Sting rules out future reunion with The Police: “I’m happy not to be in a band”
Since the band’s farewell in 1984, many fans have prayed that one day The Police might reunite for a new album. However, in a recent interview with Music Week, Sting, the band’s frontman and bassist, has thrown some cold water on the coals.
In the Music Week interview, Sting discussed Police’s reunion tour from 2007 to 2008 and revealed that the band were happy leaving their history there. Asked if he’d recommend reunions to other legendary bands, Sting replied: “Once!” he said, before explaining: “You should do it once, and the timing should be right.
“When the Police reunited, it had been long enough, and it was the right time to do it. And I’m taking credit for that because that was my decision. Doing it again would just be gratuitous and that won’t happen. But we did it, and everyone was happy that mum and dad got back together again and had one last fling.”
The virtuosic Police drummer Stewart Copeland previously described the band’s reunion as both a “pleasure and pain.” Sting appeared to concur with this sentiment. “[I] t’s an intense relationship,” he said. “You start out in a band together, and you live together; you sleep in the van together; you share hotel rooms. Your life is completely welded with the other guys in the band, and that’s intense.
“We still love each other and respect each other, but I’m happy not to be in a band. I have much more freedom and when I have my own band, everyone’s role is very clear. We just get on with the job. When a young band starts out, the roles are much more flexible and that creates tensions. But it’s all natural, of course…I think it gives you a competitive energy, a buzz.”
“[T]here comes a point where it just gets in the way of the creative process and you’re dealing with ego as opposed to actual musical ideas or the currency of musical ideas. When the flow stops, that’s when a band has to break up,” he added.
Sting later confirmed that he, Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers hadn’t humoured the idea of writing any new material together. “It was – what’s the word – nostalgia, with recreating that thing for a short time. No, we didn’t even try.”
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.