About Live

Kent

Most people probably thing that Summers and Copeland were just sitting around waiting for the call from the S-man. Nothing could be further from the truth. Getting past the reality that both may have felt that ship had sailed along time ago, they have had lively and prosperous careers. Beyond his eighteen solo albums, Andy Summers started his career in 1965 and played with Eric Burden and The Animals, Zoot Money’s Big Roll Band, Dantalion’s Chariot and had many other successful collaborations and projects. Stewart Copeland is considered one of the world’s finest drummers and began his career in 1974. Beyond his work with bands like Curved Air, Animal Logic, Oyster Head and Klark Kent, Copeland has had an amazing number of collaborations and proven to be a prolific and very successful soundtrack composer. But just like Sting, it was The Police that probably brought them the kind of attention that lead to bigger and better things.

A press conference held at the famous Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles the morning after the Grammy Awards told the tale. The Police were back and ready to go on tour. The press event atmosphere was electric and featured Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland playing a set for reporters, invited guests and some lucky fans. The event was recorded and is available to premium members of The Police Fan Club online.

Hampshire

The third album by The Police, Zenyatta Mondatta, was released in October of 1980. The record hit number one in the UK and number five in the USA against tough competition which included AC/DC, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, Queen and Bruce Springsteen to name a few. Songs like Driven To Tears and Don’t Stand So Close To Me could be heard playing constantly on the radio. Despite all that radio play, people didn’t tire of their sound and always seemed to want more.

Success had arrived for the guys in the biggest way possible, but there was a price to be paid. The new decade brought a new level of pressure on the band. Sting has said they were earning ‘buckets of money’ during the early 1980s, but the band was falling apart because of arguments and disagreements about the musical and business decisions being made.

Sting’s newly acquired Star Power as the band front man, an actor and solo musician in his own right gave him a constant edge over Steward Copeland. Copeland was his most vocal critic in the band and the two actually got into fistfights on several occasions. It probably didn’t help that managers, concert promoters, publicity agents and record companies all knew there would be no Police or paycheck without Sting and likely took his side on many issues. That must have driven Copeland nuts. Despite the infighting, the band members were still able to agree enough at that time to get down to business and move the band forward.

Greater Manchester

Their second album, Regatta De Blanc, was released in the fall of 1979. Walking on the Moon and Message in a Bottle received a huge amount of airplay and helped fill most of their shows to overflowing. In November of 1979, I was lucky enough to squeeze into My Father’s Place on Long Island to watch an amazing performance by The Police. The event was simulcast on WLIR, Long Island’s New Music Radio Station at that time. A friend later provided me with an audio cassette of the performance. I wore that cassette out.

In those days concert audiences tended to yell, clap, just sit and listen entranced with the music, fight or throw stuff at the bands and leave. The Police event was different. People had fun and felt a part of the show. They yelled out questions and the band members answered them between songs. People threw stuff up at the stage to be autographed, they were and then thrown back. The Police absolutely filled our ears and brains to capacity with their performance. It was audience participation and musical talent at its best.

Most people that I spoke to after the concert were asking each other where they could get a recording of the simulcast. The songs on their first album really came to life when the guys performed them live. Some of the tracks from the first album like So Lonely and Hole In My Life were performed with new arrangements that made the songs more upbeat and fast paced. Walking on the Moon and Bed’s Too Big Without You from the second album had lots of musical and vocal improvisations added and the changes were a treat to the ears. That concert was an experience I’ll never forget.

Fulham

After giving the recording studio another try, The Police had better luck. Despite an extremely low budget and barely enough time to record a few quality tracks, let alone an entire album, they managed to get their sound on vinyl in a way that pleased everyone. Roxanne was released as a single in early 1978. Can’t Stand Losing You, So Lonely and their first album, Outlandos d’Amour, followed later that year. Through a deal brokered by Stewart Copeland’s brother, Miles, A&M Records signed The Police to a recording contract and released Outlandos d’Amour in the USA.

In 1979, the band toured the USA to support their newly released singles and the first album. Almost immediately, they stood out from the crowd and the press loved them. They were educated, intelligent, well spoken, polite and always seemed sober. Most New Music bands were so outrageous that the mainstream press shied away from direct quotes and played down their drug and alcohol use. When it came to The Police, just the opposite was true. Reporters had to try and make them look wild and rebellious. A good example was how reporters portrayed the band during that first USA tour. The press loved to describe them as three guys from England with bleached blond hair playing rocked up Jamaican Rebel Music driving around the USA in a cannibalized, overdue rental van filled with stolen instruments.

Essex

Copeland says that his idea for a trio punk band called The Police started with himself and Henry Padovani. He says that the idea for the name was inspired by nightly confrontations between Punk Rockers, those in that lifestyle and the British Police. But if that’s true, why was the band called Strontium 90 instead of The Police from the beginning? A more exotic version of the name origination goes back to stories written about the band right around the time of their first album release in the USA and lives on as a legend.

