Interviews

The first word that comes to mind whenever I think of the guitar playing of Andy Summers is texture. The once and forever Police guitarist was — and still is, really — a master of tone and feel. He inherently knew how to create a sonic table setting to drape around whatever cerebral subject matter the chief Police lyricist, bassist/vocalist Sting, came up with while also leaving room for his vocals and low-end additions to both breathe and flourish — not to mention how Summers was able to weave in and out of Stewart Copeland’s truly original drumming and percussion embellishments. (Incidentally, if you want to read about some of Copeland’s finest moments on vinyl, both with The Police and as a solo artist, go here to read my interview with the man that posted on AP on June 22, 2023.)

These days, The Police are strictly a catalog act, having called it a day following their “final” reunion tour in 2008 — which I gratefully got to see at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, a year earlier on August 5, 2007 — though the Summers, Sting, and Copeland troika will continue to convene whenever need be (if only virtually) to collectively decide how to handle the band’s ongoing historical reissues and box set offerings alike.

“We don’t fight about product being put out — and vinyl is definitely living again — so we tell them [i.e., the label], “This is what we can do,’” Summers explains. “We might make one or two small suggestions, but we’re pretty much happy to go along with the fact that they want to put all that music out again. There is a market for it.”

Current case in point — the July 2024-released vinyl box set celebrating The Police’s monster-selling studio swan song, June 1983’s Synchronicity (via the largesse of A&M/Polydor/Universal Music Recordings), which houses 43 tracks spread across 4LPs and includes a cavalcade of B-sides, non-album tracks, alternate takes, and live recordings. (You can read my review of both versions of the box set [that favored 4LP edition, and the even-bigger 6CD edition] over on our sister site, Sound & Vision, right here, and you can also check out the balance of the technical-related stats and other details about what’s in/on the box [and the separate picture disc!] in my Synchronicity news report that posted here on AP on May 30, 2024.)

As a solo artist — emphasis on the word artist — Summers continues to tour his inventive hybrid live music/photography-projection project titled The Cracked Lens + A Missing String, which just wrapped its early-November run here in the U.S. following a September stint in Australia and New Zealand. (The tour will resume in Japan in January 2025.) “People will say to me, ‘Oh, it’s so rad,’ and I go, ‘You know what? It’s really an old idea!’” Summers says with a laugh, referring to his show somewhat paralleling the literal days of yore when orchestras would perform in movie theaters to serve as the live soundtracks to the silent films being shown onscreen. “It’s all my own photography that’s being shown, and it goes together with my music. It’s developed over time. Basically, we got better at it. We made some of it easier to present, because I can’t do it on my own. There’s someone at the side of the stage with three laptops that are controlling a lot of things. As I got used to doing it — standing alone, in front of an audience — I also started to talk a lot more, so, yeah, it’s come a long way.”

Summers is also not done yet with creating new music under his own name. His most recent recording (albeit currently available in digital-only formats) is an ambient, atmosphere eight song EP dubbed Vertiginous Canyons (Orchid Classics), and it serves as the ostensible soundtrack to his most recent photography hardcover collection, A Series of Glances, which was published by teNeues in March 2023. The idea was suggested to him by the publisher, so Summers came up with 23 minutes of music that can be accessed to go along with certain passages/images in the book that he’s holding in the photo above.

Summers still feels he has a lot more to do. “I’m about due — very due — for a new record,” he allows, “and I’m going to make it be a much tougher record, probably with other musicians. I’m just trying to find the time to do it in between all the live dates.” Knowing the man’s work ethic, I have no doubt Summers will once again deliver something special for us to keep spinning on ambient repeat. During a recent Zoom call to his homebase, Summers, 82, and I discussed our respective favorite Police moments on vinyl, his preferred record store haunts in England while he was growing up, and if his 1980s collaborations with King Crimson’s Robert Fripp might soon see vinyl reissues and/or upgrades. You will see light in the darkness / You will make some sense of this. . .

Mike Mettler: If you don’t mind talking about your former band’s vinyl legacy first, I’d like to start by applauding the fact that you guys in The Police decided to rerelease Ghost in the Machine in November 2022 as a limited-edition picture disc [on A&M/UMC]. I love that you also resequenced it to reflect what’s called, quote, “the alternate, ‘original’ track listing” — and you put three additional tracks on it too. And I really, really like that “Secret Journey” is now Track 3 on Side A on this version of Ghost. [On the original October 1981 Ghost in the Machine LP on A&M, “Secret Journey” was Track 5 on Side Two.] I think I told you once before that “Secret Journey” is my favorite Police track overall — and, if I remember correctly, you were playing the Roland GR-300 synth guitar on that song. Does that sound about right?
Andy Summers: Oh, it’s quite likely that I did, yes. That was a really good track. I thought that “Secret Journey” never got as much notice as it should have gotten. Yeah, I’m going to have to listen to it again. (smiles)

