Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Ska is back! That's the vibe in the UK and Bahrain is about to find out if it's true. The Beat has just completed a highly successful three-month tour proving that the audience for Ska is alive and well.
Ska is also appealing to a younger audience- there was a mixed following at The Beat gigs - 30-50 somethings who remember Ska the last time round and a new generation digging the original Ska beat!
Fan David Lord, 39-ish, GM Motors sales manager, from Saar, is delighted about the revival. "Ska took us from the punk 70s to the pop of the 80s and was a great, happy sound - I'm not surprised it has caught on with today's youngsters.
"We all enjoyed listening to Madness, The Beat and The Specials and dressing up in those 2-tone suits although some of us might not be able to fit in them now!"
Ska and 2-tone bands have recently had major features in MOJO Music and Time Out magazines further bolstering the revival of Ska.
The Beat have also completed dates as part of the 'Vive Le Punk' revival tour featuring such great formulative bands as The Buzzcocks and The Damned.
Now, music fans have the chance to relive their Ska days or to experience true Ska legends for the first time in Bahrain at The Bud Music...Live! 2008 event on Friday in Juffair.
The Beat was formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978, during a period of high unemployment and social upheaval.
Ranking Roger, one of the band's vocalists, added a Jamaican vocal flavour to the sound with his toasting style and saxophonist Saxa added a Ska instrumental note.
Saxa had played saxophone with reggae legends Prince Buster, Laurel Aitken and Desmond Dekker in the first wave of Ska (as well as with The Beatles in their early Liverpool days). He joined The Beat to record the hit single Tears of a Clown.
Notable singles from their first album included Can't Get Used to Losing You (albeit not released until 1983), Mirror in the Bathroom and Hands Off...She's Mine (with the latter two reaching the UK top 10.
Although the group's main fan-base was in the UK, they were also popular in Australia, partly due to exposure on the radio station Triple J and the TV show Countdown.
They had a sizeable following in North America too, where the band was known as The English Beat for legal reasons and to avoid confusion with the American band The Beat.
In 2003, The Beat's original line-up, minus Cox and Steele (but with the addition of Junior), played a sold-out one-off gig at the Royal Festival Hall. As of 2005, The Beat has reformed with Roger, Blockhead and Morton of the original line-up, and Ranking Junior on vocals.