The legend says that while playing a gig in London, Sting had a confrontation with a club manager. It seems that Strontium 90 was supposed to follow another band that was, in the alleged words of the S man, “dreadful.” Sting was annoyed because the band was not only terrible, but kept playing and refused to leave the stage despite loud audience disapproval. Even after people started throwing things at the band, they stuck it out trying to finish their set. Not wanting to face a completely hostile crowd armed with bottles and folding chairs, Sting voiced his concerns to the club manager with his fellow band members standing nearby and encouraged the man to get the other group off the stage as soon as possible

East Yorkshire

The Police reunited for an appearance on the 2007 Grammy Awards Show. Anyone familiar with Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland knew that a Grammy Awards Show would never be reason enough for the original band members to come together and suddenly decide to perform on television. It was obvious that this was some kind of reintroduction to the band. That suspicion was confirmed a day later when a press conference was held in Los Angeles to announce that tickets would soon be available for an upcoming tour. A group known for surprising the media, their fans and sometimes even themselves, had done so handily. It was that way since the beginning.

The original band was formed by Stewart Copeland as a trio that became a foursome sometime in the spring of 1977. By early summer, Strontium 90 appeared on the scene as a reinvented version of the same group. After having undergone some personnel shifts and adjustments, the band members were Sting, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers and Henry Padovani. As Strontium 90, the band recorded a few demo tracks, played gigs in London and Paris and worked on perfecting their sound.

Strontium 90 was a great name for a band, but it just wasn’t them. The foursome which played a complicated mix of Ska, Reggae, Rock and Alternative Music started calling themselves The Police sometime in late June or early July of 1977. Unconfirmed and often repeated rumors and stories give us several versions of how the name came to be. The most common comes from Stewart Copeland and the most popular involves Sting.

Last Lothian

I realized that if I could do well there, I could do well anywhere. I began to actively look for gigs. Carla was always there, taking photos, and networking. She was always around to lend a hand, setting up, tearing down, or instantaneously producing a pick when one flew out into the crowd.

It is the end of 2005. There will never be a year like this one for me. I look at all the places I’ve been, and things I’ve done. I look at all this equipment that I have. I think about all the wonderful friends I’ve made along the way. It’s truly amazing.

Well that’s only six milestones you may be thinking. The last was the demo CD.

I performed over 50 times in 2005, from small to large crowds. I’ve grown so much in the year. I will be sharing what I have learned with you as we progress in this series.

East London

I did some blues songs and I really belted ‘em out. The place went completely nuts. Everyone was rockin’ and yelling out “g-man! Yo da man!” I never felt as good as that moment before onstage. Afterwards everyone was shaking my hand and telling me how good I was. So began the growlin’ thing. I thought that I would never be able to top that moment. I didn’t want to go back the next week, because I knew it would be less. It turned out really well however.

Ballydoyle soundman Rick Sullivan gave me lots of good insight about how and when to back off on the MIC when belting out. He also gave me the suggestion for the Aphex Acoustic Xciter which I wouldn’t’ show up to a gig without. I can’t tell you how many people think that my guitar is the best that they’ve ever heard.

In the spring I had launched my Web Site “gmanblues.com” it was a huge milestone number 5 for me. It was like hanging an “Open for Business” shingle out for me. Things really seemed to be happening. The Web opens many doors, and has many paths to progress on. You should be exploring and leaving your name wherever you go; building your brand recognition.

One Saturday I got a last minute email from Ballydoyle Pub requesting me to play that night the regularly scheduled band couldn’t make it. I didn’t think that I was ready, but Carla insisted that I was. Ballydoyle on a Saturday night was a huge first gig for me. I was apprehensive for several reasons, the main one was that Rick Sullivan couldn’t make it and I didn’t know how to run the Bose. But I showed up with my tiny little PA and showed everyone a good time. This was Milestone number 6—paying gig.

Dorking

The song list grew to ten, twenty, then thirty. I was so proud. I kept multiplying the number of my songs times three minutes to attempt to determine how long I could play for. I slowly moved on from my goal of comedy and headed more toward acoustic rock and blues. My goal was fifty songs—I figured that I could play a three hour gig with breaks; milestone number 2.

One year ago I played my first performance, an inconsequential unassuming open MIC at a sandwich shop a few blocks from my home. I had made the promise to myself months before that I would start showing up and playing but it seems there always was a good reason for not showing. One day Carla (my wife) wouldn’t stand for another excuse. She made me go against a wholehearted resistance on my part. I was so glad I did. I showed up with the only piece of musical equipment that I owned—my trusty old Guild D44, now yellowed with age. I had to borrow Carla’s tiny practice amp to play through. Small beginnings—yet a huge milestone number 3 for me. I was so pumped up from the performance that I couldn’t sleep that night.

Cumbria

Parts and accessories to bring along

You should not have to wait for the unexpected to happen. Some items to bring along are just out of common sense such as extra drum sticks, snare and bass drum head, even an extra drum key. Not so obvious items would be an extra kick pedal, spring for kick pedal assembly, rug, small portable toolkit, duct tape, a permanent marker, and any leftover bolts and lugs that could be used on the equipment in time of need. If you are using an electronic drum set, you will want to bring extra instruments cords, electrical extension cord, direct box for the PA, and if need be, drum triggers.

Save yourself

Save yourself time, money, and embarrassment by being prepared. Make the effort to be organized and ready to meet any challenges that may surface. Your band mates, club owners, and studio engineers will thank you.