Superlatives
A Vulture series in which artists judge the best and worst of their own careers.
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Since the apocalypse, I havent been doing very much.
I have the largest collection of the cheapest instruments money can buy, and everythings micd up.
There are a few cameras to the right; a few more to the left.
Behind him, a timpani and a drum kit.
Every square foot of the room, theres a mic on everything, he added.
So I have these jams and then I cut them all up and put themon YouTube.
Copeland, a hell of an amiable guy, is resting in between some national-tour datesas a symphony-orchestra composer.
Hes also celebrating a Grammy nomination for Best New Age Album, the kineticDivine Tideswith Ricky Kej.
(I would be the first drummer in history to get a New Age award, he quipped.)
Roxanne has a tango edge because of him, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic a frisky groove.
There are different ways of picking a winner.
So Im going to go with just my own personal taste.
Bring on the Night is the most beautiful song Sting ever wrote.
The band arrangement of it is okay.
Its not even one that I particularly enjoy playing because its quite tricky rhythmically it teeters on the edge.
But its such a beautiful, poignant song.
Im sure everybody knows that feeling.
They both like jazz chords.
Sting said, I think I got a lyric for that.
Theyre kind of working out right there.
So theyre working it out, and Im kind of thinking about what the rhythm ought to be.
They said, Lets record that, and they walked downstairs and along the pathway into the studio.
They start up the song, and they play it down.
The songs called Murder By Numbers.
That performance was the first time we ever even ran the song down, and its on the record.
But spontaneity was one of the seeds of the bands destruction.
In the early years, we were co-dependent, and we thrived off one anothers contributions.
Every time Sting pulled out a song, we leaped on it.
They were just great songs.
Whatever World War 18 was going on at the time, those songs were always great.
But the spontaneous part became more difficult when Sting got more and more confident in getting hit after hit.
So he would write songs, and theyre fully formed in his mind pristine perfection.
By the way, hes a pretty good arranger.
The arrangements in his mind were perfect to him.
That spontaneity works against the pristine cathedral of perfection.
I say this with respect, because he is that talented.
The songs were perfect in his mind and wouldve been perfect out in the world that way.
It became more and more of a battle to work and collaborate.
We all understand these factors now and dont hold any grudges about it.
We understand what its all about.
Song youd rerecord if given the chance
There is, but no one agrees with me.
Wrapped Around Your Finger.
Sting and Andy got a chance to redo all of their guitars and vocals and everything else.
He would be like, I got one more for you.
So those drum parts are all very spontaneous.
I would change the rhythm thinking that we were going into that other part, but not so.
Theyre just playing their part so that I can get to mine.
Once Ive got my part, then the fun begins.
I wish Id done different things on Wrapped Around Your Finger, but it still kind of worked.
Maybe I wouldve screwed it up.
People say, No, thats a great performance, but I can hear my hesitancy.
I got another one for you.
The end of Message in a Bottle.
I put one too many drum overdubs at the end.
I went kind of ape crazy at the end.
Too much crashy-bashy at the end of Message in a Bottle, I think nowadays.
I wouldve cleaned that up.
But then again, my tastes are not necessarily the zeitgeist.
Sting had a much better idea of what normal people like.
Creepiest love song
You know the answer to that.
Everyone knows the answer to that.
Every Breath You Take is the creepiest.
Who wouldnt love seeing such a song being played at weddings as their wedding song?
Whats not to love about that?
Dont Stand So Close to Me is pretty creepy as well.
But youre assuming that I listen to the words.
Im just banging shit at the back of the stage.
Song that exemplifies your hi-hat mastery
Walking on the Moon.
That was where I also used the delay lines and the repeat echo, which creates these rhythms.
Its a dotted quarter-note away from what Im playing.
I would play with that and interact with it.
Drummers like that spot.
The hi-hat is the upper level of the rhythm.
The other half of the rhythm is the backbeat and kick relationship, or the downbeat and the backbeat.
The snare and the kick drum interact to create the meat of the rhythm.
Its the interaction of those elements that make a rhythm what it is.
The hi-hat contributes to the upper level.
If you release your foot a little bit, it opens it up completely.
So your left foot is controlling the texture of that upper-level rhythm with a high degree of expression.
Most underrated song
Actually, Id say Murder by Numbers.
Because it was a B-side.
Whenever we played concerts, it was very popular.
I play it now with my orchestra show and its very popular.
Im very proud of it.
It didnt get a chance, but it sort of achieved cult status in a way.
Mind you, Im forgetting Andys song, Friends.
But my heart and soul doesnt rest on the fate of one song.
Im not even sure myself.
The rhythm came from a little Casio sequence.
You cant buy them anymore.
Theyre too complicated now.
Its skating on the knifes edge.
Its one of the most difficult songs.
Its the most simple, but its a scary song to play.
Musicians fear it because its so easy to fuck up and land on the downbeat.
Every musician, they can draw a breath.
They need to know where one is.
I realized later on that a drum break is actually a muscular thing.
