SECRET POLICE
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◄ Dog, cat and broken rib ►
Gert : Do you remember how you wrote ‘Does Everyone Stare’?
Stewart Copeland : I wrote that one when I was in college ! In fact it’s one of my favourite stories. When I was in college studying music, I was the bottom of the class, because i started studying music very late. I mean I started drums at the age of 7, and then playing guitar... But i didn’t start studying harmonies and writing music until I was in college, majoring in music. All the other the other kids in class, they studied flute, piano, you know... and they could read music easely. One day, the teacher in the composition class gave us a homework. She said “Ok, write me 16 bars of four part harmony, figured bass with no parallel fifths”, you know all the rules of good four part harmony. And so we all went home and wrote this thing. I actually had that piano intro (he sings) I can still play that now, it’s the only thing I can play on piano. Next day, she played them all “that’s good, that’s correct...” And she came to my piece and she played it. And to me, I could hear it instantly. All the others where just a string of chords. And she said “ Stewart, this is a piece of music ! You’ve got parallels of fourth here, and the bass line here does not move, but I’m going to give you an A, because it’s a real piece of music”. And I remember that made me feel like I’m not wasting my time. Cause I knew, because I had a river of music going through my head as a kid, and today still, I knew that there was nothing else in the world I could be but a musician, and I knew the music in my head was the real thing. I mean there am I, at the bottom of the class and all the material information that I had about my so-called talent were not good. You know like I got bad grades in music. I guess I’m not a real musician. When she said that, that was one of the most important moments in my musical life! And I wish I could find her, because the royalties for that song would have paid for my entire college education ! that song is that 16 bars that I wrote, it’s an exercise for school. And the lyrics, that was just some girl that I was nuts about. That came later.
Gert : I didn’t know that you used music that was written before when you were in The Police.
Stewart Copeland : That’s pretty much the only one. In the first Police incarnation, it was all riffs that I wrote in College. But as soon as Sting started to write real songs... he would write a song, we would throw one of mine out, cause they were not very good ! I just wrote them so we could have something to play. I didn’t really think about them, I was not a songwriter. But Sting was a real songwriter. Immediately he came up and – we’d say “wow, that’s the shit!” So I was quite happy to get rid of all of that other crap. So I can hear that’s the real thing.
Gert : But you were working very hard to what he would bring to you.
Stewart Copeland : Yeah, yeah. Because... It was a surprise to me, because I didn’t see it. I was a young ignorant musician, I didn’t understand. My ignorance was a better thing because i didn’t see it as his songs. I saw that as “our songs”. I didn’t care who wrote :“oh great, fantastic, that’s brillant. Let’s play that”. It didn’t occured to me until the end of the first album, when the record company said “who wrote all these songs ?”. I said “well, we did. Let’s go down here... no ! Sting wrote that one, and that one too. Where are all the ones I did? I guess we threw them all out”. I wasn’t aware of it happening but gradually he took over the songwriting... and I was happy about that because these were good songs. And so, there’s a wisdom in ignorance there. Except that later on, I always thought that way, when we would be on preparation, writing songs for the next album, Andy and I and Sting would go on with writing song like crazy ! And I walked along with my guitar, trying to get a song out of it, you know (laughing). Andy and I could have just stay home and wait for Sting to make a new song that we were going to play, but he would have been very upset by that. It’s like he is at home working, while Andy and I are just sitting waiting for him to write our hits. So Andy and I diligentely worked real hard writing songs. And Sting had a double edge sword. On one hand he hated to have to sit there listening to Andy’s songs and my songs, being diplomatic – but of course he was never diplomatic - , “that’s fucking crap!” (laughs), that’s the highest Sting diplomaty. But on the other hand, he would have hated even worse if we came empty handed. And every now and then there was a song... like for instance he really liked ‘Darkness’ (from the album ‘Ghost In The Machine’), he loved that one.
Gert : This song could have made a nice single.
Stewart Copeland : Well because it didn’t have... you need a very specific structure for a single. It’s a great album track and I’m very proud of it. So Sting didn’t dismiss everything completely. He pretty much dismissed everything of Andy’s. But Sting and Andy are just different type musical personalities.
Gert : You once said, “Sting and I have very different views of the world, different politics, different values”. Can you comment a little more ?
