When Stewart Copeland first started playing drums, his jazz-playing father gave him a copy of a Buddy Rich record. At the time, he was smitten with The Kinks’ punkish simplicity. As a result of this sudden complexity, he carried a duality of inspiration with him to The Police. As any drummer will tell you, while it may not be obvious to the casual listener, Copeland’s subtle fills are extremely difficult to perform well.
His intricacy, on the other hand, was acutely aware of the purpose for which it existed. “I think it’s hysterical that both Ginger Baker and Charlie Watts called themselves jazz drummers,” Stewart Copeland quipped when Far Out interviewed him in 2022. “They were ‘Rock Gods‘. Saying ‘I’m a jazz drummer, not a rock drummer’ is comparable to saying ‘I have classical training’. But we all experience these moments. “I mean, I am an opera writer!”
Nonetheless, one genius proudly remained within the realm of rock. He accomplished such spellbinding results within the genre’s limited vocabulary that he irreversibly altered popular music. “Jimi Hendrix fucked everything up,” Copeland remarked about his 1967 album, Are You Experienced. The Police sticksmith opened a can of worms by twisting the blues so dramatically that they no longer resembled the blues at all.
Copeland’s life was transformed by the energy of his creativity. “That was it for trumpets and trombones,” he said, setting aside his old classical albums by Igor Stravinsky for a moment. “Now it must be the guitar with a row of massive Marshall amps. I would sit in class and draw Marshall amps, which was rather simple, even with the tilted top cabinets.”
The entire band blew his mind, too. He concluded, “Mitch Mitchell blew me away, of course. I was recently on a plane and watched Hendrix’s documentary about the Isle of Wight. It’s one of the few live recordings with audible drums; the rest of the bootlegs have extremely loud guitars. And you can see Mitch playing; the things he did was impressive. I believed I created all of the things I was proud of. But no, I got it from Mitch.
His admiration for Mitch stemmed from the fact that he had no ego and was content to play second fiddle to his boisterous leader, merely adding to the mix. As he told us about his other drumming hero, Ringo Starr: “At long last, he’s being recognized for the musician he is. Singers and guitarists typically only want a backbeat: ‘Give us a plain backbeat, nothing spectacular.’ Ringo did more than that, and it was great to hear a drummer like that.” Nonetheless, he catered to the song’s requirements, providing a rhythmic accent that elevated the ensemble without ever showing off.
But then there are performers like Jimi Hendrix, who showed off in high style and threw a curveball at rock.