It’s been a long time, but you’re right — I think I used that Roland [GR-300] guitar synthesizer on it. Sting wrote the song, and it’s about meeting a remarkable man, a spiritual chief. We had this sort of Asian Himalayan kind of sound that went with it — to go with the lyrics, as it were. On it, I was playing one of the first Roland guitar synths — maybe not the first one, but maybe the second one/ I think I also used on “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” on the bridge — that kind of synthy guitar. [“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” appears as Track 1 on Side One of The Police’s October 1980 LP, Zenyatta Mondatta, on A&M.]

Mettler: What’s always struck me specifically about you as a player is that whatever you’re doing — whether it’s the rhythm line, solo, chorus, or bridge — is very unique to the song. Alex Lifeson [of Rush] does something like that too. You guys both always seem to come up with something new that fits the context of the song. That’s a measure of originality to me.
Summers: It’s your moment. It’s your guitar player moment, but it has to relate to the song somehow. I think what you do with the solo — whether it’s a hard rock song, or something else — you want to sum up the whole song with the solo: “Here’s the song, here’s the solo.” It’s all in this bit. (laughs)

Mettler: The sound textures on both the Ghost record and your new solo Vertiginous Canyons EP are prime examples of “the Andy Summers sound,” which always comes across to me like you’re creating a soundtrack for whatever the songs are about. I can visualize what you’re doing, and it’s very individual. That has to be part of your goal as a guitar player — like, “I want every song to have its own character.”
Summers: Oh yeah. I mean, you’ve got to tell this to people who want to understand music, or even guitar: “Look, you’re the musician. You must support the song in the best way possible. The song rules — not what’s behind it. You’re behind it. That’s the lead — the song — and you support that in the most interesting way you can.” That’s the mindset behind it, really.

Mettler: I totally get it. Well, you know “Secret Journey” contains my personal favorite guitar moments of yours on vinyl. Is there a particular personal favorite Andy Summers moment of yours on any of those Police records? One where you’re like, “This is where I maximized this particular song in my way”?
Summers: Oh, it’s hard without looking at all the records, because I can’t even remember all of them. (chuckles) No, that’s not true — I can. And I like all of them.

Summers: Well, I do like my “Message in a Bottle” sound. [“Message in a Bottle” is Track 1 on Side One of October 1979’s Regatta de Blanc, on A&M.] I think all the parts are appropriate to the vocal [by Sting], which takes precedence. If you’re doing rock or pop, the power is in the lead. You don’t really want to overshadow the vocal, but you can be really interesting — and be an interesting partner with the vocal.

I took all my parts very seriously. “Walking on the Moon” [Side Two, Track 1 on Regatta de Blanc] has a sequence that is, well, boring — you know, D minor, G minor, A minor, whatever. It’s very simple, and you could just strum it, but I did a D minor 11th chord with this repeating echo and chorus on it that gave it this fantastic signature. You know immediately what that song is.

Just like with “Every Breath You Take” — you know that guitar line. It’s the most played guitar line of all time in the world at this point, I believe, which is saying something. [MM confirms: Relative to that, “Every Breath You Take” was indeed cited by BMI in 2019 as being the most played radio song in history, and its number of spins has very likely increased only exponentially since then. More stats: “Every Breath You Take” appears as Track 1 on Side Two of June 1983’s Synchronicity, on A&M. The song stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for 8 weeks, and won two Grammys. And, if you want to take a break from the earworminess of it all, so to speak, and instead marvel at The Police’s own fun/clever twist on the song, check out the clearly tongue-in-cheek “Every Bomb You Make,” Track 6 on Side Two of the B-Sides/Bonus Tracks LP in above-noted Synchronicity box set (and elsewhere).]

Mettler: Right — “Every Breath You Take” has probably one of the most popular riffs to play on guitar, along with [Deep Purple’s] “Smoke on the Water.”
Summers: Yes, with “Smoke on the Water,” they’re kind of like one-two there, right? (both laugh) I mean it’s a different kind of metal — a different kind of music, but it’s an idea that’s still very striking. And you have to keep it in mind, that one in particular — “Smoke on the Water.”

