March 2003 - Police - mailman.xmission.com

Article in Bass Player magazine
by Sweetmomb＠cs.com 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

There's a great article in Bass Player magazine about Christian McBride -- in fact he's on the cover in his Phillies uniform! -- and there is a good section of the interview about Sting. Here's a taste: Q: Let's talk about your role with Sting. How did that come about? A: My guess is he heard me on Chris Botti's Night Sessions, because everyone on that disc -- Kipper, Dominic Miller, Manu Katche and Chris -- is in Sting's band. They knew Sting wanted acoustic bass on his CD All This Time, so they recommended me. I knew a few Police songs, and I covered "Walking on the Moon"... but I wasn't totally familiar with his work -- so I got a Police box set and all of his solo records, and I did a crash course before flying to Tuscany for two weeks of rehearsing. The All This Time DVD includes my first gig with the band, so I had all my chord charts and cheat sheets onstage. It goes on to talk about how involved Sting was in coaching him and reports that Sting appears on McBride's next album, Vertical Vision. He says of Sting, "He has a real hunger for knowledge and tremendous respect for all music, which to me is why he's one of the greatest musicians of any generation." This is the April 2003 issue of Bass Player magazine. Holly

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the shape of things
by foxie 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

hey! first off, thanx to all of you that posted the vh-1 links for the HoF "set". i hope that those streams will not be timed out eventually. also, equal thanx to whomever it was that mentioned the article in the april '03 Guitar World. it is excellent, written by one of the biggest supporters the police have ever had, the great vic garbarini. for anyone seeking details about the '86 recording seesions, this article is the holy grail... rich __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com

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MIAB Now Online
by Chris Orange 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

Grabbed this off of Ian Copeland's Message Board and thought I'd share since we're all bummed out about MIAB not being played. Here is the full song off the vh1 website from the ceremony. Follow the steps carefully and enjoy! Cheers, Chris A guy on the VH1 website deserves the credit for pointing this out and coming up with the directions, not I. MIAB video is online! VH1 posted an incorrect link to the MIAB video on their Rock n' Roll Hame of Fame Videos webpage. But the video IS really there in its entirety. Here's how I was able to get to it using Internet Explorer... 1. Go to URL http://www.vh1.com/shows/events/hall_of_fame/2003/videos/ 2. Right-click on the link to the "Message in a Bottle" video, select Copy Shortcut from the menu. 3. Paste the URL into the browser's Address box. You should see javascript:launchVideo('vid=20663') 4. Change 20663 in the address to 20664 and press Enter Now does anybody know how to download it because I have no clue???

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RE: [Police] Way to Go Stew
by Andrea Manassy 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

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Re: [Police] stew drums and other qs
by SOMEDUDE20＠aol.com 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

