We Get Along Just Fine: The Polices Stewart Copeland Talks Relationship With Sting, Band Dynamics and Being Fully Retired From Music

As should be expected, Stewart Copeland is spending a fair amount of time talking and answering questions about the Police during his current spoken word tour of North America. And he’s pleased to report that he, Sting and Andy Summers “get along just fine” these days, even in the midst of a lawsuit over royalties.

“We’re not (in court). The bean counters are, somewhere over in London,” the group’s drummer tells Billboard. “For me it’s, ‘Lemme know how it works out…’”

Copeland and Summers sued Stingin England last year, claiming that under band songwriting agreements dating back to the Police’s formation in 1977 they are owed $2 million in unpaid royalties. Summers, in fact, has been particularly outspoken in feeling he should have received a songwriting credit for the Grammy Award-winning 1983 smash “Every Breath You Take.” The case has made its way to the U.K.’s High Court; records indicate Sting has paid his former bandmates $870,000, but Copeland and Summers are still seeking the rest of the claim.

Copeland, however, says he still talks to Sting, about “kids, Instagram memes, bullshit… I’m happy that we get along just fine, and we know way. It’s not because of satanic impulses or any of the human infirmities of jealousy, greed, pride, whatever. It’s because we had a spell where our music universes overlapped and we created some incredible stuff. We really achieved everything we needed to achieve. Really, as I’ve been saying a lot recently, ol’ Sting-O and I, we make music for different reasons, and it has a different place in our lives. So we get along great as long as we’re not trying to make music together.”

The Police was together between 1977-1984, releasing five studio albums capped by 1983’s eight-times platinum Synchronicity, which has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry. The trio reunited for three concerts on Amnesty International’s A Conspiracy of Hope tour in 1986 and a 2003 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, then for a global reunion tour during 2007-2008, assisted by band therapy according to Copeland. “We had professionals come along and straighten us out; I guess their day job was probably, like marriage counseling,” he recalls. “It worked so well after our session the business suits said, ‘Hey guys, let’s put another six months on the tour!’ ‘Sure!’

“It was actually a lot of fun — a lot of misery and a lot of fun at the same time. But after two years of it, we were all read to get back to our central mission.”

That’s been busy multi-media careers for all three of the Police men — in Copeland’s case forays into opera and classical composition, film and video game scoring, filmmaking and writing. He’s the subject of a new documentary, Copeland, which premieres June 19 at the Raindance Film Festival in London, and is writing another opera that’s “kind of under wraps until it will be revealed to the world.” He’s also expanding his touring Police Deranged for Orchestra repertoire to include other songs from his career. “Instead of just the Police it will be the entire world f***ed up,” Copeland says.

Despite what sounds like a full docket, however, Copeland considers himself “fully retired” from music — at least in a commercial sense. “I’ve had a career in music; it worked out well. Now I just do it for kicks and put (music) up on YouTube for folks to enjoy, without any agenda. I’m not chasing the charts; if I make a record, it’s probably gonna cost me money. You can’t make a living writing opera, but it’s a lot of fun.”

Copeland has also written another book — publication details still TBA — that he describes as “a guide to living the life with people chasing you for autographs, with interviews asking you pointed questions, with all the stuff that goes with rock ‘n’ roll celebrity, all the weirdness. ‘Cause it’s a very weird place. It’s not normal; people don’t treat musicians the same way they treat dentists, even though dentists are far more important for their health. Inhabiting that weird world on that precarious pedestal is a strange thing.” He’s interviewed therapists and other musicians for the book, including Kiss’ Gene Simmons and Carly Simon.

The latter, in fact, gave Copeland “one little weirdness” of a story, from the making of her second album, Anticipation, in London during the summer of 1971. “I get into band dynamics (in the book), and I was talking to her about the phenomenon about romance in a band, like Fleetwood Mac, like ‘How does that work?’ And she says, ‘When I was recording (Anticipation) in London and feeling all the mojo and all the excitement… with these incredible musicians, staying at this beautiful house near Hyde Park and recording by day, and at night with all the musicians, I f***ed them all.’ I said, ‘Can I put that in the book?’ ‘Sure’ — she didn’t use the F-bomb, but, I mean, it’s pretty amazing.

