Sting says he wouldn't have taken part in the 2007-08 reunion tour with The Police if he knew that all he'd get out of it would be nostalgia.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer admitted that he more or less got what he expected, but 15 months of looking back on the good ol' days with bandmates Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers left him unfulfilled.
“At the time I labelled the tour an exercise in nostalgia," he told Reader's Digest. "That was simply how I felt and is still how I feel today. I think it’s OK to be honest about your feelings and that was the way it went for me."
He continued: "That's not a slight on the people I was with or the way things panned out, it’s just how I saw it by the end, and let’s be honest, that’s not how I wanted to remember it.
“If I thought that would be the emotion I’d be leaving with, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place.”
Speaking of his solo career, Sting elaborated on his philosophy as an artist. He says he revels in the "total freedom" of being a solo act, where he can make "exactly the brand and style of music that feels right."
“Music, in every form, is a collaborative process, but never more so than in a band, where you have to consider other people almost more than you do yourself," he said. “To have total career freedom is, for me, the ultimate thrill of being a solo artist.”
Copeland and Summers have also released a wealth of solo work in the years since the Police's initial breakup. The trio remain in touch, though there's little interest in another go-around as a band.
Copeland noted in 2019 that the three are happier together as friends than as bandmates.
"We know that when we go into that rehearsal room together we're going to start screaming at each other again, and I'd rather laugh," he said."
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