Vh1 has show the last few Hall of Fames. I remember last year with Eddie Vedder and his new punk haircut in ducting the Ramones and then shortly after Dee Dee died. That was last years right? I only wish that VH1 would show the whole thing. I mean, this is a big honor and therefore it shouldn't be cut. My friend went to the Hall and he received a cool CD with songs from the artists that got inducted. He was able to get Acca Dacca to sign it. One of a kind. I wonder if Sting gave the Hall his cool (haha) jacket that he wore on the Synchronicity tour and videos. I would! Below is an interview that VH1 did with Stew. You can find it at VH1.com VH1: So this was your year... Stewart Copeland: Yeah, it's been an interesting year - 25 years since the revolution. It's actually kind of disappointing that the Sex Pistols weren't at the forefront of this year's ceremony. The Sex Pistols were the watershed act [back then]; they changed everybody's haircuts for God's sake. They were the beginning of a new era. They may not have been as good as the Clash or as popular as the Police, but they're just as important. VH1: Should we think it odd that we'd all consider the Police a true part of that ilk? You guys were always a bit more sophisticated compared to other "punk" bands. Copeland: We were a smidge removed from it, we were a refinement of it. Version 1.0 was the Pistols, the Clash, and the Damned. Version 2.0 was the Police. We were right in there, in 1976, as the scene was coming together. But I was a few years older, and I had already played in professional bands. I had an adult savvy of what was going on. The Clash and the Sex Pistols were the genuine article. They had no idea what the f*ck was going on. They were real-deal wild kids, picking up a guitar and burning down the house. VH1: Did you and Andy and Sting feel you were pointedly disrupting some kind of status quo? Copeland: Yes. It's nice to say something and have people jump up and down. It gives you a thrill - like you're having some kind of impact on the world. Armed with all the cool stuff that we had so much fun concocting in London with all those other groups, we had [that disruptive power]. When the Police came to America and hit San Francisco, we'd get on the radio and immediately say something like "Yeah, the Grateful Dead suck." I mean... it's so easy to say. It doesn't have to be true or anything. Suddenly everyone's talking about it and about us. We get ink, we get noise, we get outrage. "What the f*ck's all this?" [Older bands] were sitting targets. There was a generation out there, hitherto unnoticed by the grown-ups of the music industry, ready to see all the heroes get eggs thrown at them. They were ready to rise up and elect, if you will, their own stars. VH1: Did some of those bands you just named view you guys dubiously because you were a bit more musically sophisticated? Copeland: Interesting. The journalists spotted us as "the wrong stuff." We were not the true phenomenon; we were a bunch of savvy guys jumping on it, and they spotted that. When the Police played live, we weren't throwing ourselves around the stage that much. We were actually playing. But the musicians of the other punk bands would come to our gigs, pick up chops, and sidle over to ask about specific musical ideas. Paul Simonon was really into his bass, and wanted to be a better bass player. I remember him chatting with Sting about bass playing, and it was almost like he didn't want to be caught by the rest of the Clash. Also, their so-called managers also learned a lot from Miles [Copeland, the Police manager, and Stewart's brother]. It was sort of like we were the smart people in town. VH1: Your songwriting was obviously strong. But many feel your true gift was arranging. You guys sounded pretty rich for a three-piece outfit. Copeland: That's the fun of a trio. Each person has a wide area to cover, and it helps build a strong character. There are a lot of four-member or five-member bands that are really great, of course. But if you get the right three guys, it simultaneously distills everything and amplifies everything. For me, it's a magic number. Even though the other night [at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony] we were just a faint echo of our former glory, we actually hit the spot a couple times. VH1: Did it come close to a decent night compared to the old days? Copeland: It came close to a fun night for me, yeah. Whether or not it equaled our sound when we were playing every night when we were 25 year old... probably not. In fact you can see it with AC/DC, who are in business, who are touring and who were tight as sh*t. They were really together! But there were a few spots where we got into terrain that compared favorably with the past. VH1: On stage, Sting made a joke about you saying that there wasn't enough drumming in the tunes you guys played, "Every Breath You Take," "Message In a Bottle," and "Roxanne." Rhythm is obviously at the heart of the Police's work. Tell us about that aspect of the band. Copeland: In the case of reggae being used in punk, the door was opened by [DJ] Don Letts. And the Clash playing "Police & Thieves" preceded the Police playing "Roxanne." We didn't do [reggae] the way the Clash did. But we were inspired by it. I knew a little about reggae beforehand. I was a DJ at the University of California at Berkeley. I was in charge of anything that wasn't mainstream American stuff. One day a package came in from Island, and it had Bob Marley stuff in it. Wow. Then I moved to England heard the Marley album with "Lively Up Yourself." That when most of the world got into it. Actually it was Desmond Dekker's "The Israelites" that first got reggae into my bloodstream. It was completely out of the ordinary, completely great. Talk about a pearl sitting there with nothing around it... it's amazing that a movement didn't start right there. VH1: The Police albums have just been remastered and released. Name three under appreciated tracks from the canon. Copeland: "Masoko Tanga" from the first album. "Deathwish" from the second album. Ahh... Zenyatta Mondatta was the album that had a couple hits, and the rest of the stuff I'm not so sure about. Ha! And finally, on Ghost In the Machine, the song "One World (Not Three)." VH1: Which disc best illustrates who you guys were? Copeland: The second album is my favorite, Regatta de Blanc. Sting's songwriting got stronger and deeper as we went along. But the band vibe part of it was at its most electric and vital on the second album.

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Re: [Police] stew drums and other qs
by Stingfan222＠aol.com 19 Mar '03

19 Mar '03

In a message dated 3/18/03 9:15:23 AM, dlucky711(a)yahoo.com writes: << but I have been checking and I cant find them releasing any of the past HOF shows on video which makes me wonder. >> I think this may be the first RRHoFame that they've even broadcast, so maybe we'll be in luck and they'll release the whole thing if they see $$$$ michelle

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Re: [Police] MIAB Now Online
by TraceyWinslow＠aol.com 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

Thanks so much for posting this, such a great song! I would never have seen this had I not been on this list. Ahh,Its good to be on this list!! :) Tracey

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Re: [Police] MIAB Now Online
by amaryll 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

thanks for the thoughts, chris! on 3/18/03 6:48 PM, Chris Orange at chrisorange(a)sympatico.ca wrote: > Bastards!! If there was a way I could download it- I'd send it to ya. >

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Re: [Police] MIAB Now Online
by SOMEDUDE20＠aol.com 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

Thank you for sharing this info. As a huge Copeland fan I was thrilled to see Message. Thanks, Sean

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Message works
by SOMEDUDE20＠aol.com 18 Mar '03

18 Mar '03

I just watched the video and it rocked. Even with a few flaws (a few mistakes, bad mix) this ruled. Stewart started this out with a bang and I swear towards the end of the song when Copeland is really free to jam Sting smiled. All you have to do is cut and past the address below and it should work. http://www.vh1.com/sitewide/videoplayer/index.jhtml?vid=20664&s1=events& s2=hall_of_fame&adPth=/asm/adsetup/shows/events/hall_of_fame/2003/&adPN=index

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