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Stewart Copeland explains how The Police bandmates are like chalk and cheese-Paul Simper-Entertainment – Metro
‘Of course he is.’
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!
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 with words. He does the most intense crossword puzzles that are absolutely insane. But though he’s clever with words, strangely he’s not the fastest with repartee.
You can’t do verbal fencing with him because he just doesn’t. I’m all cut and thrust but he will go up to his room and come back the next morning with two rhyming lines that will blow your argument out of the water.
Andy Summers, Sting, and Stewart Copeland (Picture: Peter Noble/Redferns)
The Police performing in Germany in 1979 (Picture: Getty)
How has the dynamic of your friendships with Sting and Andy changed since you resolved all your differences on the 2008 reunion tour?
The last reunion tour was a wonderful thing and I would recommend it for any legacy band. Interestingly, musically we did not fit so well together because we had continued to grow away from each other but eventually we did after two years on the road. Socially, as human beings, our relationship has deepened profoundly. We understand what our differences are and what our shared experiences are. I was about to say our similarities but there aren’t any. Sting runs quiet and deep. I’m noisy and shallow. And Andy is a flash flood.
More: Sixty Seconds
Whatever happened to the track-by-track audio commentary of The Police’s five studio albums that you recorded drinking coffee in the States while Sting and Andy were quaffing fine wines in Italy?
Yes, I’m glad you reminded me of that. We’ve got to release that at some point. I think it’s really funny. But maybe that’s because I’m sober. OK, a little hyper but then I’m always a little hyper. The other two get drunker and drunker and sloppier and sloppier and funnier and funnier but maybe they have some personal dignity issues that might prevent the world ever hearing that.
Do you have a favourite post-Police song by Sting?
Stewart’s The Police bandmate Sting is supportive of him (Picture: Tristar Media/Getty)
If I Ever Lose My Faith In You is just a great tune. I’m very partial to his songs. He totally f***s up the rhythm and gets it wrong every which way but I still like it.
As a film composer, how different were directors Francis Ford Coppola and Oliver Stone to collaborate with?
You’re gonna get me in trouble. Coppola is Italian. Stone isn’t. The food is better with Francis. There is more attention from the director with Oliver. He wants to know the meaning of every note and how it serves his purpose. Francis finds the right people and cuts them loose.
Stewart collaborated with director Francis Ford Coppola (Picture: Daniele Venturelli/Getty)
Would you ever have been interested in scoring a Bond film?
No. We existed in kind of a gap in the Bond franchise possibly. I know Sting would have loved that. I never thought about it but now that you bring it up he would have loved to have had a Bond song.
Can you switch off?
I discovered a great way of doing that – iPad jigsaw puzzles. Utterly, utterly brainless. It’s that and scrolling through Instagram for motorcycle stunts and weird Yugoslavian dancing.
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