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Rick Beato's Stewart Copeland interview

It was a good interview/discussion......but, it also confirmed that many of the "classic" drum tracks from Stewart with the Police were spontaneous first or second takes without a ton of forethought or planning. Which is outstanding and impressive, but kinda deflating if people were expecting to learn nuanced details on his approach to some of those iconic songs and drum parts.
 
It just goes to show when we hear something on record it can and does appear a particular player is "masterful, genuis, ground breaking, in total control of an instrument, pre-mediatated. pre- planned, must have a backlog of choices available to him or her"

And then there's Stewart
Just plain scary good

😁
loved it

He didn't get into wasn't asked how where and how those little hi hat trills came from- and how so effortlessly -would have been interesting
~

And that signature in "Every Little Thing" I contend (Keltner does it in Josie too) I contend is "Salt Peanuts: Diz Gillespie, bud powell, jazz lick
salt peanuts salt peanut
 
..it's worth watching twice 😁
important tune/tension tips at 13:00
 
the Klark Kent mentioned at 18:00 on BBC


I think he had to chose to play -repeat- some signature intros and fills
but still in his nature to be in the moment for much everything else
he's jammin
I mean it has to line up with his feelings and if it's the 'same feeling' (now) as the record (was then) it's a go.
He trusts relies on his instincts of the moment a lot

he says he wouldn't be or isn't a "studio" drummer but I think for that very reason he'd be superb
and a breath of fresh air to any pop
 
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Chris Whitten said:
Well he was obviously able to reproduce the spontaneous studio recordings live.
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Very rarely did he duplicate what he did in the studio. Fills were always bigger, he took more chances, he rushed, and even the beats would have divergences from the script. I saw them and have a good amount of boots, and I’d say he retained the original flavor but not always the notes.
 
Entertaining interview, I like listening to him talk about The Police. On any other topic he's kind of an idiot.

River19 said:
kinda deflating if people were expecting to learn nuanced details on his approach to some of those iconic songs and drum parts.
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There never are-- mostly people just play the things, they can't tell you anything about it.

But he said his approach-- he got to play the songs ~ three times in the studio. That's probably why they sound so good.
 
yea he caught hell for those Paul Motian and other comments that day :)

and Paul Motian responded:

"Really Oh that's fantastic! let's see what he can do"
as I recall. (in your postscript)

I think Paul took it as the old Art Blakey line that "any response any critique is good"
I think Blakey said even "bad" press was "good'..
which is true if you're trying to get known
" at least they're writing" about you
so could be seen as - I think it ended up as- a "gentleman's draw"
 
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JimmyM said:
Very rarely did he duplicate what he did in the studio. Fills were always bigger, he took more chances, he rushed, and even the beats would have divergences from the script.
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Yeah, I never said note for note. But the drum parts are essentially the same - Roxanne, Material World, Every Little Breath.
I always used to play different fills, go for it more, speed up - but the signature of the drum part is always there, as with Copeland.

 
toddbishop said:
Entertaining interview, I like listening to him talk about The Police. On any other topic he's kind of an idiot.



There never are-- mostly people just play the things, they can't tell you anything about it.

But he said his approach-- he got to play the songs ~ three times in the studio. That's probably why they sound so good.
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Yup. My best takes are when I just play within the song format without overthinking it. Usually takes 1 to 3 will have the best stuff in them.

I just got done with a song on the current album that I am working with with an artist and takes 2-4 were outstanding, but he wanted a different feel in the chorus......I literally did 20+ takes with minor variations and they are getting stale as hell as I am thinking about including the specific variation. Rarely do I like for an artist to have to pick sections from different takes.....but on this one if he loves the verses on v12 and the chorus on v18.......cut and paste as much as you want.....I need to walk away from that song for a while.

Meanwhile IMHO, the best stuff was in the first few tracks when I was loose and playing what I felt vs. thinking about specifics.

This artist leans towards the Steely Dan Gaucho approach of minutia and he knows it.......he literally said all my takes are really good and could be used easily......

Stewart seems to have that "capture the magic" vibe to him as well as it didn't sound like he really obsessed over the nuances of his parts at all.....and I thought that story on the live fill he HAD to hit and the anecdote about Neil Peart were funny as hell

Drums. Fun stuff.
 
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I found the interview fascinating.

There are definitely parts where Steward makes himself look dumb, and how his own ego got in the way of the band.

But you also see how what made the band great is also what made the band implode. That tension between the members, the egos, the fights, is what made the music sound so amazing, but also why it couldn't last.

Of which is a situation that is not unique to The Police. But it's interesting to hear it all laid out like that.
 
I think Stewart has it correct. Once Sting realized he could write & record good very very very good songs the original camaraderie began it's wane
 
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Chris Whitten said:
Yeah, I never said note for note.
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That was... heavily implied by your first post.

Let's expedite the conversation. Unlike Neil Peart who played every song note for note from the recording and with same accents, Stewart Copeland played different fills and accents that were not present on the recording.


I don't think saying "Well the main groove was the same" matters. He is playing music with a specific form, not free jazz.
 
MrPockets said:
That was... heavily implied by your first post.
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Not at all, and I never expect any good drummer to play parts note for note.
I was (trying to) make the point that Copeland wasn't just wailing over Sting's songs. He was coming up with unique grooves and fills that STILL served the songs. Not only that but he was able to repeat those grooves in a slightly more amped up way in live performance.
It was meant to be a compliment based on actual reality rather than an intro into yet another somewhat pointless argument.
 
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