“And the dynamic was clear. By day they’re making music, which is very emotionally engaging, very tense, and the natural result of all that manifested itself by night, and then the next day they would make the music of love, and it was even bigger than her first album.”

Clearly, then, Copeland has plenty of fodder for his Have I Said Too Much? The Police, Hollywood and Other Adventures shows. He launched the multi-media presentation last year in the United Kingdom and began an extensive North American run earlier this month, with dates booked into early August and another leg during October and November. “I’m telling these wild stories I have, instead of to just one person or a dinner table, to a room full of people,” Copeland says. “And getting laughs is kind of fun. I never imagined that would be in my career path, but I’m having a great time doing it.”

In addition to his prepared remarks he also answers written audience questions, submitted to a bucket in the venue lobbies.

“My favorite one, which got the biggest laugh of the evening, was, ‘What hotel are you staying in tonight?’” he recalls. “That got a bigger laugh than any of my gags, goddammit.’ And then when the laughter died down, the rest of the question says, ‘Because I need to know where to pick up my mom in the morning.’” Copeland’s answer? The Four Seasons, Milwaukee — even though he was in Dublin, Ireland at the time.

“My life is an open book,” Copeland notes. “There’s no uncomfortable subjects, really — in fact, the more discomfort, the more you can milk it for laughs. I’m really enjoying this.”

Upcoming dates on Copeland’s Have I Said Too Much? The Police, Hollywood and Other Adventures tour:

June 18 — Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA
June 20 — Presidio Theatre, San Francisco, CA
June 25 — Hollywood Theatre, Vancouver, BC
June 27 — Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR
June 28 — Neptune Theatre, Seattle, WA
July 6-7 — The Kate (Second show), Old Saybrook, CT
July 9 — City Winery, Boston, MA
July 10 — The Waldo Theatre, Waldoboro, ME
July 11 — BNH Stage, Concord, NH
July 12 — Greenwich Odeum, East Greenwich, RI
July 14 — The Paramount, Huntington, NY
July 16 — South Orange Performing Arts Center, South Orange, NJ
July 17 — Daryl’s House Club, Pawling, NY
July 18 — The Colonial Theatre, Phoenixville, PA
July 19 — The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
July 21 — Rams Head On Stage, Annapolis, MD
July 22 — Palace Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA
July 24 — The Kent Stage, Kent, OH
July 25 — Ludlow Garage, Cincinnati, OH
July 28 — The Parkway Theatre, Minneapolis, MN
July 30 — Vivarium, Milwaukee, WI
July 31 — North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie, IL
Aug. 1 — Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids, MI
Aug. 2 — Tarkington, Carmel, IN
Aug. 4 — City Winery, Nashville, TN
Aug. 6 — Harvester Performance Center, Rocky Mount, VA
Aug. 7 — The Beacon Theatre, Hopewell, VA
Oct. 28 — Scherr Forum, Thousand Oaks, CA
Oct. 30 — Rialto Theatre, Tucson, AZ
Nov. 1 — Rose Wagner Theater, Salt Lake City, UT
Nov. 3 — Boulder Theatre, Boulder, CO
Nov. 4 — Holiday Theatre, Denver, CO
Nov. 6 — The Admiral, Omaha, NE
Nov. 7 — Granada Theater, Lawrence, KS
Nov. 8 — Wildey Theatre, Edwardsville, IL
Nov. 10 — Magic Bag, Detroit MI
Nov. 12 — Center for the Arts of Homer, Homer, NY
Nov. 13 — Bethel Woods Event Gallery, Bethal, NY
Nov. 15 — Spruce Peak Performing Arts, Stowe, VT
Nov. 17 — Sellersville Theatre, Sellersville, PA
Nov. 18 — Elkton Music Hall, Elkton, MD
Nov. 20 — Appell Center for Performing Arts, York, PA
Nov. 22 — Carolina Theatre, Charlotte, NC