STEWART Excited about band's rehearsal form

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Police drummer Copeland excited about band's rehearsal form

By Stuart Derdeyn, The Province
Published: Monday, April 30, 2007

Police drummer Stewart Copeland doesn't mince words when talking about the group's coming tour.

"It's going to be an incredible tour, because we're sounding fantastic as players," says Copeland. "I think the other two guys have been practising and playing a lot in the last 20 years.

"We're slaying ourselves at the start of it all in rehearsals, that we've got these songs that are such a perfect vehicle for our playing."


The band opens its 30-year reunion tour in Vancouver with two sold-out shows at GM Place on May 28 and 30. The British trio's tour, its first in well over two decades, is the top-selling one this summer. And it all started right here in British Columbia at Lions Gate Studios in North Vancouver.

Copeland, speaking from his home in Los Angeles, is looking forward to coming back.

"We started this up there and had a wonderful time. But it was also where we saw another for the first time in two decades and we had to cut through a lot of the cobwebs, and we really made a lot of progress."

"We started out sounding like a high school band, then a college band and then like a bar band. Then, by the end of the two weeks, we sounded like a world class mega-band for the one song at the Grammys. Afterwards, we spent a month in Italy -- in the magic Sting-dom -- and we've been getting a lot better."

Fans of the group can expect to hear an equal mix of greatest hits and favourite album tracks in the set lists. Many versions will surprise and excite audiences, Copeland says.

"We're re-writing these songs as we go along. We've been finding the right mix of playing the song like it's written on the can and also bringing something new to the party."

At this stage in rehearsals, his three top picks are "When the World Is Running Down," "Message In A Bottle" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."

"That last one is like a diamond. It's impossible to carve up in any new ways. Yet we've found some new tricks for it and they're exciting."

Look for the Province's complete Stewart Copeland interview in our full Police preview on Sunday, May 27.

© The Province 2007
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