The English Beat combines politics and fun in concerts

The band collects money onstage for a charity providing cleft-lip and palate surgery for children.

By MARIJKE ROWLAND

MODESTO (CALIF.) BEE

It’s not often you hear the words “politics” and “fun” in the same sentence. But for The English Beat frontman Dave Wakeling, the two seemingly disparate concepts have blended perfectly together for the past 20 years in the music of his seminal ska band.

“[Ska] has an upbeat feel to it, but you can also rail against the empire,” Wakeling said from his home in Los Angeles. “Ska has a sense of revolution. The world is tragic and there are inequities that needed to be expressed, but beyond that, life is still a joy and that can be expressed in the music.”

Since forming in 1978, the group has undergone several incarnations and rebirths. Its songs include “Mirror in the Bathroom,” “Doors of Your Heart,” “I Confess” and “Too Nice to Talk To.” Last year, one of Wakeling’s guitars was enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Today, the band, known in England first as The Beat and everywhere today as The English Beat, has found new life touring and bringing its topical yet danceable music to a new generation live on stage.

“We’ve had a lot of people say, ‘God, I can’t believe how appropriate the lyrics from your original songs have become again,’” he said. “There might be some similarities between the late ’70s or the late ’00s. You don’t know if you’re going to get blown up by a nuclear bomb, don’t know who to believe and have a sense of constant war.”

But it’s not all politics. These days, Wakeling is all about bringing smiles to children’s faces. For the past year, a portion of the proceeds from each show goes to The Smile Train. The charity provides free cleft-lip and palate surgery to children all over the world.

To raise funds, Wakeling and company ask the crowd to throw money on the stage during the song “Tenderness.” To date, the group has raised close to $30,000. “Apart from it being a nice and charitable thing to do, it has a definite political function,” he said. “A lot of money and energy has gone into keeping us separate and fearful. A simple thing like throwing some money on stage and changing a kid’s life forever reminds us we are all one.”