Bryan Kremkau / Submitted photoDave Wakeling pledges fans will hear hits, deep album cuts and more when second-wave ska greats The English Beat visit the Tower Theatre Wednesday. You’ll also get to hear him sing hits such as “Tenderness” from his General Public days.

The music business has changed a smidgen, maybe a couple of smidgens, since Dave Wakeling began his recording career back in the late 1970s.

Wakeling, 59, was one of two front men for the 2 Tone British ska greats The Beat — known here in the States as The English Beat. You know at least some of the tunes, “Get-a-Job/Stand Down Margaret,” “Save it for Later,” “Mirror in the Bathroom.”

The English Beat, with Wakeling trading lead vocal duties with Ranking Roger, would release three albums before disbanding. The dissolving of the original band came more from “ennui,” Wakeling has said, than any discord.

He and Roger immediately formed another successful ’80s group, General Public, while two former English Beat-mates, David Steele and Andy Cox, launched Fine Young Cannibals with singer Roland Gift.

General Public would call it a day after three albums, concluding with 1995’s “Rub it Better.” Since 2004, Wakeling has again been active with The English Beat, coming soon to a theater near you — especially if you live near the Tower Theatre in Bend, where the current iteration of The English Beat, fronted by Wakeling, will play Wednesday.

“I’m looking forward to it a lot. A lot of people have told me over the years that I’m ‘round the bend,’” he said, which is a British saying for “mentally confused or unable to act in a reasonable way.”

GO! caught up with Wakeling by phone on tour, where he sounded grateful for the emergence of spring.

Temps had been so cold the previous week of the tour, “Detroit and Cleveland entertained us with horizontal hail storms. It reminded me of England,” Wakeling said.

The English Beat is not the only version of the original band around these days.

“There’s a couple of (others). It should be called ‘Best of Three’ at this point, including me. Roger has a band he calls The Beat featuring Ranking Roger. And then Everett (Morton), the drummer, has a band called Beat Goes Down,” Wakeling told GO!

Things could prove interesting when the band he heads crosses the pond in September, said Wakeling, who moved to the States about 25 years ago.

“I daresay all three bands will be playing,” Wakeling said. “I suppose three different cities in England will have my songs being played live. That’s rather good, you know. I’m thinking of starting a franchise moving into Europe and Japan and The Phillipines, just Beat cover bands.”

Thirty-five years ago in England, the checks from record companies were a little bigger than today’s offerings, said Wakeling.

“Record companies … they give you contracts still, but there’s a lot less zeroes on them than there used to (be)” he said.

Which is a problem when you have a bunch of new songs you’ve been writing and no way to record and release them “that would sound any good on the sort of advances that people could offer,” he said. “Then somebody mentioned PledgeMusic,” a crowd-funding site where you can contribute to the goal of helping “Here We Go Love” see the light of day.

You can also hear snippets of songs in progress, and Wakeling’s voice sounds terrific, in case you’re wondering how it’s held up.

The effort has already exceeded its goal, but you can still get in on some of the funding options, such as $400 for a studio sit-in and your voice on a chorus. (Buy now, there’s only one left!) For $1,200, you can hop in the van and tour for two days with the band, as well as receive a CD, vinyl copy, T-shirt and more.

“I suppose you lose some sales, because all your pledges have already got the album before it’s finished, but it’s a terrific way to try to get a record done and to the marketplace without having given the rights to your firstborn away,” Wakeling said, meaning the band won’t owe back to any record company huge sums of money used in making an album.

“You’re not hugely in debt by the time the record’s come out so that it’s half like a record-release party and half like a wake,” he said, laughing.

“What I do miss: The nephew of somebody (at the record label) … could be talked into giving you half a million dollars to get in the studio and see what we’ve got,” he said. “Now, it’s people who’ve liked your music for 30 years (and) are willing to invest in another one because of the connection they enjoy and have. It gives you a great responsibility. You can’t just hire a Chinese water gong for $2,000 a day and then decide not to put it on the mix.”

One of his new tunes is called “If Killing Worked, it Would have Worked by Now,” on which a chorus of dozens of children sing the hook. He hopes it will go viral.

“Chilling. Chillingly beautiful. Beautifully chilling,” he said of the children’s voices.

Still another tune, “The Love You Give Lasts Forever,” offers “my reflections about my mom dying. But it’s a cheery song,” he promised.

Concertgoers who attend the show Wednesday at the Tower will get to hear two or three new English Beat songs, all the hits and deep cuts from the original English Beat days and a handful of General Public tunes.

The band is sounding tight these days, Wakeling said. “We’ve made some slight modifications, trimmed our sails a bit, and we seem to be hitting it right about now,” he said. “We should be very streamlined and sharp.

“Tie your dancing shoes pretty tight. Bring spare, dry clothes to change into afterwards, and a comb. Your hair might all be plastered to your head … it’s a hot, sweaty night.”

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, 
djasper@bendbulletin.com

If you go

What: The English Beat with Nice Privates

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, doors open 7 p.m.

Where: Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend

Cost: $37, plus fees. All ages show

Contact: www.towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700