Stewart Copeland Advises Talking Heads, Smiths to Reunite

Of the most sought-after reunions in rock, the Police were one of the last major holdouts, staying, as drummer Stewart Copeland tells Spinner, "Particularly silent in its absence." But after doing the tour, Copeland believes other famous holdouts should follow suit. We asked him about the Talking Heads in particular since they come from a similar scene and era he describes as being "about anti-nostalgia."

"I would advise them to give it a try because of two reasons," he says. "One, in most bands that I know, and certainly my own band, you have a real bond with your band members. Love them or hate them, there's a bond. We in the Police found and slayed a lot of dragons. We really put a lot of misconceptions about each other and ourselves to rest. We conquered the world together, same as Talking Heads. They have had a big part in each other's lives and wouldn't it be great if they all got along? It's like burying the hatchet."

The first reason sounds good to us, so what's his second point? "The other thing also I would advise Talking Heads is that it's really very exciting to perform the kinetic ritual of this established material," he says. "Man, when you go out there with those old songs, the songs themselves have such impact, they resonate with such power. It's about the history of the songs, the emotional response that people have. It is really a thrill to light people up with a song they all know the minute they hear the opening chord. That's an exciting feeling."

The Police have famously had a very tense dynamic, but the reunion tour resolved much of those differences. "I really felt that in the Police it was a really worthwhile exercise just on a personal level, an emotional level," he says. "These two guys, Andy and Sting are really important to me and I'm very glad now that we've figured our relationship out."

If the Police can put it all together and come out of the experience feeling so positive, why can't other famous musical divorcees, like say the Smiths? Would he advise them to try it as well? "I don't know anything about the Smiths, but yes," he says. "It isn't any act of courage to not do it. What quality does it take to say no to something like that?"

Does this mean there's more to come from the Police? "The Police, as I've said, are each a bitter pill the other must swallow and yet the medication is very effective," he says. "This therapy I would recommend to be administered I'd say every 20 years."