Police drummer reflects on documentary

Stewart Copeland's documentary about the Police will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah next week, and he's feeling reflective about his time in the band. The movie is called Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out, and the drummer put it together from the collection of Super 8 film he shot during the band's run. Copeland said, "I wish I'd enjoyed the ride more. The concerts where I was playing with the best band in the world - we were given the biggest gift in the world - why am I not cracking a smile?" Even with that bit of personal regret, he said, the movie is "very cheerful."

When the Police broke up, there were bad feelings all around, but there is no footage of the guys "looking pissed off at each other," although Copeland did say, "We could have been nicer about (the breakup)...there was a lot of shouting." He added that the reason none of that material made it into the film is because "I put my camera down the last year or two. I felt like I should be living it instead of shooting it."

Copeland also said that singer-bassist Sting and guitarist Andy Summers have seen and approved of Everyone Stares, even though they weren't involved in organizing it. He said, "If I'd made it partially their documentary as well and we'd all gotten together, it would have been, 'Why don't we record another record?,' and since that ain't going to happen, I guess the band movie isn't going to happen, so I just made it on my own."

Copland is negotiating to release Everyone Stares: The Polce Inside Out on DVD, as well as the soundtrack - which contains his reworking of seven Police tracks -- but no deals have been announced yet.

Copland told us that he can't put his finger on why the Polce's music is still appealing, 22 years after the band broke up:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "You know, you can look back and say, 'Well, it must have been the fact that we introduced reggae. That was kind of a new ingredient,' or something. OK, well, that's one reason, (but) there's other bands that do that. 'Well, it must've been the fact that we all had blonde hair.' Well, that's possible. You know, you look for reasons why, but really, there's no way of figuring it out. We are just very blessed."
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