The Police drummer Stewart Copeland recently opened up on the creative dynamics within bands. He took a shot at his former bandmate Sting’s approach to songwriting.
During an interview with 60 Minutes, Copeland talked about the fundamental difference between his role as a drummer and the songwriter’s perspective. He highlighted his passion for the physical act of drumming over serving the song itself.
“I wanna bang stuff. I wanna be Mitch Mitchell with Jimi Hendrix burning down the house, and it’s all about the physicality of banging stuff. It’s a lot of fun. I was a scrawny kid and a late developer, but then when I banged on my first drum, now I got chest hair,” Copeland said.
Stewart Copeland said he doesn’t see songs as the main focus of a band, but rather as something that should serve the band and enhance its image, emphasizing that while good songs matter, the band’s energy and identity come first.
“Now, if you’re a songwriter, you have this exotic idea that the purpose of a band and the musicians is all to serve the song, and that the song is the central focal point. Now, I will allow that a band ain’t going nowhere without a great song, but the reason I bang stuff is not to serve some song. The song, I regard, is there to serve me, to serve the band, to make the band look cool. You need cool songs,” he explained.
Copeland then concluded his remarks with a particularly pointed observation regarding his position as a drummer and his relationship with the frontman.
“But I can well understand how that would not jibe with the perspective of the person who wrote the song, which might actually be about something important even. But I’m a drummer at the back of the stage, and all I ever see is the back of the singer’s head, so I don’t care what he’s singing about. I just want to bang stuff,” he said.
