERE EVER BE A NEW RECORD FROM THE BEAT?
It’s quite a difficult situation in that, if I did release something new, it would have to be under the name ‘The Beat featuring Ranking Roger’ or ‘Ranking Roger presents The Beat’… It’s a tough one. But I do have other projects also in the pipeline. Me and my son have been working on a project called Return Of The Dread-I, and some of that stuff will be coming out next year and will cater to a totally different audience. It’s still dance music – I always want to be involved with dance music. Beat music is dance music in its own way: 160 – 180bpm is beat music. And it’s the same with jungle and dub and all of that kind of stuff. I’m not saying we’re experimenting with dub-step or anything but we’re certainly making dance music.

HOW DO YOU THINK FANS OF THE BEAT MIGHT FEEL ABOUT THE OTHER PROJECT YOU’RE WORKING ON?
Some traditional ska fans might not like it… but our newer followers will probably think “Bloody hell! This is like Ibiza. This is great”. I think it’s good to reinvent yourself a bit – even though I’ll also still be doing The Beat of course. But, yeah… If there are releases we will use one of the names I mentioned. And if Dave Wakeling does the same his will be called ‘Dave Wakeling’s English Beat’… or whatever. People will know who fronts which and they’ll be able to decide which they like best. For the moment, I’m happy writing tunes with Ranking Junior. We’ve been coming up with some good, catchy stuff.

SO, TAKING INTO ACCOUNT ANY POTENTIAL SUCCESS FOR YOU AND RANKING JUNIOR WITH RETURN OF THE DREAD-I, IS THERE ACTUALLY A LIMIT IN TERMS OF HOW LONG THE BEAT WILL CONTINUE?
I think we can go on for many years to come. We’ve established the band in its own right and we’re a respected entourage. Wherever we go, people want us back and our audiences love the way that we deal with them. They always want us back. Morally and spiritually, it means more to me than it does financially. I’ve managed to maintain that throughout my career, and that’s why I’m still doing it. Because I love it and I find it spiritual in its own way. As long as we remain grounded I think we’ll do well… It’s important to us that our audience know we’re just normal people. We’re very thankful they continue to come see us, and it works both ways. They don’t come in smiling from ear-to-ear, but they leave that way… For me, that’s my job done.

{ interview by DW }

The new 19-track double-CD LIVE IN LONDON by THE BEAT WITH RANKING ROGER (recorded at Great Portland Street’s 229 Club on 13th December 2013), is available to order here.