Robonzo.com

I had the great pleasure of catching Stewart Copeland on my hometown radio station KFOG. Just last week, Andy Summers was interviewed by the same station. To echo the sentiment of a KFOG personality, “what cool guy!” Copeland’s humble demeanor left me with a greater sense of admiration for the guy than I had in years past. For me, Copeland fits into a category of drummers that I consider to be the stylistically elite. The guys is a technically great drummer, but that quality is surpassed by his unique style. That said, I’m sure he was formally trained as a jazz drummer, however, it was the sound environment of The Police that helped his huge sense of style shine. In recent years, Copeland has been much more the film producer than pop drummer. Following a ten year hiatus from the drums, Copeland was coaxed back onto the kit in 2000 by Oysterhead cohorts Les Claypool and Trey Anastasio. As one might expect, Copeland exhibited a nice sense of humor during the call with the KFOG crew. I was a fan of The Police during the popularity and even became of fan of the Sting’s solo work. However, Sting’s ensuing public displays of eclecticism eventually put me off to such a high degree that I actually started to somewhat dislike The Police–guilty by association. Thank gods for guys like Copeland and Summers. I actually hope I get to see them on their upcoming tour. With so much more that can be written about Copeland, I’ll leave it at this: What a cool drummer!