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An Arresting New Development - Page 3

© Greg Camden

However, Stewart's faith in The Police never wavered. He founded a record label, Illegal Records, specifically for the purpose of putting out "Fall Out." Between 2,000 and 5,000 copies (varying accounts exist) of The Police's debut single were pressed in May of 1977, he and Sting themselves putting the records into their sleeves, then taking the records from shop to shop to sell them, then putting up posters wherever they could find space. "Our first record was entirely a tribute to Stewart's energy and focus," Sting recollects. "The band wouldn't have happened without him."

The Police were once again nearly derailed later that month. Sting was offered, by bassist/producer Mike Howlett, singing duties in a newly formed group, Strontium 90, shortly to be playing a Paris concert which would be attended by an audience of 5,000—a staggering amount of people compared to the minuscule numbers which would come to one of The Police's shows. Sting accepted the gig; and when there was a problem with Strontium 90's drummer, Stewart went along with Sting to Paris. At the band's first rehearsal, the two of them met Andy Summers, who was Strontium 90's lead guitarist. Stewart saw the future of The Police and had no qualms about going after it. "Mike Howlett wanted to steal my group, so I stole his group!" he would later explain. For his part, upon seeing The Police, Summers, who had been looking for something new after bouncing around the music scene for over a decade (he was nearly 10 years older than his future bandmates), was intrigued, but he felt that The Police ought to be a trio. Initially, Andy joined the band as part of a quartet, but after a few shows (the first of which was on July 25 at the Music Machine in London), The Police went into the studio to record their first album . . . without Padovani; and although the recording session (with former Velvet Underground member John Cale producing) proved to be a bust, one significant step in the band's genesis had been taken: The Police as the world would come to know it came into being.

But The Police did not immediately set the world on fire. After the final lineup's first show (on August 18, 1977 at Rebecca's in Birmingham), a failed European tour followed (yielding, according to Andy, "only a few gigs with The Damned who happened to be touring Holland at that time" and a couple of last-minute shows in Paris). The Police came back to London with no prospects except for a chance (via Summers's music-business connections) to back up German composer Eberhard Schoener (who was extremely impressed with The Police)—that, and one other thing: while in Paris, Sting, after walking through a red-light district, had written "Roxanne."

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