Stewart Copeland once picked the “most inspiring” drummer
While he might not be as prominent as the likes of Neil Peart and John Bonham, the former Police sticksmith Stewart Copeland is undoubtedly one of the greatest drummers rock has ever seen.
A remarkably distinctive player, Copeland is known for his broad dynamic range, which utilises jazz-styled articulation in his snare hits, interspersed with assertive backbeats and soft rim comping. Whilst in the Police, he also made his name by exclusively engaging the hi-hat and bass drum to keep the beat. In short, he poured real character into his performances.
Hits like ‘Walking on the Moon’ and ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ clearly evidence the breadth of the bespectacled drummer’s talent and why his most eminent peers laud him so greatly. It reflects the gravity of Copeland’s efforts behind a kit that the late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins, labelled him one of his “heroes” and even proclaimed that ‘Synchronicity II’ was one of the songs he wishes he wrote.
In light of his natural dynamism, it makes sense that Stewart Copeland takes inspiration from a diverse array of drummers. He made this clear during a discussion with Far Out in 2022. At one point, the former Police member was asked about Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham, as both relied heavily on their back pedals to keep the energy in a song.
Whilst Copeland explained that he is inspired more by John Bonham now than he was as a teenager, he said that it was The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s drummer, Mitch Mitchell, who was the “most inspiring” of all his heroes.
“I’m more inspired by him now than I was growing up,” Copeland said. “It was all Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell then, and Bonham came later. I liked the fact that Ginger used his tomtoms a lot. He was playing more of his drums than the others, as was Mitch Mitchell, who was probably the most inspiring out of all of them. It was between him and Buddy Rich. Mitch Mitchell just had that electric spark that was just perfect for Jimi Hendrix on guitar. As a frustrated guitarist myself, that was a problem; ‘Who am I?’ ‘Am I the guitarist, drummer or both?'”.
This was not the first time Copeland had effused about Mitch Mitchell, as he once Classic Rock in 2015: “Mitch Mitchell blew me away, of course. Just recently, I was on a plane, and I watched the Hendrix documentary about the Isle of Wight. It’s one of the only live recordings on which you can hear the drums; on all the bootlegs the guitar is so loud. And you can see Mitch playing – the shit he did was remarkable. All of this stuff I did that I was rather proud of, I thought I came up with it. But no, I got it from Mitch.”
Watch Mitch Mitchell in action below.
