Zenyatta Mondatta: 1980/81

The Police Steal Show at Tower...

"The Police did a lot of proselytizing on the subject of new music-versus-old," says drummer Stewart Copeland. "We also made a lot of loud noise about the lousy state of radio and all those dinosaur bands. In the process, we were tagged as 'new wave.' But really, the only tag that belongs is 'Police music.'"

Heavy metal, blues, space rock and reggae coexist comfortably in the music of this rambunctious, high volume trio. But it's their Jamaican rhythmical cop, proclaimed by Copeland as "the most exciting thing to happen to music in 30 years," that has given The Police their biggest hits to date the love song to a hooker 'Roxanne' and such infectious follow-ups as 'Message in a Bottle', 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da'.

In America, The Police are still on the chase for fans, playing mid-sized halls like the Tower Theater, where they appear Wednesday night at 8 for Midnight Sun Concerts. Virtually everywhere else on earth, a Police state has already been declared. In Britain, for example, all three of their albums are currently on the Top 25 album chart the first time that's happened since The Beatles reign.

The Police have been together only three years, but at their forming had a wealth of eclectic experiences behind them. Guitarist Andy Summers' credentials included The Animals and Soft Machine. Lead singer and bassist (and sometime film star) Sting came out of a jazz background. Drummer Stewart Copeland was a progressive rocker in "hippie" groups like Curved Air - "one of the few which had the good sense to recognize their music was no longer relevant, and toss in the towel."

Copeland also brings to his calling a unique perspective to world culture and music business affairs. Though born in Virginia, he spent most of his "displaced youth" in Egypt and Lebanon, where his father ran the show for the CIA. (Inspiration, no doubt, for the Police monicker.)

Meanwhile, Stewart's older brothers Miles and lan Copeland have for some years been important forces in music management in Great Britain, with acts like Renaissance, Climax Blues Band, Al Stewart, Joan Armatrading and Wishbone Ash in their stable. Younger bro learned a lot from hanging around the office. "It's real easy for a group to get in over their heads, when the record companies are offering big advances, and egos are allowed to run wild. Eventually, my brothers had to disband their management firm, tear up all their contracts and start over."

The Copeland family operation is now the number one importer of new wave music to the United States, working through their FBI talent agency and IRS record company. The Police laid the ground work for the operation. Traveling in a small van, toting their own equipment, the trio demonstrated how an unknown group could "break" in America; playing small clubs, picking up $200 a night, and still meeting expenses. "We proved you could survive with low radio play, get by on 20,000 album sales, with just a buzz going."

Rockers totally arrested by The Police should be informed that Stewart Copeland also has a wifty alter ego named Klark Kent, with a 10- inch album out on IRS Records. "He's a product of Westinghouse technology," proclaims Copeland, "a 12-year-old child genius/idiot savant, and a subsidiary of the Church of Kinetic Ritual. He's also a hell of a dancer, his poetry and ballet are superb, and he's a noted film star in the Egyptian film industry. 

When he makes pronouncements, the words have a prophetic ring. But I don't personally believe in demagogues. All I do is inflict his recordings on the world."

(c) The Philadelphia Daily News