Stewart Copeland: “I once stole a joint from a Beatle”

Great musicians are born, not made. Because greatness lies not only in technique, but also in character, e.g Stewart Copeland he has plenty. The interviews with the Police drummer are never banal, and he truly has something for everyone every time.

“Which animal represents me the most? The wolves of the Arctic Circle! Actually, no, no, no: the hyenas of the Skeleton Coast. Hyenas are really fantastic animals: they are very ugly, but they have an extremely complex society, they have a very complex language and they are very strange animals. I don’t know if I identify with them personally or not. Ok, Fuck yourself: let’s go back to the wolf, much more heroic”. Thus begins Copeland’s chat with the “Guardian”, that is, with the usual unpredictable extravagance.

We were in front of 80,000 people in Turin, during the reunion tour. I picked up the pace a bit during Andy’s (Summers, the guitarist, ed.) solo in When The World Is Running Down. It happens often: Andy is a fantastic soloist, and it excites me a little.

Then the beat picks up and Sting comes back on vocals, he has to babble, he hates that stuff and I know he’s going to get pissed, and he does, and he starts yelling at me in front of the audience and waves his arm to show me where the backbeat goes. And the thought that goes through my head – well, the thought didn’t cross my mind until later – is, “I have to kill you now.” I thought: Stingo, you’ve known me for 50 years and you think this is the way to calm me down? He didn’t. But it was one of the best concerts we’ve ever done – screaming at each other in front of 80,000 Italians. We burned Turin.

Anecdotes about his years in the Police are endless, but Copeland is a man of a thousand resources and the funniest ones also concern other illustrious colleagues, such as Paul McCartneywho for Stewart is “the nicest and most normal rock star”.

I once stole a joint from a Beatle. He was at the after party of the Foo Fighters concert at Wembley Stadium. Someone says, “Oh, I smell marijuana,” and so I walked over just as someone handed over a joint. So I said, “Okay, sure” – just out of courtesy – and took the joint, not realizing that the recipient of the joint was none other than Paul McCartney. And I had just intruded on the passage of the glass to the great one!

I went to bed that night not sure if I was terribly embarrassed or if I wanted to brag about it.

Finally, to the question “what is the most overrated album?”, he replies: “Anything by David Bowie“. He recognizes its importance, influence and innovation, but “it didn’t work for me”.