Stewart Copeland, influential drummer/founder of seminal 80s band The Police and acclaimed film, opera, and orchestral composer, continues his musical journey today with Police Deranged for Orchestra, a new album(Shelter/BMG) which explores the band’s best-known tracks through a new lens, inspired by his recent forays into expansive musical forms and instrumentation.
Stewart Copeland: The Police Deranged for Orchestra began in 2021 as an evening concert bursting with The Police’s biggest hits including ”Roxanne,” “Don’t Stand Too Close To Me” and “Message in a Bottle” arranged for full symphony orchestra as well as hand-picked highlights from Copeland’s compositions. The project which went on to become the genesis for the album has toured with sold-out dates across the US and Europe, and will continue through the summer.
The resulting album revisits Police hits newly arranged for full orchestra alongside bassist Armand Sabal Lecco (Paul Simon), guitarist Rusty Anderson (Paul McCartney), and vocalists Amy Keys, Carmel Helene, and Ashley Támar. Percussion and drums were arranged, orchestrated, and co-produced by Copeland. The music was conducted and co-produced by Edwin Outwater and produced and mixed by Craig Stuart Garfinkle.
Unlike his earlier compositional work, Copeland explains that the “derangement” of The Police’s music began as a score for a movie he made out of Super8 footage of the band that he had shot during their rise to glory.
This year also brings the fall release of Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries, published by Rocket 88 Books and available in three editions. The book is based on and includes Copeland’s personal pocket diary entries from 1976-79. With scans of original pages and Copeland’s new background commentary, its pages are illustrated with classic and previously unseen photos from the early “starving years” of a band poised for global success. More information on Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries can be found here, and read more here in the meantime at Rolling Stone.
“It's full of my original diary pages, hand-made poster designs, ragged accounts, callow observations and other scribblings of a proto-rock star, illuminated by hitherto unseen vintage photos from the deepest vaults,” Copeland told SPIN earlier this year. “It’s a big, noisy book about one heckuva ride.
Concurrent with his early work with The Police, Copeland developed a solo recording alter-ego, Klark Kent, releasing singles and a self-titled 1980 album on which he played all the instruments, - even vocals. The cult album was re-released on April 14th (Record Store Day) on BMG. Klark Kent was credited with inspiring Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters) among many others.
The Police Deranged for Orchestra Live tour, with U.S. and international dates, features performances by locally based symphony orchestras along with the core six-member band/ vocal ensemble. The tour, soon underway once more, has also announced a string a four additional dates in the Midwest and Northeastern US . See updated information at www.stewartcopeland.net/716/events-and-tours and a full list of tour dates below.
POLICE DERANGED TRACKLIST
Don’t Stand So Close To Me
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
King of Pain
Demolition Man
Murder by Numbers
Roxanne
Tea in the Sahara
Can’t Stand Losing You / Regatta de Blanc
Every Breath You Take
POLICE DERANGED WITH ORCHESTRA LIVE
June 30: Luxembourg - Kinnekswiss Loves Festival, Parc Municipal
July 12: Udine, Italy – Piazzale del Castello
July 14: Umbria, Italy – Umbria Jazz Festival, Arena S. Guilana
July 16: Trento, Italy – Parco dei Tre Castagni
July 24: Gardone Riviera, Italy – Vittoriale
July 25: Florence, Italy – Piazza S. Annunziata
July 27: Taormina (Sicily), Italy – Teatro Antico
September 30: Omaha, Nebraska, US - Holland Center
October 5: Denver, Colorado, US - Boettcher Concert Hall
October 8: Detroit, Michigan, US - Orchestra Hall
October 19: Carmel, Indiana, US - The Palladium - Center for the Performing Arts
October 21: Erie, Pennsylvania, US - Warner Theatre
October 22: Erie, Pennsylvania, US - Warner Theatre
