Beat Goes Bang Live With Everett Morton (The Beat) This Friday

This Friday 11th April the Beat Goes Bang will be performing live at the Hare & Hounds for their official debut Birmingham show.

Everett Morton, the original drummer with UK ska legends The Beat has formed Beat Goes Bang, which plans to bring the band up-to-date for a new audience with a fresh sound. “I want to do this to prove I can still build a band. ” Everett says; “It’s got to be different. There’s no race. No competition. There are now three Beats.”

Beat Goes Bang consists of former Beat members, keyboardist Mickey Billingham (Dexy’s Midnight Runners, General Public) and guitarist Neil Deathridge, who Everett believes plays the Beat songs the way they should be played, whilst they champion his original drumming style; “We have got the guy who gave The Beat their sound.”

The band have also recruited two members from Birmingham’s current ska scene; bass player Faisal Rashid, a former member of The Heels, introduced Everett to Beat Goes Bang’s vocalist, Ross Lydon from unsung ska fusionists 360. Tenor sax player Lukasz Machometa, a member of Citybeats and Urban Groove Syndicate, recently rehearsed with the band at Fatback Studios on Stratford Road North, and was offered a role in the band on the same night.

A Beat Goes Bang set will consist mainly of Beat material, and the band are developing their set to consist of original material and a mixture of Trojan and Studio One covers to be included within Beat classics. The band have made a decision to play smaller, intimate venues to go back to their roots and connect and develop with a new audience, rather than play arenas or make a living on the nostalgia circuit.  “We want to see heads bobbing up and down in the audience”, says keyboard player Mickey Billingham. “If the crowd like us, they’ll stay, and we’ll be able to see that” agrees Everett; “We will start low, and get bigger. Get back to the top.”

It all kicks off this Friday at 9pm with DJ support on the night coming in the form of Friendly Fire’s soundsystem, Jam Jah Sound. Advanced £8 tickets are on sale now you can find them here.