So he says – and if Saxa says you’d better believe it. I know they used to play Manchester and Liverpool quite a lot, he used to play with these jazz bands that went all around the country, and I know John Lennon used to go to a lot of blues dances, or shebeens as they were known then, and obviously they were after hours parties, and sometimes they would have a band playing there, just a small line up, nothing too loud, but enough to keep the thing going. I think it was in that kind of setting where it must have happened. For John Lennon to have been into that kind of thing is good, and later on we found out that George Harrison was a big reggae lover within The Beatles, there was a reggae vibe I think, in there somewhere. GENERAL ON SALE 10am Friday 27 Jan http://www.roundhouse.org.uk/whats-on/2017/the-selecter-and-the-beat/ Maggie Thatcher’s economic policies had literally ripped the heart out of the local community and it left a lasting effect even to this day. One has only to drive through places like Longbridge to see just how bad things became then. Over 30 years later & things are only just beginning to improve.

I said “remember that band The Beat that opened for us? They’re playing down this place the Mercat Cross.” RR: Well, what the punks were saying was along similar lines to what the reggae artists were saying in Jamaica. The same sort of political issues were being sung about; inequality, rights, people having a say, so there was a connection. The Skids, The Members, people like that were trying reggae too and although The Beat came after that, we were influenced by that punk/reggae sound and took it to another level, without realising. Then me and Dave Wakeling spoke and he said we’d like you to do more with us. At the time I was living in a hostel, believe it or not. He’s says right you’re not staying there any more, you can come and stay at my flat. So I stayed at his place for the best part of five months, we got on and I joined the band. We are teaming up with The Selecter in 2017, hitting the road together for a number of dates around the UK and Ireland. After our show at Shepherds Bush Empire sold out in record time, we have added a show at the iconic Roundhouse in Camden on Friday 6 October 2017.Do you remember when you last spoke with Dave Wakeling (from the original incarnation of ‘The Beat’ and now front man with the U.S.-based ‘The English Beat’)? Well it was very, very hair raising! The reason being, we were on Two Tone and we had about ten record companies, the big ones, wanting to sign us up. Anything you want guys – the cheque is blank! We went for Arista who were offering us less money but the most freedom we wanted. So it wasn’t about money for The Beat, it was about having your own say within that crooked business and people who’d actually listen to you. Because someone could offer you a million pounds and just put you on the shelf. But the guys at Arista said listen whatever we do, whoever you sign with it doesn’t matter. But if you sign with us we’re gonna break this band and make sure this band gets the recognition and they did. I think the fact that people recognise that if bands like The Beat and The Specials and The Selecter – bands like that – if we weren’t about – and bands like The Clash and the Pistols and people like that – the racism in this country is getting out of hand – again, and it’s not necessarily out of hand yet – but we all know that there are more people in this country that are against racism, than there are for racism, and I think what those bands did, The Beat, The Specials, The Selecter and Madness, we united a generation of kids and taught them not to fight, to try and get on no matter who you are. I was hoping that would be reflected in their kids, but it still needs to get through to their kids and the younger ones too – they need to know that you mustn’t look at people’s colour, you must look at what they did and what they put out. Touring with the police was exceptional too, it showed me the top line of being a big pop star in the music industry, I used to get up and DJ with them onstage every night. I was only 17-18 while they were well into their 20′s so maybe because I was so young, I got away with it. Or maybe it was my smile.

M: You always get dubbed a ‘ska’ band, probably just because your debut single came out on 2-Tone (The Beat formed their own Go-Feet label after that) So, fast forward to the present day. I’m sat in an onion shaped pod in the garden of an Edgbaston home belonging to one of Birmingham’s musical icons and all round top bloke Ranking Roger. With it’s Deloreon style door of entry and the mother of all glass ceilings “so I can do some serious star gazing” this is where Roger still creates music to make your head bob and your feet tap. M: One thing I thought was interesting; you and drummer Everett Morton are the two remaining original members in this version of The Beat while original vocalist/guitarist and songwriter Dave Wakeling fronts another version of the band in America, where you were instead known as The English Beat (there was already a new wave power-pop band called The Beat in the US). Can both bands coexist without there being any messy legal issues? It seems a unique situation that you’re each playing in different continents under different names. To mark Demon Record’s heavyweight re-issue of seminal 2 Tone album, “Wha’ppen?” we take the opportunity to talk to The Beat’s Ranking Roger about his memories of the album and the 2 tone period, his new project with his son Ranking Junior (pictured above with Ranking Roger) – and – getting REM a record deal!The late Ranking Roger talking about his memoir I Just Can’t Stop It which will be published on June 13 th by Omnibus Press

I touched on the new project – The Dread-I thing. It’s not the end of The Beat – I’ll still do that, and people should know that, but I’d like to try another project where I can be more dynamic and me and Ranking Junior can control it – different styles, different audience that kind of thing. It’s all part of the challenge. M: Was it just a happy accident that just a handful of similar bands all released debut singles in 1979 that had this unique new sound? It wasn’t like you all convened beforehand and plan to change the world. Yeah – not forgetting The Police and Talking Heads – and just to let people know that REM used to open up for The Beat. They had three or four tours with us before we made our record company sign them up. Obviously I’m glad that they became massive in the end. U2 opened up for us once – but you know – you meet people along the way and some of them are nice and some of them are horrible – the nice ones you end up working with again. If you’re a diva I don’t want to know, but if you’re grounded and down to earth like a lot of bands around then seemed to be – it still seems to be the way to be. RR: All the time. Someone who knows ska music would hear The Beat and say; ‘there’s a ska influence but they’re not a ska band’. It’s more punky-reggae-calypso-soul, or whatever you’d call it. Saxa had played with some huge names. Is it true he had played with first-wave ska legends such as Prince Buster and Desmond Dekker – and even The Beatles?But, amidst all of this upheaval and social change there was the music. Out of the devastation of the heart of the country came bands like Dexys, The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat. It was loud, proud and carried a message, so much so that at times these bands were derided for their stance. Taken as a political one they were shunned by the BBC (quite ironic really given current circumstances) and banished to the lower reaches of the charts. On the eve of the re-release of The Beat’s Wha’appen on Demon Records Vinyl Louder than War’s Martin Copland-Gray had a chat with the band’s front-man (and fellow Brummie) Ranking Roger. RR: . Even to have three bands from the West Midlands all do well in the same year was unheard of. We put our flag in the map and definitely left a legacy because it’s still alive today but ultimately, the fashion killed the music. First it was all about what the music and what the music stood for then it became so big; everybody was dressed in tonic suits, Fred Perrys and pork-pie hats and it kinda missed the point. Then, because everyone was so into the look, the fashion, as soon as the new romantics came along, that was it. It was gone.