The Police

Sting and Stewart Copeland keep spreading the Police gospel in their live shows, but - it seems - they have no intention of getting the band back together, even though they remain on good terms. On the occasion of the reissue of "Synchronicity", the English band's last album, released in 1983, Stewart Copeland told the Guardian in an interview about the moment that led to the making of the record, also revisiting the perennial subject of his relationship with the other two members of Police, Andy Summers and, above all, Sting. "We had a great bond, but it wasn't strong enough to make it easy to record together - the drummer said - We tore each other apart in the studio, but those two created incredible things and we got along really well on stage, on tour buses, on planes. Even today we send each other silly videos on Instagram. It's a legend that Sting and I fought all the time. I once broke one of his ribs, but we were actually just messing around".

The incident happened on stage at Shea Stadium. "We were doing our soundcheck and having a great time - Copeland recalled - At one point Sting grabs my New York Times, and I go, 'Fuck, give me mine...' So we end up in a tug of war over my New York Times. In the end I had to knee him in the chest to get my bloody paper back. Mind you, we were both laughing hysterically. And then, 'Oh, fuck. Fuck, Copeland! Damn! You always go too far.' I took my paper back and that night we played one of the best gigs we've ever played. It was a magical evening. The next day, he still felt a bit off, got an X-ray done and had a hairline crack in his rib! But no, we never really fought. We had psychological weapons that were far more devastating".

As for the reasons behind the reissue of "Synchronicity" as a box set, Copeland explained: "Police had an epiphany thanks to the Beatles documentary, 'Get Back'. Each of us learned, separately, that the final master is in no way diminished by showing the sketches or demos along the way. Our fourth album, 'Ghost In The Machine', got us into stadiums, and then 'Synchronicity' made us even bigger, but the recording sessions were a very dark time. We tore each other to pieces. We've laughed about it since, but we've never been too keen to relive that dark period. Still, it was fun listening back to the demos and the songs that got left out. So I think we'll do more reissues. We're starting from the end and working backwards, like Richard Wagner's 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' Tetralogy".

In another recent interview - on the occasion of his return to Italy with the show "Police Deranged for Orchestra", an ambitious project that reinterprets the English band's classics in a brand-new orchestral guise - Stewart Copeland had said: "Sting and I are very close friends and we get along great, as long as we're not together in a recording studio or on stage. I'd love a reunion, but it won't happen. Or rather, there's a one-in-a-billion chance. Never say never... The problem is we get along fine until we play together. And I don't want to ruin everything". And regarding the band's breakup he had added: "We had become the band backing Sting", concluding however: "Don't tell him, but Sting is a fucking genius!".

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21/01/2026