I thought this might please many of you, it's an
article i was reading on Tim Commerford of Audioslave.
Turns out him and Brad Wilk (Drummer of Audioslave)
are huge Police fans. They metionned the Gateshead
show.

Enjoy!

Kinetic kid

FN= Fender Interviewer
TC= Tim Commerford

FN: That goes back to Buddy Miles from Band of Gypsys
…
TC: That’s it! Buddy Miles is freakin’ sick. (Jimi
Hendrix Experience drummer) Mitch Mitchell too! He’s
the best (laughs)! He would’ve been a better addition
to the Band of Gypsys. There’s something about the
controlled chaos of Mitch Mitchell …


FN: Mitchell in turn inspired Stewart Copeland,
another favorite drummer …
TC: C’mon! My father-in-law and I were talking about
The Police, and he was asking me about Stewart. I told
him that I think he might be the best rock drummer
ever! Brad and I have a DVD of the Ghost In The
Machine tour, and we just watched it about a week ago.
And you know, Sting simplifies the bass lines and
doesn’t play the intricacies of what’s on the record
while he’s singing, which kinda sucks. He’s not like
Geddy Lee, where the guy’s actually playing the exact
stuff that he plays on the record. But it still
sounded good; he simplified them in a cool way.

But then Stewart Copeland is so sick! He actually
makes you forget that the bass line is a little more
simplified. Then you start to listen to Andy Summers,
the most unsung guitarist ever. It feels like, during
the course of a song, he changes what he’s playing ten
or 15 times. He keeps changing it every time he comes
back to it, and it’s never the same. And it’s never,
like, in your face. It’s always in the background. I
was so blown away by Andy Summers. I’m a huge fan of
the Police and always have been. But like I said, we
just watched that, and I thought Andy Summers was so
great. We went back and listened to songs by focusing
on Andy Summers. We were blown away!


FN: And you think it’s studio trickery, but when you
hear it live …
TC: No, it’s him! It’s incredible! And he doesn’t
screw up. They played “The Bed’s Too Big Without You,”
and I couldn’t even figure out what he was playing. I
asked Brad, “Where’s the ‘one’?” But he did it so
perfectly. That guitar part is so crazy in that song.
It’s unbelievable man. They hold up and withstand the
test of time. If there was a reunion show, it would be
the greatest one ever!


FN: Did you see them reunite at their Rock And Roll
Hall Of Fame induction?
TC: Yeah. Tom was there doing some other stuff, and he
had a ringside seat. Tom told me that Andy and Stewart
wanted to do more songs, but Sting just said “No.” Did
you see Sting’s tour where he played Police songs?


FN: No.
TC: He had Josh Freese on drums and played at the Roxy
in Hollywood. Talk about dramatic—Stewart Copeland was
standing right in the middle of the house!


FN: Are you kidding?
TC: I’m not kidding. That’s sick! You know, Josh is a
great drummer, but he doesn’t play like Stewart
Copeland.


FN: Nobody does.
TC: That’s the beauty of that guy. It was his band. I
saw the Behind The Music (laughs)! Stewart Copeland
was the brains behind the whole thing. He’s such an
incredible drummer. And you’re only as good as your
drummer. I’ve said that so many times, and it’s the
truth. You can be the slammin’-est bass player in the
world, and it doesn’t mean a thing if your drummer
sucks. It really doesn’t. And Stewart Copeland is the
greatest “start” or foundation of a band. That he’s
able to make those beats that he plays sound like they
groove even though they’re really not those kind of
beats, you know? I love that!


FN: It’s interesting that you play with Brad and are
so into Copeland. Their styles are so different …
TC: Oh yeah, but you’ve got to hear us go off on our
Rush tangent. We bust into “YYZ.” It’s really
weird—when we were kids coming up, that was the song
that we had to learn. It was the same for Brad. I
learned that song. That was it. I can play “YYZ.” And
when I first learned it, it wasn’t exactly right. Then