Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and extraordinary drummer, well known for his time with The Police, Stewart Copeland, is doing a spoken word tour entitled “Have I said too much? The Police, Hollywood, and other adventures.” You can see all the dates for the tour here. We recently caught up with Stewart to discuss the tour and more. We began our conversation getting into the show’s title. “Have I said too much?” is a question, but Stewart seeming to be an intentional person made it seem like a statement coming from him. To which he jokingly replied. “Well, I’m probably gonna say to much, ‘cause I usually do.” From there I enquired about the structure of the show. Stewart gave us some background to the show, informing us that he had done it in England before “And it was kind of a weird suggestion and I said “Sure, why not. And it turns out I really enjoy it.” Stewart explained it is in small towns and small venues and how much he enjoys getting a room laughing.
A Q&A is also part of the show. Stewart mentioned about often asked questions, he mentions The Police forming as well as “There are other questions that nobody ever thought to answer but I’ll probably answer anyway, because that’s how I roll.” Not every part of his life is about “Banging on drums. My father’s job was installing dictators in the Middle East. Which is weird.” That fed into him speaking about growing up among Arabic culture. That of course brought about a discussion of rhythms. That brought us into speaking about Arabic music and its similarities to Reggae and how The Police were “Reggae adjacent.” This brough about him reminiscing about Punk clubs in London and the music that was a part of that scene. Stewart mentioned lots of other bands during our conversation including The Clash, The Damned, The Specials, The Kinks, The Animals, The Stones, and a lot more. His love for and respect for these bands was quite apparent.
Somebody who Stewart didn’t mention by this point, who I had heard him speak about often, was Jimi Hendrix. I always found that interesting because Jimi started in a trio, same as The Police were a trio. When I asked Stewart about him, he immediately shot back “He was amazing. He doesn’t get enough credit as Mitch Mitchell’s guitarist.” Stewart then suggested that everybody “Should write this down and take it to heart, because this is a proclamation from Uncle Stew Daddy. Mitch Mitchell was at the top of the pyramid.” He mentioned other well-known drummers such as John Bonham, Ginger Baker, and Keith Moon, that he said were “Very, very cool. Let us not diminish the reputation of these other monsters of drum. But no, Mitch was at the top. Take that in, absorb that into your life.” He takes a short pause after saying that and then added “Because I said so.”
From talk of trios, I asked Stewart about playing with an orchestra for his tour “Police Deranged For Orchestra.” He quipped, “Guess which one is easier?” I easily guessed he was suggesting it was easier to play with an orchestra. That indeed was his point because the orchestra “Does exactly what it says on the page. That is their ethos.” Right about here, I had to let Stewart know that he and I had shared a stage together at “Rock N” Roll Fantasy Camp” back in February. This transitioned to a discussion about how he follows the vocal lines. I was curious if he believed it was important to know the rules of music before you decide to break them. We spoke about rules versus no rules and even how he was raised musically. “My daddy was a jazz musician, and he raised me to be a jazz musician.” He gave us some background on the lessons he had as a kid. “But his whole plan came apart when Jimi Hendrix arrived. Or rather I should say, when Mitch Mitchell arrived with that incredible guitarist.”
He did give us a quick 360 view of his studio where he was speaking to me from. All of these instruments are part of so many projects he has done outside of The Police. From music for video games, scoring films, “Ben Hur” Live, the film “The Rhythmatist” and more. When I asked Stewart if there was anything he considered to be his greatest accomplishment He quickly replied “oh, seven children, five grandchildren and four grand puppies. You know, playing my drums, I really love it, really good fun. I got a shelf full over there, I got a drawer full of Grammys and shit. But they fade. The children and the joy of creating human life and growing up with, you know for me to sit with my children around me, I feel empowered, I feel protected.” We discussed fame and how it can be dehumanizing and how it’s possible to be seen as a thing rather than a person. Stewart shared that during The Police reunion tour, his daughters felt threatened in how fans reacted to him.
I have been a fan of The Police for decades, as well as being a fan of the work Stewart has done outside of The Police for all these years. Outside of all that, he struck me most when he said at this point “That really is the meaning of life, for real, is those kids.” It was followed by a description of different kinds of fan interactions. It was interesting to hear what it’s like from his perspective.
We wrapped up our conversation with a questionnaire discussing first and best records and concerts as well as what band he would want to be part of. One thing I can comfortably say after having spoken to Stewart for about 20 minutes, go see his show. You will not be disappointed!