Mettler: It’s really hard to get either of those riffs out of your head anytime you hear them again, that’s for sure. So, is having reissues of The Police’s records and releasing your newer solo albums on vinyl an important thing for you as an artist?
Summers: Well, yeah. I come from vinyl, obviously. I’m at an age where I’d say, “Yes, we’ve gone full circle here. Welcome back!” And some of it is incredible — just incredible audio that’s now on, what is it? 180-gram. Yeah, that’s right. Incredible. And I try to put out all my records on color vinyl. Vinyl, with color — yeah! (smiles)

Mettler: And we appreciate that, from both the collectability and playability points of view, because color vinyl can sometimes have playback issues, but I haven’t personally experienced that with any of your LPs. Now, if you follow the link on your site for where we can go to buy your solo albums on vinyl, some of your LPs are on back order, so your music is clearly selling quite well on vinyl. Why do you think that is?
Summers: It’s really quite an interesting thing. I mean, we’re getting so late in history now from the ’60 and ’70s where there were just racks and racks of vinyl that you could sift through. As you were sifting through all that vinyl when you were 16 years old, there was a great joy to it — looking at all those records and going, “Wow, look at all these great things!” Same thing with books, and bookstores.

Mettler: Oh yeah — I still love doing that, and I’m glad there are great indie record stores that still exist where I can keep doing it. And speaking of that process, while you were growing up as a kid, did you have the first, what I call “The Talisman Record,” the one you bought that was the one that started it for you?
Summers: Yeah. Well, if have to I name one, then I have to name one. I mean, as a kid, I hovered over eight records, eight LPs, that I just treasured. I was so proud to have them leaning against the window [in my room], slowly getting a little bit deeper with them, as you do at that age.

These are very important memories. Those were the days of vinyl. I absolutely loved growing out my record space on the window ledge, like half an inch at a time. It would be like, “Oh, I’ve got two more! Great. Yeah!”

Mettler: I used to line up my favorite albums on a makeshift wall display so I could see all the covers. Finding the space you need to shelve all of your albums is something that never goes away, right?
Summers: Well, the world got deeper. (laughs) Anyway, my favorite album was probably The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery [released in 1960, on Riverside Records]. He’s so important for us guitar players because, without Wes Montgomery, we’d be nowhere. He was the greatest guitarist in the world. (shakes head) God — this guy!

Mettler: I’m glad you mentioned Wes, because there’s a great reissue of a live performance of his that came out last year — a triple live collection that’s just a fantastic piece of work. It just reminds you that there’s nobody like Wes.
Summers: Is it Smokin’ at The Half Note, or something like that? I really like that one. [Summers is referring to the Wynton Kelly Trio/Wes Montgomery release Smokin’ at The Half Note, which was reissued as a 180g 1LP set by Verve/UMG (B0036829-01) in April 2023, as part of Verve’s Acoustic Sounds Series.]

Mettler: No, not that one. I’ve got it right over here, just out of reach — hold on for a moment. (leans over to find it) It’s a 3LP set called The Complete Full House Recordings [Craft Recordings CR00861, released on 180g in November 2023]. It’s a really amazing thing to have on vinyl. Now, was there one shop you went to as a kid that was your regular go-to place?
Summers: Yeah, there was. I mean, I had a few places like that as a kid. I lived in the south of England — but, of course, the deal was to go up to London with someone older than me and go to Dobell’s, the jazz record store on Charing Cross Road, which was like this cave with these very taciturn English blokes who didn’t speak to you because they were so knowledgeable, and you were just a kid. (MM laughs) They were very snobby, and they just had all these racks and racks of jazz records.

But there was one shop in my hometown that was really a pretty great store too. It was owned by this guy called Lenny, who took me under his wing to teach me about jazz when I was about 15 or 16. He would say, “You want to check this one out?” He sort of guided me through it.

Those were the earliest days for me with records, and it wasn’t pop music — well, yeah, of course, I played a bit of pop music, the simple stuff — but as a guitar player, I was moving on fast, and listening to records by Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Wes. All that changed my world.

Mettler: It sure sounds like they did. Do you still own any of those records?
Summers: Yeah, a lot! Well, some of them. (smiles) You know, life changes, and then we had CDs. I don’t have all of those albums on vinyl anymore, but I have a lot of them on CD.

Mettler: Oh, I get it. We all did it.
Summers: (nods) Yeah, we all did it.

Mettler: Right? But now, we’re going back to the records we still have saved in our collections, or we get the new vinyl reissues to replenish our collections — and we get all-new releases too. Do you have an active turntable in your system right now?
Summers: I have one in my recording studio. I don’t have one in my house anymore, because I don’t even know where to put it! But I do have one in the studio. I have a lot of records there, and I’ve still got an incredible collection of blues records. I’ve still got all that, yeah. I don’t usually go there to sit and listen to music since I usually go there to make music. But we’ve got one in there, and we can hook it up into our system pretty easily when we do want to listen to vinyl. It comes out, and then it goes back when we work. Then it comes out again, and goes back in again. (smiles)

At some point, I didn’t have one in there in the studio, and I said, “I’ve got to get a turntable in here. We’ve got to have one!” — because, once in a while, it will come up to play a record. Doesn’t matter that most everything made it to CD — we gotta play a record.

