Sting’s Canoe.ca online chat transcript July 6, 2000
Gord: With all the B-sides, soundtracks and other rarities you have
put out over your solo career, do you have any plans to release a box
set retrospective in the near future?
Sting:Well, there are so many that it would take a lot of work and I'm
very busy at the moment. But I suppose at the end of this tour I'll be
looking for something to do and there's always a couple of jewels
you've forgotten about.
WD: What did Sting think of George Michael's version of
"Roxanne", and has he any plans for a cover of "Wake Me Up Before You
Go-Go"? ;-)
Sting: George is one of my favorite singers and I thought the song was
ultimately successful. Different than me. I already covered “Wake Me Uup
Before You Go-Go” but nobody liked it.
Dawn: I'd like to know how you manage to keep the band and crew
inspired while you are on the road for such extended periods of time?
Any funny jokes?
Sting: Cruelty, threats blackmail....and when that doesn't work I have
to pay them well and give them a good time. Everyone likes to be on a
winning team this season everyone's very happy.
Iaia: Krishnamurti used to say that there
are no silly questions, but intelligent answers. This is a silly
question, give me a good answer. What do you think before going to
sleep, at night?
Sting: What do I think? Ummmm I often think that sleeping is not a
talent I have and the other thing he taught was how to switch the mind
off but I've never quite managed it.
Nadine: There have been many times in your solo work where you
have taken a departure from the wonderful style that defines you work,
and you try something new. What have you yet to attempt and which
experiments with different sounds and styles did you enjoy most?
Sting: I don't really set myself and parameters and my basic premise is
that I make music to have fun. I want to tackle just about anything if
it seems like fun so I mean creativity is not about obeying rules but
about breaking preconceptions people have of you.
Chris: Hi Sting. Are there any Canadian music artists you enjoy
listening to? If so, who?
Sting: Yes ... Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bruce
Cockburn, Brian Adams.
Ralph: Hello Sting, Honestly, What would it take for the Police to
record a few songs? The music you make together is very special. The
Beatles Anthology was special. can something be done similarly for the
Police? Thanks.
Sting: Well, if the Grand Canyon were to rejoin itself maybe there
would be a possibility. We got back together for my wedding. It made me
firm in my belief that its best to let sleeping dogs lie.
Christina: I'm sure everyone is going to ask, but is
"Englishman in NY" in Central Park going to become a reality? And if
so, when?
Sting: It would be a very nice idea but its top secret. I can talk
about it maybe next month ...if its true or not.
Brigitte: What did you learn from your teaching career that helped you
with you as an artist now?
Sting: I think every experience; I've had has somehow entered the
program and teaching is not unrelated to entertaining. My job is to
entertain children for our time and they would learn as a side effect I
hope. I think its quite significant that I was a school teacher. I
enjoyed it.
sting's #1 fan: is it difficult to see your wife and children while on
tour? have your family ever asked you to contemplate "early retirement"
so that you can spend more time with them? is it difficult for them to
"share" you with the world?
Sting: Um, that's a good question. Obviously the tension between being
a family man and having a busy schedule...I think its a matter of
finding a balance. If I stayed away all the time I wouldn't have a
family...If I was home all the time I wouldn't be happy. It's a balance
most people have to find.
Alexander: Will you ever release an album of the standards you
have done in various different settings (i.e. Round Midnight, My One
and Only Love), or of the B-Sides to your singles? Songs like Pirates
Bride, Lullaby to an Anxious Child, End of the Game, are among your
best in my opinion.
Sting: I do have a great deal of material of that nature in the
archives and again it would just take a great deal of work to compile
it. Maybe someday...although I wouldn't want it to seem that I'd run
out of songs. An acoustic set almost limits what you do. Whatever a
song needs I'll do.
Ken Johnston: What was that what/flanger type effect(s) you used on
your bass in the earlier days of the Police?
Sting: I used to double all the bass lines on my fender guitar so you
played to octaves, any flanging was basically a mistake on my part.
Christina: Is it true that you will be receiving a star on the Walk of
Fame, and if so, will it be during your stint in L.A. this August? I
live near Hollywood Blvd. and would love to come down to say
congratulations.
Sting: Well, I've been offered the honor but I was too embarrassed to
accept it. To have to go down there and get on your hands and knees.
Its not really what I need. I do respect everyone else who has one but
its not the kind of thing I look forward to.
sting's #1 fan: does your son Joe have a band? if so, will he ever be
an opening act for your shows?
Sting: My son would not be my opening act. He's too good. He has a
number of bands he's a very good musician and a talented artist and he
doesn't need to be associated with me.
