Outlandos d'Amour: 1977/79

Austere Police lead British rock's New Wave...

The Attache Hotel is an unimposing four-story structure tucked between two high-rise monsters on the Hollywood oceanfront. The yellow paint is peeling outside. The pool is modest. The lobby is small. A room for the night costs $21.

Four buildings down the road is the plush Diplomat Hotel, a rock star's delight, where a room for the night costs $55.

The three members of the English New Wave rock group, The Police, stayed at the Attache during a recent stop in South Florida, although their current stature is deserving of the Diplomat. After all, the week they were in town, their debut album 'Outlandos d'Amour' was in the top 25 of Billboards chart, their single, "Roxanne," was in the top 40.

But The Police know the value of money a lesson they learned as performers who had to form their own label, then scrimp to raise the $1,000 needed to record their first single.

Onstage the night before at Fat Cat's, a Hollywood rock club, The Police were also the picture of economy, making more music than seemed possible of just three men. The group's founder, Stewart Copeland, punched out arresting beats on his drums. Guitarist Andy Summers stayed almost still while tossing off more licks than a family of cats. And Sting, the bassist and vocalist, weaved his high-pitched, half-falsetto voice over the crowd to create wholesale excitement.

The Police worked hard to get where they are. As Sting put it succinctly in the coffee shop, "We started at the very bottom... we were confident... It's a real fairy tale."

What happened is that The Police had the instincts to spot the New Wave trend, and enough talent to become a spearhead for it. It was a calculated success, they'll tell you unashamedly.

"I lived in London and would go to clubs and there would be these kids there listening to this new music," Copeland said. "They were having a great time... and I believed this scene would develop." So he and Sting, along with punk-rock guitarist Henry Padovani, set up shop in mid-1976 as The Police.

"I figured we would play music that kids would understand," said Copeland. "So I laid down the commandments of New Wave for our group: There shall be no guitar solos. There shall be no songs longer than three minutes in length. There shall be no distorted guitars. That sort of thing. The whole concept from the start was to keep everything simple." 

They formed a record company, Il-Illegal Records, raised $1,000 and put out a single, 'Fall Out'. The record eventually sold about 10,000 copies, and the group had enough money to record an album. Once Andy Summers replaced Padovani, things really started to happen; he was an accomplished guitarist who had played with the Animals, Kevin Coyne and Kevin Ayers.

The Police went into the studio and recorded their current U.S. hit 'Roxanne' in January of 1977. Since the lyrics are a love song to a prostitute, it got little airplay; neither did their next single, 'Can't Stand Losing You'. But 'Roxanne' brought the group a contract with A&M records.

"In the summer of '77, we decided to come over to America, largely based on the press we had gotten," continued Sting. "A&M said, 'Don't come over, please! You have no US. album... no US. single out."

"But we were starved of gigs in England. We hired a van and some gear, and the three of us and a road manager just came here on our own.. to see what would happen.

"What happened was people started calling up the A and M office and asking about this new group, The Police. That first tour not only educated the public; it educated our record company..."

The rest, as they say, is history. 'Roxanne' was released in this country on a sampler album, started picking up airplay, and was released as a single. The Police's English album, 'Outlandos d'Amour' was also released here. The fairy tale was coming true.

"I think people are surprised to see that we can actually play," said Sting. "We're not punks, we're musicians. If you couple our energy with musical intelligence, you have something."

The Police had the instincts to spot the New Wave trend, and enough talent to become a spearhead for it. It was a calculated success, they'll tell you unashamedly.

(c) Wichita Beacon by Bill Braunstein