August 04
The Riverside Th..
ENGLISH BEAT / FISH BONE
ENGLISH BEAT
Never mind that Dave is the singer/songwriter from two of the most influential bands of the end of the millennium, The English Beat and General Public, he’s a stand up man from Brum. Whether it’s the personal as political in “How Can You Stand There”, making politics personal in “Stand Down Margaret”, taking a stand against global warming as he did with Greepeace’s “Alternative NRG”, or helping little kids stand up proudly with “Smile Train”, Dave has always stood for something. Over the course of the three albums, The English Beat achieved great success in their home country, charting several singles into the top 10. In addition to their UK chart success, in America the band found a solid base of young fans eager to dance to the their hypnotic rhythms. Their constant touring with iconic bands such as The Clash and The Police helped to boost their popularity in the States. Forward to 2010… The English Beat take to the road with Fishbone to educate and make the world dance. FISHBONE Fishbone was formed from a disparate, all-black oddball crew at a South Central Los Angeles junior high in 1979. Playing an orgasmic urban gumbo of punk, funk, and ska, the six-man band became a favorite of the L.A. postpunk scene; eventually, the group would become a notoriously powerful live act, opening for the Beastie Boys on their Licensed to Ill tour and coheadlining club tours with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Fishbone’s albums have some great moments, but they neither capture the excitement of the band’s shows nor hold much commercial appeal; the band still plays to sold-out crowds, but it remains one of the shoulda-beens of ‘80s alternative rock. Although Fishbone’s 1985 self-titled debut forecasted good things with its essential, butt-wiggling “Party at Ground Zero,” it suffered from reed-thin production. The band aimed higher with In Your Face, struggling to combine P-Funk, the Specials, and Black Flag, but didn’t quite have the songs to pull it off. It all finally clicked on Truth and Soul, which was released in 1988; still in their early twenties but already tour veterans, the members of Fishbone were writing combustible anthems. Catchy tracks like “Bonin’ in the Boneyard” sound like the musical wheels might fall off if the band dared to stop and breathe. Many songs contained social and political commentary: “Ma and Pa” decries the destructive behavior of divorcing parents, as leader Angelo Moore sings, “There’s lots of moneys/for all the attorneys,” who are the only winners in divorce. The band’s Bone in the USA tour consolidated its strengths as a live act; simply put, there was no better conscious party to be found than a Fishbone show. Followup The Reality of My Surroundings is even sharper productionwise, but its tunes aren’t as memorable; the hard-charging Give a Monkey a Brain and He’ll Swear He’s the Center of the Universe is their most rocking disc. Sadly, before that record was released, guitarist Kendall Jones left the band after he apparently suffered a nervous breakdown. On the eve of Lollapalooza ’93, the band was decimated, and it never truly recovered. Despite the additional departures of original/long-standing members drummer Philip “Fish” Fisher and keyboardist/trombonist Chris Dowd, Fishbone remains a potent live band; in its prime, it was a wholly unique beast. (PETER RELIC)
Hailing from working-class Birmingham, England, Dave and The English Beat entered the music scene in the 1979. When The English Beat rushed on to the music scene in 1979, it was a time of social, political and musical upheaval. Into this storm came they came, trying to calm the waters with their simple message of love and unity set to a great dance Beat.
Despite his huge success, Dave didn’t stop singing and acting on the problems caused by the noise in this world. The band donated all the profits from their highly successful single version of “Stand Down Margaret” to the Committee for Nuclear Disarmament. They donated their music to causes including the anti-nuclear benefit album “Life in The European Theatre”, “The World of Music and Dance” album focusing on indigenous people’s art, and lent their voice to The Special AKA’s anthemic song of freedom “Free Nelson Mandela”, to name but a few.
Dave Wakeling once told me that every great band only has three really good albums. And true to form, The English Beat disbanded in 1983, after their third album, “Special Beat Service”.
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