22 September 2013
Newsdesk
CNN’s interview with Sting.
ON THE INSPIRATION BEHIND HIS NEW ALBUM, THE LAST SHIP:
Becky Anderson: “The Last Ship”, tell me about it.
Sting: “It’s set in my home town…my earliest memory is of a massive ship, we built the greatest, biggest ships ever constructed from planet Earth at the end of my street. I would watch these things grow…and I used to wonder if I was gonna have to end up there.”
“I took up music, realised that was a way to escape…now I have this huge passion and urge, to go back and try and figure out what it was that I was born into because it was quite a surreal landscape…and a very powerful and symbolic one, so as an artist it is your duty to return, at least in a creative way … and give that place honour.”
ON MUSICAL INFLUENCES OF HIS NEW ALBUM, THE LAST SHIP:
Becky Anderson: “The album incorporates … friends from the North East and traditional music….can you describe that for me?”
Sting: “I wanted... the music…to reflect the musical richness of the culture in the North East which was very rich… it has an original Northumbrian music…kind of Celtic. The history of Northumbrian music is very rich. In the 19th century there was a massive Scottish immigration and then a huge Irish immigration so I was brought up in an Irish community, a Catholic community and so that music added to the texture and … of course rock n roll… so this music reflects all of those influences. There is not much rock n roll in it. It’s a mixture of folk music and a tip of the hat to musical theatre.”
ON A POLICE COMEBACK:
Becky Anderson: “I have to ask you about reforming as The Police…was it a one-off experience?”
Sting: “It was a very successful exercise in nostalgia and don’t think that’s a bad thing…do I need to do it again? I don’t think we do. I think you’d get diminishing returns in every sense from it. The exercise was successful.”
ON HIS IDEAL PERFORMANCE:
Becky Anderson: “What’s your idea of a perfect gig?”
Sting: “When no one asks for their money back – that miracle. I do appreciate an audience’s patience and I do like it when an audience has gone on a journey with you. I like them to not be rabid from the first moment – I like to take them with me.”
ON MUSIC STREAMING:
Sting: “Younger musicians trying to get a career, they need to be paid…and the current streaming model doesn’t really help them.”
Sting: “People have to get the idea that music is not free, you know people don’t mind paying four dollars for a coffee but they seem to object to paying 90 cents for a song and a song is much more valuable than a coffee, believe me.”
