Stewart Copeland on recording The Police’s Synchronicity: “We beat the crap out of each other”

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While The Police may have put out some legendary albums throughout their career, drummer Stewart Copeland says that making those albums wasn’t necessarily a pleasant experience.

“We had a great bond, which wasn’t strong enough to make recording together very easy,” Copeland tells The Guardian when asked about his relationship with bandmates Sting and Andy Summers. “We tore each other’s throats out in the studio but those two motherf****** came up with incredible stuff and we got on really well on stage, in the van, on the plane.”

As for their current relationship, Copeland shares, “To this day we still send each other dumb Instagram clips. It’s a myth that Sting and I fought all the time. I broke his rib once, but we were play-fighting.”

The Police are set to reissue their final and most successful album, Synchronicity, on July 26, and Copeland describes recording the album as “very dark.” 

“We beat the crap out of each other,” he says. “We’ve laughed about it since, but going back into that black hole isn’t something we tended towards.” 

The super deluxe edition of the reissue includes 55 previously unreleased tracks — alternate takes, instrumentals, demos and live recordings — and Copeland is hinting at that other albums may get similar treatment. 

He notes, “But it was such fun listening to the demos and songs that didn’t make it, so there will be more reissues. We’re starting at the end and working backwards.”

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