Q&A With English Beat's Dave Wakeling

Here comes the Beat.

Dave Wakeling returns to Mill Valley this Saturday as he leads his seminal British ska band, the English Beat, through a roaring dance party at .

Wakeling is the singer/songwriter from two of the most popular bands of the end of the millennium when you include the Beat’s 90’s-era offshoot, General Public. 

In its heyday of the late 1970s and early '80s, when the "two-tone" ska style caught fire as a happy hybrid of reggae, brassy jazz, R&B and New Wave pop, Wakeling's band led the pack with UK groups such as Madness, the Selecter and the Specials. 

Simply referred to as the Beat across the pond (there was a California-based band called the Beat during that era), the band’s current incarnation can count on its multi-generational fan base to swoon with a catalog of hits such as "Mirror in the Bathroom," "Twist & Crawl," "I Confess," "Save It for Later" and sped-up remakes of "Tears of a Clown" and "Can't Get Used to Losing You."

Reached by phone at his Los Angeles home this week, the frontman - a familiar face in Marin after years of local gigs - discussed his own dance limitations as a foundation for his music, a sneaky pre-show ritual to connect with audiences and how Mill Valley living might just be the basis for the future of the world.

Mill Valley Patch: You started the year with a string of East Coast tour dates followed by concerts closer to home more recently. What’s your typical tour schedule these days?

Dave Wakeling: We have a pattern where we usually tour for three weeks worth then stay home and just play weekends in California for a month then hit the road the next month. This month is my stay-at-home-and-play-in-California time. We do 150 shows a year, but it doesn’t feel like it. We have a decent balance. Otherwise, it can start to drain you. It’s a shame for the other part of the country to just go through the motions so this gives a good balance.

MVP: You’ve made a habit in recent years of returning to Marin County for shows. What brings you back?

DW: I just love it. It’s a lovely place and the people are relaxed and intellectual which makes for great conversation. It’s a very urbane set of people who love to live more of a relaxed style which is great fun for musicians. (There’s) something about waking up early in those small towns that i like.

MVP: Any truth to the rumor you count Marin as a part-time home?

DW: I would love to, (but) I only get to live where my children allow me. They have very deep roots. The idea of separating them from their buddies, we don’t even think about it because it makes their eyes roll, but I spend a lot of time up there. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Californian. When I go to England, they think I’m American and when I am in California they still think I’m English.

MVP: How would you describe living in Los Angeles?

DW: I’ve been in America for 25 years and, apart from about 10 years in Orange County, spent all that time in Los Angeles. When I’m home I really don’t get out much. It’s really more somewhere quiet where I can sit and watch the news and my football and get ready for my next show rather than the location.

MVP: After a run of shows at 19 Broadway nightclub in Fairfax, it seems Throckmorton Theatre in Mill Valley has become your current venue of choice in Marin. What has captivated you about this spot?

DW: It’s just really lovely people that run the place and the first time we went there, we were all amazed it sold out. Just wow. We go back and it’s always sold out (tickets still available for the 8 p.m. show this Saturday). They have this membership list and can send out messages to all the people and it just amazes me. The 19 Broadway club went through a bit of a rough time with the (February 2009) fire, but it’s all back up now (The English Beat is scheduled to perform March 12 at 19 Broadway).

MVP: For a veteran performer at concerts ranging from massive scale to cozy clubs, what type of show gets your juices flowing?

DW: They all have their charms, the small ones and big ones. The small (shows) are fantastic for their connectivity and conversations with people in the front row. When you get to the big shows, you get the lights and can’t see any of the audience at all, but everyone gets down with the big band beat. You can still make a connection with people, but its slightly different. Before shows, I sneak around the curtain and just watch the audience for five minutes and get a real sense of where they are, how are they that night, could they do with a drink or are they already drunk. That way, you can always go on and sing to them where they actually are. It’s a small thing to do, but it’s the only obvious thing to do (to) see who you are singing to. Through that, your connectivity starts pretty quickly which is great (and) gives me such joy on stage.

MVP:  What kind of set can one expect at an English Beat concert?

DW: I decide that as it happens. We go on stage and know the first song. (From there) we just go from whatever it looks like the audience is in the mood for. It meanders. I’ll just start a song and keep an eye on the audience and see what they’re in the mood for. The songs are the ingredients and you see how hungry they are and what sort of flavors they like.

MVP: How would you compare your reception in Marin to other parts of the country?

DW: (People in Marin) are well read and they’re slightly better off than a lot of other places we play, but they’re casual and committed to having a good time when they come out which I like. You don’t have to try to get them to dance. When you start up, people are already starting to move. And you can have the most sophisticated conversations during the breaks. It’s just a fascinating cross-section of people I’ve met up there. I can fit in and walk up and down the streets of Mill Valley and people feel I’m from around there. I like the high tech mixture and hippie idealism (of Mill Valley). I like that basic premise of it as a pure idea and I see it being lived up there, but in a high tech way. Its the future of the world. 

MVP: Any band on today’s music scene you could call descendents of the English Beat? Any group you’d pay money to see?

DW: (Manchester punk band) Sonic Boom Six is the answer to both questions. They mix electronic pop and mash it in with a bit of rock. Their lyrics are political and demanding of a better world. Their fans are a bit younger than our fans so I haven’t found a way for us to tour together properly yet, but we still work on it.

MVP: How are you able to connect with different generations?

DW: The music is easy to dance to. I’m not a particularly accomplished dancer myself, but I enjoy dancing and I wanted to make music you didn’t have to have 15 moves to keep up. Because of that, we’ve kept fans in their 50s and 60s who are bringing their kids and teenagers and other young adults. Quite often you’ll have someone who is 16 standing next to somebody who is 60 which i think is a great thing.

MVP: A recent episode of a TV show called Glory Days on TBS set on a college campus in the mid 80s was centered around kids doing everything they could to get their hands on tickets for a General Public concert. Did you hear about that and what did you think of it?

DW: You get little turning points in your life and in your career. One of my first things was when I heard “Save It for Later” in a NASCAR commercial. I was like if they’re playing my song on NASCAR roundup , I’m now part of America. I was thrilled when they wanted to use my songs for the TV show, but when they wanted to use a body double to show my backside that was the fantastic thing for me.

When they finished, I said give him my email because I sometimes feel like I need a body double. I thought it was fabulous they could pay somebody to be my body double just for my backside. That’s when I knew I made it in America.