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Stewart Copeland - The Police

Stewart Copeland Tama Drums

Click here for Stewart Copeland Drum Chart The first video is The Police's first live performance of Message in a Bottle. The second video is the best live performance I've seen of Copeland playing message in a bottle. He is killing it on this one! The third video is a different band covering Message. I know this is a Stewart Copeland page but this website is for helping drummers get ideas for our own gigs first.

Notice that he doesn't play it exactly the same as the original. That's why I don't take much stock in note-for-note transcriptions. You should get familiar with his vocabulary and then play the music in a Copeland-esq way, while being yourself. Check out his up-beat snare/cym. hits and his Hi Hat licks.

If you want to take it further tune your drums like him. I recently read in Modern Drummer's Drumming Gods II issue that he CRANKS the top head and uses the bottom head for tone. Try it. It could be cool but I wouldn't use it all night long in a top 40 band. That's just me.

Mr. Stewart is a great innovative drummer. Check him out!


Stewart Copeland Official Site





This is a great video from Tama about Stewart's drums. Check out Adrian Young playing Message in a Bottle

Stewart Copeland Paiste Cymbals

Paiste

Set Percussive Sounds Finger Cymbals Suspended

Set Percussive Sounds 15 pc. Finger Cymbal Row

8" Percussive Sounds Rotosound No. 2

Set Percussive Sounds Sound Disk No. 1, 3, 5 Suspended

Set 2002 Accent cymbals 2, 4, 6 Suspended

13" Accent Gong

Set 2002 Cup Chime # 1,2,4,6,7

8" Prototype Splash prototype 10" 2002 Splash 11" 2002 Splash 12" 2002 Splash

13" Percussive Sounds Sound Plate No. 2 Set Crotales 2 Octave C6-C8

60" Symphonic Gong

5.5" Percussive Sounds Sound Disk No. 2 6" Percussive Sounds Sound Disk No. 1

Set Percussive Sounds 15 pc. Finger Cymbal Row

4" Percussive Sounds Sound Disk No. 4 4" Crotale E6 7" Percussive Sounds Rotosound No. 3 4" Percussive Sounds Sound Disk No. 5

6" Signature Splash 8" Signature Splash

10" Alpha Metal Splash

10" 2002 Splash 8" 2002 Splash 10" 2002 Wild Splash

12" Signature Flanger Bell

18" Twenty Crash

14" 2002 Flanger Splash

12" Prototype Hats prototype

8" Signature Bell

18" Signature Fast Crash

22" Signature Blue Bell Ride

8" Signature Splash prototype 10" Signature Splash

16" Signature Full Crash 17" Signature Fast Crash

18" 2002 Flat Ride prototype

18" Signature Full Crash

Stewart Copeland Tama Set-Up

Starclassic Maple Shell Color : Police Blue Sparkle* H/W Color : Chrome Drums : a 18"x22" Bass Drum (SMB2218)

b 5"x14" Stewart Copeland Signature Snare Drum (SC145) c 8"x10" Tom Tom (SMT1008)

d 9"x13" Tom Tom (SMT1309)

e 16"x16" Floor Tom (SMF1616)

f 16"x18" Floor Tom (SMF1816)

g 8"x12" Tom Tom (SMT1208)

h OCT443N * i OCT472N * j OCT536N * k OCT600N *

* Custom Color Hardware : 1 Iron Cobra Power Glide Twin Pedal (HP900PTW) 2 Iron Cobra Lever Glide Hi-Hat Stand (HH905) 3 HT430 Round Rider Trio

Stewart Copeland was born in Alexandria, Virginia, the youngest of four children of CIA officer Miles Copeland, Jr. and Lorraine Adie, a Scot who served in British intelligence.

The family moved to Cairo, Egypt a few months after his birth, and Copeland spent his formative years in the Middle East. In 1957, the family moved to Beirut, Lebanon and Copeland attended the American Community School there. He started drum lessons at age twelve and by age thirteen he was playing drums for school dances. Later he moved to England and attended Millfield from 1967 to 1969. Copeland went to college in California, attending California Western University and UC Berkeley. He returned to England in 1975, playing drums for the progressive rock band Curved Air.

Stewart Copeland is known for his precise, energetic, and creative rock drumming along with a reggae and jazz influenced style. His distinctive sound centers on a hard, high-pitched crack on a snare drum or rimshot, subtle hi-hat work with understated flourishes, while often playing only hi-hat with bass drum. Copeland is a master of the syncopated beat, and his distinct approach consolidates his position as an important drummer on the world stage, subsequently influencing generations of drummers. His credit on Curved Air's Airborne album was "Heavy Artillery" rather than "drums."

