Stewart Copeland Examines How the Police Survived Early Years

Stewart Copeland is snug with the incontrovertible fact that he remembers the Police’s profession completely and that others bear in mind it completely, too, and that there are large variations of their accounts.

The drummer, composer and filmmaker is gearing as much as launch Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries 1976-9, which incorporates reproductions of the pages of his logs from the band‘s early days. It additionally features a number of beforehand unpublished pictures.

“I remember the atmosphere,” Copeland tells UCR of the backstage picture, “which was something like: Sting and I were very chuffed that we had managed to hornswoggle the mighty Andy Summers – premier quadruple-scale session guitarist – to join our fake punk band. … The main thing I’ve learned from looking back is how we stuck together. Sting and I suffered for two years – we starved – and then Andy joined us in our starvation. This was before ‘Roxanne;’ before Sting himself had any idea that he could write those big songs. So what was it that kept us together? Sting had everybody whispering in his ear, saying, ‘You don’t need those guys – come and join my band!’ And yet we stuck together through thin and thinner!

“The miracle is that we were bonded musically together even before we’d discovered what music we wanted to make. I asked Andy recently, ‘What were you thinking?’ He said, ‘I don’t know, mate; I don’t know. I should have stuck with Neil Sedaka!’”

Memory, Copeland accepts, will be “very flaky.” “There have been occasions where somebody writes how many times we played a song live, and I go, ‘We never played that song live!’” he explains. “And they go, ‘Yes you did, and we have the recording!’ Which is why the diaries are so illuminating. In preparing this book I did consult the other books – Sting’s book, Andy’s book, [early member] Henry Padovani’s book, my brother [and the band’s manager] Miles’ book. And they’re all inconsistent with each other.” He jokes that his account is most correct as a result of “I’ve got the receipts!”

Then there’s the incontrovertible fact that a whole world of different accounts is accessible because of the scale of the Police’s success. “There are people who can see any photo of the band and figure out when it was taken, what show we were playing and what the set list was that night – and they figure this out by looking at the clothes we were wearing: ‘God, Stewart wore that same shirt for a week!’”

While the band members “just lived our lives,” he displays, simply how they lived grew to become “very important” to many others. “If I’m feeling a little depressed, a little worthless here on the planet, all I need to do is get on the Google machine and find videos analyzing the genius of Stewart Copeland,” he laughs. “There’s one whole video about the use of the towel on the side of the snare drum and how it affects the sound of the drum. This deep analysis – however, that towel was taped to the side of the drum to protect my knee! … I’m full of humility for the phenomenon – I have to have respect – but I’m just a guy who wakes up every morning, just like everybody else.”

He describes the act of conserving a diary as “more of a twitch than a discipline,” noting, “And I still do it, by the way. I feel remiss if I haven’t logged what I was working on, what calls I made, who I had lunch with. I feel like I want to hold on to my life as it goes by – which is why I got a Super 8 movie camera and filmed everything of the Police adventure. I wanted to scrape off the adventure, stuff it into my suitcase and keep it for later.”

Watch the Trailer for Stewart Copeland’s Book

In moments of trying again, individuals usually take into consideration what they’d inform their youthful selves, and the reply is normally “worry less.” “That’s exactly what I would tell my younger self,” Copeland admits. “Except, if my younger self had accepted my advice, none of this would have happened. It’s anxiety that drove me. I practice my drums before a show; it’s not discipline – it’s fear. So that anxiety drove me on, and as I look at those diaries, I’m impressed by the energy and the perseverance.”

Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries 1976-9 might be revealed by Rocket 88 Books and is accessible for pre-order in numerous variations at the ebook’s web site. The signature version, restricted to 500, contains beforehand unreleased recordings of Copeland music from the late ‘70s, some of which later became Police tracks. The ultimate edition is bound in recycled leather and comes with a signed print of an early band photo. Limited-time customization options are also available. Copeland’s present musical mission, Police Deranged for Orchestra, performs at the London Coliseum on April 28. Tickets and particulars will be discovered on his web site.