SKA favourites 'The Beat' are no strangers to The Brook and now the band that brought us hits 'Mirror in the Bathroom' and 'Too Nice to Talk To' are back at the Southampton venue on Saturday.

Formed in Birmingham back in 1978 The Beat fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock and released three albums in the early eighties: I Just Can't Stop It (1980), Wha'ppen? (1981) and Special Beat Service (1982), and a string of singles, including "Mirror in the Bathroom", "Too Nice to Talk To", "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "Hands Off, She's Mine" and "All Out to Get You".

They return to the Brook featuring the vocals of of Ranking Roger, one of the band's original vocalists who added a Jamaican vocal flavour to the band's sound with his toasting style.

The truly great bands are often the ones you recognise in an instant – from a snatch of vocal, an inimitable snap and swagger of rhythm, a sonic fingerprint that says this could not possibly be anyone else.

And that’s the way it is with The Beat's long-awaited fourth album ‘Bounce’.

From the clipped and hectic rude boy shuffle of new tunes ‘Avoid The Obvious’ to the chiming sunshine pop romance of ‘Heaven Hiding’ through to ‘Fire Burn’’s heavy-duty righteousness, ‘Bounce’ shows off every gleaming aspect of the most musically diverse band to come out of the multiracial, multicultural explosion that remade British pop from 1979 onwards.

‘Bounce’ is the first album from The Beat in over 30 years and released on independent label DMF Records. Written by a combination of Ranking Roger, Mick Lister and Ranking Junior, it has been produced by Mick Lister (Bad Company, Amy Winehouse, The Feeling) and mixed by Tim Hamill and Mick Lister except Side to Side and My Dream mixed by Dennis Bovell (The Slits, Madness)

The same energy that drove the hit singles of the 80s; ‘Mirror In The Bathroom’, ‘Stand Down Margaret’ and ‘Too Nice To Talk To’ – reggae looseness plus razor-sharp songwriting meets the paranoid pace of punk – is here again. It’s all been re-rubbed, freshened and refracted through the multiple dance sounds that followed on from 2 Tone, all the black-meets-white, bass-meets-melody mashups that The Beat helped to trigger. Look into the DNA of every generation of British ravers from The Prodigy through drum’n’bass to UK grime and you’ll find traces of The Beat in there.

Joining Roger in the revitalised Beat is his son Ranking Junior AKA Matthew Murphy, a powerhouse MC who adds a new dimension to The Beat’s live shows, along with drummers Oscar Harrison of Ocean Colour Scene and Fuzz Townshend of Pop Will Eat Itself . The line-up is completed by Chiko Hamilton on sax, bass guitar Andy Pearson, guitarist Steve Harper and Bobby Bird whose background in ambient dub as Higher Intelligence Agency brings a new psychedelic dimension to The Beat.

Tickets: Call The Box Office:

023 8055 5366

Or Pop In To The Box Office:

The Brook

466 Portswood Road

Southampton

SO17 3SD