Stewart Copeland : We are not as different now as we used to be when we were kids. When we were younger, the cold war was happening, and for most, in everybody’s mind was the necluar threat. You don’t even think about this now. But when I was in college, we were all convinced that we were going to die. Somebody’s going to press the button and we are all going to die. Nuclear war is unevitable. But eventually the cold war ended. But back then, he (Sting) regarded America as the capitalists agressing upon poor Russia. He was really naive in his world view. I’m a capitalists and I regard capitalism as the only way to be free and everything... This is not even a discussion, the things that we argued about then are not even - you wouldn’t even know what the hell… - these are issues that don’t exist anymore. And so how am I going to try to explain the difference ? It’s kind of hard because my view is irrelevant now : the cold war is over. It’s no good me telling that I was right and he was wrong because it’s not an issue anymore. Also, I’m an open book. What you see is what you get. Sting is very mysterious, private, garded. Mystique is very important to him. I don’t give a fuck, you know ! And so we are just different kind of characters, he’s a cat, I’m a dog. I much prefer dogs.
Gert : What about the broken rib story ?
Stewart Copeland : Ok. We played Shea Stadium, that means conquering America ! That’s where The Beatles played. When you play Shea Stadium, that’s it ! There are probably bigger concerts, but that’s the one, that’s the symbol of conquering America. That afternoon, during the soundcheck, all of the english press came, because it was like an english band conquers America. They came and the atmosphere was fantastic, everybody was laughing, joking... everybody was celebrating. And so we were doing a photo-session with the three of us, just behind the equipment, on a flight case, we were sitting there doing the shots. They were all joking and laughing around... I had my New-York Times and Sting grabs it off and I grab it back, he grabs it again... It’s just like the Monkees or something like that, or the boys having fun ! Finally I get him down on the ground with the knees in his chest and he screamed. So I said “oh shit, sorry man !”. So we played the show and for a few days it was still hurting. So he went and got an x-ray and it was cracked. That’s it... that’s it ! (laughing) Yes I broke his rib. It was a hairline fracture. He played the show then. It was our best show ever.
Gert : Sting said after that show “we can’t do anything else”...
Stewart Copeland : We just stopped, it doesn’t get any better than this.
Gert : And so that was it after ?
Stewart Copeland : That was it yeah ! And... well I mean, when we got back in the studio together in 1986, we couldn’t play, that was the problem. My arm was broken. If we could play, if I hadn’t have a broken arm, I was playing drums and he was playing bass, we would have recorded another Police album, no problem.
Gert : Sting has told about the breaking of The Police that he stopped because he didn’t want to repeat Shea Stadium again, and again, and again. But I’m not sure that is the true reason, because you know, he’s still doing the same thing now, big tours, albums, promotion...
Stewart Copeland : You’re right. The real reason is that he’s not a team player. If he’d be a sportman he would be playing tennis not football. I’m the youngest brother in the familly, I like to collaborate, I like beeing in a team with my friends and sharing the glory, sharing the efforts. I like it ! When I did Klark Kent, it was great for my ego, but when I was doing the promotion tour and everything, I felt lonely. I wanted to have my buddies with me. I wish they were with me so we could feed of each other. I really enjoy beeing a member of a band, I like that.
Gert : The other member of The Police did support you as Klark Kent for some TV shows, is it right ?
Stewart Copeland : That’s right, they were the band... but on the record I played everything. Coming back to Sting’s personnality, he’s just different as I am. He likes to feel that he, himself... he didn’t like the fact that he got to the top with the help of anybody ! He wanted to get at the top on his own. Which is absolutely respectable. I have absolute respect for that desire, there’snothing wrong with that at all. It’s not a musical thing it’s just about personnality. Also, he didn’t just want to argue about anything. “I drive a piece of music it sounds great, he bring a song, it sounds great just like that. Now I have to take it to the band and fight with Stewart and Andy about it”. He just didn’t want to do that anymore. And he has the right to not have to do that anymore. The bussiness of Shea Stadium, that’s just talk, you know ! that’s bullshit.
Gert : Yes, I don’t believe that neither.
Stewart Copeland : Because like you said, that’s all he’s been doing ever since.
© Gert-Peter BRUCH - Unauthorised reproduction prohibited.