Mettler: Yeah, I’d rather play LPs myself too. Did you check out the test pressing for the solo record you put out a few years back, Harmonics of the Night? Do you remember if you went through that process? [Harmonics of the Night, a limited-edition 2LP set that Summers released in May 2022 on Flickering Shadow Records, has LP1 on red vinyl, and LP2 on green vinyl.]
Summers: Yeah, I get those, and I check them out. I call it, “The White Album.” (MM laughs) Yeah, yeah. And I’ve got them all. I don’t think I’ve got any up here right now, but I’ve got them all.

Mettler: Do you remember making any notes on the test pressings? Did you hear anything you wanted to have changed in terms of like levels, or anything else?
Summers: I played it back in the studio because I was so keen to hear it, but I think they did a pretty great job on it. When it comes to vinyl and all that — well, this is the theory, anyway (laughs) — people are more caring about it, and how it all sounds. I didn’t really have any notes. It was fine. It was great.

Mettler: I think “textural” is the right word to describe it. Speaking of textural records, I have I Advance Masked here, the first album you did with [King Crimson co-founding guitarist] Robert Fripp, which is another great example of two people mind-melding and spreading the soundfield, and in such a wonderful way. I’d love to see a reissue of both of those records you guys did together — that one, and Bewitched, and maybe you can do them both on 180-gram vinyl too. What do you think? [I Advance Masked was released in 1982 on A&M, and Bewitched was released in 1984 on A&M.]
Summers: Well, I can give you some new information on that because I’ve been in touch with Robert lately. He works with some guy who seems to be his engineer, his manager, or maybe he’s more like a partner. [MM notes: Most likely, it was David Singleton.] Fripp has his own little label too [DGM]. Well, the guy got ahold of me. I had all the master tapes, and those are all recorded on 2-inch tape. I happen to have all the tapes, but it’s a shared project — you know, 50/50. So, the guy really wanted them, and he said to me (whispers intently), “Have you got the tapes? Are there any outtakes?” I said, “I don’t know, man. I haven’t listened to them in years. We thought we put the best [of them] on the two records.” He said (whispers more eagerly), “Well, I bet there are outtakes!” (chuckles)

Anyway, it was kind of laborious. We hauled them out. We got the tapes out from storage, and they were okay. We sent them to the guy, and he found all these outtakes. The end happy result is that maybe he worked on them a bit — but the work was good. Eventually, he sent me something like 12 tracks — outtakes — from the two albums. (slight pause) They’re really good. Jesus! It’s one of those things where I went, “I can’t believe we didn’t put that on the album. Why not?” It’s really quirky, interesting stuff.

So, there’s a lot of music, and I believe that they’re going to put out a third album, or it’ll be in a package with the other two. They’re all going to come out, maybe sometime later this year, and they’ll be on Robert’s label, the one that puts out all his stuff [the aforementioned DGM].

[MM clarifies: As of this posting, there has been no official word from the Fripp/DGM camp regarding an impending release of that vintage Summers/Fripp music as a new vinyl album, individual LP reissues, and/or as a new vinyl box set — but whenever there is full confirmation, we will, of course, be all over it!]

Mettler: Oh, I cannot wait to hear all of that, whenever it comes out. Okay, so let’s wrap up with this one. I’m going to throw us 50 years into the future, to 2074 — and, as I like to say, unless some weird science is going on, you and I may not physically be on the planet then. So, however people listen to music 50 years from now, and they type in the name “Andy Summers” or “The Police” into their listening device, what kind of listening experience do you want that person to get from your music?
Summers: Well, I think it would be a whole-body experience — some sort of transporting experience. You’d tap the side of your nose to get it, and it would just visually appear in front of you. In the end, you’ll just go, “Oh yeah, that’s what I want.”

Mettler: Yeah, that’s probably how they’ll do it. (taps side of nose) What do you want them to get out of listening to your music? What do you want them to feel?
Summers: Well, I hope — surely, if you’re making music, you hope that, in the most grandiose sense, it’s great. It’s eternal because it was good, and it always had something to it. I mean, look at The Police catalog. It’s lasted so well, and it’s still one of the best, big sellers. So, there’s something I think that’s got to be in the actual music itself. Technical things will change, but you can’t change the music. You can just present it with a different audio option, I suppose — or words to that effect. That music isn’t locked into a time, and I hope that my grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren get to enjoy it. Will it last as long as Beethoven? Well, I like that idea, so I’m going to go with that.