Stewart Copeland says The Police bandmates are like chalk and cheese
Stewart Copeland reminisces on his time in The Police (Picture: Getty/Metro)
The Police drummer and film composer Stewart Copeland, 70, spills the beans on his former bandmates and how Coppola differs from Oliver Stone.
First, a belated thank you for signing my copy of Message In A Bottle 43 years ago in a record store in Oxford…
I was kindly then. I’m grumpy and lame now. Bring it to me now and I’d bite your hand off.
Can you remember the first time you were ever asked for your autograph? Did it pre-date The Police?
I can’t remember if we ever did autographs in Curved Air [a 1970s progressive rock band]. I sort of don’t think so. It was a prog band. Prog bands don’t do autographs.
You’ve been doing the Police Deranged For Orchestra shows for a couple of years in the US. When did Sting and Andy Summers first get to see and hear what you had done with the songs?
Sting was gonna make it to a show but when I played LA he was playing Vegas. We’ve almost crossed paths a few times. Andy, I’m not sure whether I will see him or not. I sent him a tape because one of the songs, Murder By Numbers, he wrote. I didn’t hear back so I’m not holding my breath for kudos from Andy. Sting’s been very supportive. Of course he is. I’m playing his songs!
Andy Summers, Sting, and Stewart Copeland (Picture: Peter Noble/Redferns)
Did he give you any notes?
No. I did send him a huge hardback tome of all the scores, a gigantic book, just so that I could imagine him going cross-eyed trying to read it.
Rearranging these songs, is there one you now see with fresh eyes that maybe you were less of a fan of at the time?
I can’t pick out a specific song but generally I am much more impressed with the lyrics now. Usually, back in the day, I was just at the back of the stage banging s***. I couldn’t care less about the lyrics. But now that I’m working out vocal harmonies and soon, it turns out our clever little songwriter Sting is incredibly clever…
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