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How did it all begin with The Beat?
I was in a band called The Dum Dum Boys. I was a drummer for that band,
a punk band. Basically, we were just a bunch of punks who played loud,
fast music. We did a bunch of gigs like Rock Against Racism. We had loads
of bands that played alongside each other reggae and punk bands. Then
we started our own gigs when people started to get to know us.
One day we got a phone call from a band called The Beat who wanted
to open up for us. When we met them, we had already heard of each other’s
music and we liked them. They opened up for us and blew us off stage.
Obviously, they were really good musicians with really great ideas. I ended
up going on stage with them and MCing. I then joined them within about
3 weeks and I kind of never looked back.
How did it come about to have the two versions The Beat (Wakeling
in the US and Ranking Roger in the UK)?
Well, we were always the UK version of The Beat. Dave Wakeling and I
had a band called General Public after The Beat split the first time. About
four years later, that band split up. Then ten years later that band got back
together and tried to do another General Public album. We had worked
with each other many times on different projects. All of a sudden, Mojo
Magazine (about 12 years ago) wanted to try and get The Beat back
together. Basically, we got most of the band together to do this one gig in
London in front of about 5,000 people and it sold out.
We got everybody together, except for three people. After that finished;
Dave went back to America and did The English Beat. Everett (the
drummer at the time) and I decided w