Erin: I am an attempted rape victim, and had it not been for
your music, I don't know if I would have made it through the ensuing
period alive. At the risk of being melodramatic, I cannot imagine my
life without your music. Please, continue to provide us with your
thoughtful music and beautiful voice. Tell me you won't stop singing
until you can no longer.
Sting: I get a lot of letters from people who've been through intense
situations and I have to say that music has been a healing influence in
my own life. I don't think I'll ever stop singing. I think I'll stop
breathing first.
Jay: Your latest tactic is to assume the perspective of others. A dog,
a dolphin, a prostitute, etc. What about assuming the perspective of
Sting himself? Aren't you inspired to write from your own life
experience anymore? We want you, dude.
Sting: Ummm.....I think there's a time in your life when you write
biographical songs and then there's a time when you don't need to. Its
a time when you see the world from different perspectives. That's how I
feel at the moment. I'm not hiding anything.
Tom: what do you think of different gear remix of 'when the
world', does this mean that the police will reform to perform this
song? well it was worth asking any way, keep up the excellent music.
Sting: I think its actually in the charts in England. I don't mind
people remixing the songs its not something that I would necessarily
get involved in. I don't mind people using is as a basis for a new kind
of art.
Dario: If there was one year in your life that you could live again,
what year would that be and why?
Sting: This year's been pretty good but to live it again would be
boring. I have no interest in repeating. I'd rather live in this moment
right now to the max.
Macha: Hi, Sting, I saw you in an interview 10 years ago, and
you said you can't write when you are happy. Do we have to wish you to
be unhappy?
Sting: I think this was my modus operandi when I was younger. I needed
to be in crisis to be creative. Now, it is different. I really don't
think it is worth sacrificing your life to be creative. I would rather
be happy than be creative. I think I have managed to prove that it is
true. You can be happy and creative at the same time. That was a young
man talking. I didn't know very much.
Isabelle: I read somewhere that you hate some song, one song
that you had composed for the police. I don't remember the name of the
song, but it was really popular. Why do you hate this song?
Sting: I don't remember hating any of the songs I have done. I think
this is misinformation.
Sophie: I saw your show yesterday at the Molson Centre. It was a very,
very nice evening. What are you doing to be in good shape like that?
Sting: :-) Well, I do yoga every day. And I do two hours of a show,
which is very athletic. So I spend four hours of my day with physical
exercise. When I was younger, I was an athlete. I liked the discipline
of training. I was a runner.
Bec: Dear Sting, Do you enjoy the fact that you are so well
known or do you ever wish that you could just go out and do ordinary
stuff without being recognised? Caught your show at the Royal Albert
Hall and it was fantastic, Thank You.
Sting: Yesterday I walked through Montreal on my own and one guy said
to me "I can't believe you're walking around like this" and I said
"It's my right". Fame is not a bad thing I enjoy being famous. I enjoy
being treated normally ..I don't like being chased or hysteria.
Alex: Do you intend to release a live album in the near future?
Sting: I made a live album about 14 years ago so maybe its time to tape
a few shows to see how we're doing on this tour. It would be largely
based on what this current tour is.
Kym: What new project(s) is Trudie involved in at the moment?
Sting:
She's producing movies, made a sequel of Lock Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels and running a family.
Jay: Can you tell us about the situation you were in with Lynn which
spawned "Don't Stand So Close To Me"? What was Lynn's last name?
Sting: Maybe he knows more than I do!
Jorge: How many songs have you recorded for Disney's "The
Emperor's New Groove?"
Sting: First of all, the film was called something else. It was called
"Kingdom of the Sun," with a different set of characters. I wrote six
songs for those characters. And then the cast got fired and they
changed the director. They changed the script and then they changed the
title. And then they asked if I wanted to stay on to do some songs for
"The Emperor's New Groove." So I wrote two songs for "The Emperor's New
Groove." The beginning and the end. I really did two movies for them.
My wife actually did a documentary on the making of both movies. It is
quite dramatic, because everything falls apart. And then it comes back
together again. Some of those songs will appear in the making-of movie.
Moderator: Will it be released?
Sting: I would think so. It's called "The Sweat Box." It is about the
whole process of collaborating on an animated film, from the
point-of-view of the directors, the animators, the producers, the
Disney infrastructure, the actors, me. And how the film is ... how
difficult it is to make such a thing.
Moderator: When will the movie that became "The Emperor's New Groove"
see the light of day?
Sting: It comes out before Christmas.
Sting: I'm grateful that I have fans and its nice that they've taken
trouble to come online and ask me questions and listen to what I have
to say. It's nice to speak to you all! Good-bye.
