The English Beat’s Dave Wakeling on the band’s new box set

• Jackie Butler

Dave Wakeling, frontman for the long-running 2-Tone ska act the English Beat, is not a man who’s afraid of the past. He reunited the Beat in 2003, and the group’s been making summer tours of the United States a regular deal for the past few years. That revived interest in the band has led to the forthcoming release of The Complete Beat by Shout Factory. The five-disc box set features all three of the band’s original albums, B-sides, live performances, and dub versions. It’s astoundingly good, and the English Beat is at Knuckleheads tonight, touring in support of it. Wakeling spoke with The Pitch by phone about The Complete Beat, touring, and going back to those old songs.