Long before The English Beat came to be, Birmingham, England, was a “seething cauldron of musical activity,” and Dave Wakeling absorbed it all. In 1979, by the age of just 23, he broke new musical ground with The Beat. Later dubbed The English Beat for US markets, Wakeling and his cohorts drew from diverse musical influences to concoct a unique take on 2-tone and ska that blended smart, politically-aware lyrics with ridiculously catchy hooks.
The original incarnation of the English Beat released just three albums, but their influence is still undeniable. In celebration of their 33rd year, they are touring the world this summer and releasing a definitive box set, The Complete Beat tomorrow, July 10.
True to his working-class roots, Dave just might be the busiest touring musician today. We got to chat with him during a rare lull in the touring schedule. He discussed his biggest influences, famous fans, and how an orange Fanta and a car radio inspired him to become a musician.
You’ve got two releases from Shout! Factory: a “Best of” out now, Keep The Beat: The Very Best of The English Beat, and a box set, The Complete Beat, due July 10th. Talk a bit about the box set – what does it contain?
It’s got everything! It’s got three albums, plus it’s got a load of radio sessions from John Peel and other BBC sessions that have versions of some songs before they were recorded for the albums, and some live concert stuff, too. Following quickly on its heels is a DVD of both Us Festival shows that we played. However, I haven’t managed to get any vinyl out of them, yet! They actually don’t seem that excited or interested, but I did try.
The record company in England – Demon/Edsel – they brought out a promo red vinyl single of “Mirror in the Bathroom” and “Too Nice to Talk To” and they sent me a couple of copies. I gave them to the folks at Shout! Factory thinking it would enthuse them because it’s The Beat’s 33rd birthday this year, which means that June the 31st it’s our 33 1/3 birthday! Come on, guys! [Laughs.] That’s got to be a commemorative there – 33 1/3 Day! Come on! But no, not a squeak from them.
I’m surprised. I thought Shout! Factory would be into that.
Yeah, I thought so too. I think there are sort of specialty places that are into it, though, so maybe what will happen is once the box set and “best of” has come out, if they start to find some pockets of interest in certain parts, maybe they’ll try to bring out some vinyl on the back of that interest.
I would very much like to, though. There seems to be a growing interest. I visit a few record shops for meet-and-greets and stuff like that and they tell me that they’re selling ten times as much vinyl as they were a year ago and that a lot of it is from people 17 to 21.
As you may imagine, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.
Well, it sounds better – it’s simple.
I reckon analog recording was designed around classical instruments which were designed around hundreds if not thousands of years of making noises that move people’s chakras in a particular way. You hear a cello in front of you and it moves you somewhere, doesn’t it? And when you hear on it on a vinyl record it feels about the same, and when you hear it on an iPod it sounds like a computer’s doing an interpretation of cello.
You know something, I thought it was me with my age or something – that I was just becoming an old fuddy-duddy. And so I’m thrilled to see teenagers go back to vinyl because they think it sounds better – warmer, people say. But really what it does is it connects with your emotional centers. It’s not a binary interpretation of it – [analog captures] the actual thing that’s designed to move chakras. That’s why they had orchestras in the first place, I suppose.
I do remember when my son came in all upset and said, “Dad, my iPod’s broken!” and I went, “Oh, good!” [Laughs.]
Do you think that there will eventually be a high-definition digital audio format that will capture the analog sound of vinyl?
Yes! They’re getting awfully close with it. I’ve just recorded some drums on a 16-track, two-inch analog tape just like they did in the ‘60s. The drums sound exquisite. We spent a long time then transferring a stereo pair of those drums across to ProTools just in order to work on the tracks and… if you just made a straight transfer you could suddenly feel the vinyl-y sound kind of creeping in.
But warming the sounds up and compensating for all the systems you’re putting [the tracks] into, you get quite close. I’m surprised at how close it got – a lot closer than I’d ever managed or heard before. So I think that Neil Young and people like that that probably are pushing on the edges of something will probably deliver something eventually.
It used to be that you had to “chase” the machines because the machines weren’t very clever. Well, they were clever – they had lots of red lights – but there was more function in a sparrow’s brain than there are computers, isn’t there? You have to bear that in mind, especially when it comes to the subtleties of music.
Now the machines are cleverer and you can make the machines “chase” the people a bit, and that’s more useful. We’re not slaves to the machine as much.
What about Auto-Tuning?
Jeeze, that’s right! It’s a tricky thing, isn’t it, because somebody might be able to make a really great piece of music and not be a terrific musician, but has some terrific ideas. So you don’t want to deny them that opportunity. But then at the same time, you also give the opportunity [to make music] to people who don’t want to make music other than to be famous. [Laughs.]
There are dangers involved in that, of course!
This is just the beginning of our week with Dave! We’ve got more of our interview and awesome giveaways coming up all week long.
Don’t miss The English Beat on tour this summer, and be sure to check out The Complete Beat from Shout! Factory. For tour dates and more info on what Dave and The English Beat are up to, visit their official website.