Its a repetitive action, which gets very strenuous.
To do the same action, even if its a little action, and keep doing it is tough.
So with a drum fill, all the muscles get reordered.Okay, now Im back to that groove.
I discovered, by accident, preparation, which is practicing and getting fit.
Thats going to make you fit.
I learned that from an old jazz cat.
Drumming is really hard work.
I recently learned something new.
I could rehearse all day, all night, days on end, on the guitar.
But on drums, Im done by six.
I got to get in the shower.
I bring three T-shirts to rehearsals because its physical work.
Youve got to carry that band on your shoulders every foot down the highway.
As a guitarist, most of the time, youre just standing there looking handsome.
Tell Taylor Hawkins that hes working six times as hard as you are.
You know its true.
Come on Dave, fess up.
The guitarists, they never let on.
When youre playing guitar, you look at the drummer and its obvious.
That guy is breaking a sweat.
No guitarist or any other musician has ever fessed up.
Geekiest song for drummers
So, I have a story that relates to this.
During one of our tours, I was playing Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic at every show.
At a certain point in the tour, Sting said to me, You know what?
I never liked that drum.
Why dont you just leave a space there?
Thatd be really cool.
I said in response, Ill be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
He says, Nobody gives a fuck about that.
InDrum Worldmagazine, they write editorials about that drum fill.
So a couple of years go by, and now were on our reunion tour.
A fan came up to us in Spain, and hes got the Spanish version ofDrum Worldmagazine.
He said, Could you sign my magazine?
He opens it up, and theres a page with that song and that drum fill.
Im sitting next to Sting at the bar.
I turn to him and go, Listen, you motherfucker.
See that, you motherfucker?
Album with the most esoteric musical influences
I would say theyre about equal in terms of influences.
He began to see the band, and albums, as being a way of expressing higher consciousness.
Synchronicitywas a concept album, for Gods sake.Ghost in the Machinewas in its own way too.
So literary influences crept in there with the lyrics.
Musically, the first album was derivative of the world.
Were all music fans, after all.
We became less derivative as we got more confident.
Thats something I grew up with, so all the reggae drummers were an outside influence.
Before that, it was Buddy Rich and Mitch Mitchell, but that was when I was a kid.
Most mispronounced album title
They all are.
Theres no correct pronunciation forZenyatta Mondatta.
Thats a trick question.
Its a trick album title.
]Reggatta de Blancis tough.
For the first three, we had that style of album titling.
The last two were named after the central thesis of the songs that Sting wrote.
In one case, it wasGhost in the Machine, after a book by that name.
The other one wasSynchronicity, which was the theories of Carl Jung.
I only learned this later.
I couldnt give a rats ass about it at the time.
There isnt any correct pronunciation for our albums.
You choose your own version and be superior.
Silliest Sting story
If there were such a story, I wouldnt share it with anyone.
The thing with Sting is that hes a man of implacable dignity.
He is absolutely not the person that many people think he is.
Hes quiet and deep, whereas I am noisy and shallow.
Hes not a socialite.
Hes not very good at small talk.
Hes quite shy, in fact, and reserved.
People often mistake that for arrogance or disinterest.
For some reason, when a camera goes on him, he goes into that face.
When I see that, I think,Dude, come on.
Youre not that guy.But he is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
Were just creatures of a different feather.
We love and admire each other.
The bond we have, the shared history and everything, is a wonderful thing.
But were just not birds of a feather.
Ive known him for 40 years and have no fucking idea whats going on behind those baby blues.
For four years, every summer, I produced a triple album of backing tracks quickly under the gun.
Id churn them and burn them.
Bang, three more in the bank.
You burn up any ideas you might have had in the cookie jar.
You go straight to raw.
WithSpyro, I just had to keep going.
I discovered thatwith quantity comes quality.
Because you would think that it would all be very shallow and ill-considered and too facile.
But, in fact, you get into a zone.
You get into a sweet part where your subconscious and imagination starts producing.
Its like a muscle that you work, and it gets stronger.
The momentum of creativity builds up.
I think its because I didnt have time for judgment or self-doubt or hesitancy.
Every summer, Id be doingSpyroand playing it with my kids.
The whole family in there together, lit up by my music.
Its a funny story.
Basically, I tell the dads stories and show the kids how to hold the sticks.
But one year, a dad comes over with no kid.Hewants a drum lesson.
Its a pretty expensive school.
He must have achieved something in life.
I show him a few things on the drums.
Im gently trying to find out, Are you a musician?
You play in a band?
But he sees mySpyroframe, which says triple platinum.
He says, Oh,Spyro.
Do you enjoy those games?
I said, Yeah.
Im actually thinking of takingSpyroand orchestrating it and turning it into an orchestral piece.
I just have to find the guy who now owns the copyright.
And he responded, I can help you with that.
Im the CEO of Activision.
Now that you mention it, we ought to reissue that game.
So two years later, they reissued it.
They rebuilt it from the ground up.
Most ambitious thing the Police have left to do
We have no intention of doing anything.