Copeland is also noted for his heavy emphasis on the groove as a complement to the song, rather than displays of technical prowess. He once drove this point home at a drum clinic: Copeland announced that he would show the audience something "that very few modern drummers can do," and proceeded to play a simple rock beat for two minutes. Nonetheless, his playing often incorporates spectacular fills and subtle inflections which greatly augment the groove. Compared to most of his 1980s contemporaries, Copeland's snare sound was very bright and cutting. Another novelty was his use of splash cymbals. He also is one of the few rock drummers using the traditional grip rather than the matched grip.

Stewart Copeland currently uses Tama Drums, Paiste Cymbals, Remo Drum Heads & Vater Drum Sticks.

In 1977, Copeland founded the Police with singer/bassist Sting and guitarist Henry Padovani (who was soon replaced by Andy Summers), which became one of the top bands of the 1980s.

Copeland also recorded under the pseudonym Klark Kent, releasing several UK singles in 1978 with one ("Don't Care") entering the UK Singles Chart that year, along with an eponymously titled 10-inch album on green vinyl released in 1980. In a 2006 online chat, Copeland "revealed" (with tongue in cheek) that A&M Records signed the Police in order to get Klark Kent.

In 1982 Stewart Copeland was involved in the production of a WOMAD benefit album called Music and Rhythm.

In 1983, Stewart Copeland would compose the musical score and earn a Golden Globe nomination for his scoring of Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish. The film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola from the S.E. Hinton novel also had a song released to radio on A & M Records "Don't Box Me In - Theme From Rumblefish" - a collaboration between Copeland and singer/songwriter Stan Ridgway, leader of the band Wall of Voodoo, that received significant airplay upon release of the film that year.

After The Police stopped touring in 1984, Copeland established a career composing soundtracks for movies (Talk Radio, Wall Street, 'Riff Raff, 'Raining Stones, Surviving the Game, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Highlander II: The Quickening, The Leopard Son, She's Having a Baby, Taking Care of Business, West Beirut, I am David), television (The Equalizer, Dead Like Me, Star Wars: Droids, the original pilot for Babylon 5, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee), and video games (Spyro the Dragon and The Agents), along with operas (Holy Blood and Crescent Moon, commissioned by Cleveland Opera) and ballets.

In 1985, Copeland released a solo album, The Rhythmatist. Featuring drums and percussion, the record was the result of a pilgrimage to Africa. In 1988 he followed up with The Equalizer & Other Cliff Hangers, an album collecting some of his soundtrack efforts.

In 1989, Copeland formed Animal Logic with jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and singer songwriter Deborah Holland. The trio had success with their first album and world tour but the followup recording sold poorly, and the band did not continue.

Copeland has occasionally played drums for other artists including Peter Gabriel. In 2000, he joined with Les Claypool of Primus (with whom he produced a track on the Primus album Antipop) and Trey Anastasio of Phish to create the band Oysterhead. In 2002, Copeland was hired by Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors to play on a new album and tour, but after an injury sidelined Copeland, the arrangement ended in mutual lawsuits. In 2005, Copeland released Orchestralli, a live recording of chamber ensemble performing music of his own composition on a short tour of Italy in 2002. Also in 2005, Copeland started Gizmo, a new project with avant-garde guitarist David Fiuczynski. The band made their U.S debut on September 16, 2006 at the Modern Drummer Drum Festival.

In January 2006, Copeland premiered his film about the Police called Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out at the Sundance Film Festival. In February and March, he appeared as one of the judges on the BBC television show 'Just the Two of Us' (A role he later reprised for a second series in January 2007).

At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Copeland, Andy Summers and Sting performed the song "Roxanne" together again as The Police. This marked the band's first public performance since 1986 (they had previously reunited only for an improvised set at Sting's wedding party in 1992 and for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003). One day later, the band announced that in celebration of The Police's 30th anniversary, they would be embarking on worldwide The Police Reunion Tour on May 23, 2007. Also in 2007, he released the compilation album The Stewart Copeland Anthology.

In March 2008, Copeland premiered a new composition at "An Evening with Stewart Copeland", at the Savannah Music Festival. The appearance will also feature a screening of his documentary and special guest artists.

The above Stewart Copeland article is from Wikipedia.



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