For years, a reunion of The Police seemed unimaginable but, as Stewart Copeland reveals to Rhythm, it wasn't as if he'd lost touch with Sting and Andy Summers. "We always got along really well socially, just as long as the P-word didn't come up," says Copeland. "'How are the kids doing? How's the new record? How's your new house?' Anything and everything until somebody else at the table says, 'So, guys, are you going to get together and make a record again?' There goes the atmosphere!"

The impulse for the subsequent massive reunion tour came from Sting. "He woke up one morning and said, 'Hey, I want to do a tour,' and he called Andy and me," says Copeland. The new box set, 'Certifiable', captures the band live in Buenos Aires. "The main event is the documentary, rather than the concert in my view," says Copeland. "The fact that it was shot by my son Jordan has nothing to do with my high opinion of it. This opinion is shared by others, including Andy and Sting.

"He established a relationship and rapport with everybody - he was able to get interviews with Andy and Sting that nobody else could get because they've known him all his life and he's a very clever lad. Sting is particularly difficult and Jordan got material from him that nobody else ever has."

The fact that the documentary, 'Better Than Therapy', came to fruition at all was a surprise to Copeland, who describes Sting as being "allergic to film, particularly film of himself". An unexpected side effect has been that the drummer is now similarly afflicted. "I'm now a little bit allergic to seeing myself on the screen," explains Copeland. "I never thought that would happen. You have your inner vision of how groovy you look and then you see film of yourself. That's not what I thought I look like. It was devastating - I still think I'm 25. I look at the film and I see this old bastard. 'Who's that?'"

© Rhythm magazine (Feb 2009)

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