Former The Police guitarist Andy Summers sat down with Ultimate Classic Rock and talked about his photography career, his latest release, ‘A Series of Glances,’ his current tour, ‘The Cracked Lens + A Missing String,’ and so on. When asked if he has been taking photos during his current tour, he mentioned he tries his best, and emphasised the importance of balance between his passions:
“I hope to do it. I walked out in somewhere, like Boston, and managed to shoot a few pictures. I normally would do that, but it’s a balance. In my case, if you’re playing that night, I don’t want to wear myself out – like getting so excited by doing photography I can barely play. You know, parcel it out. You learn these things as you go along, you have to measure your own ability to do this much. Most people don’t go out and take photographs in the street and then go and do a concert. That’s not normal.”
One of the questions was about the three albums the guitarist would take with him to a deserted island. He responded, explaining why pop music wouldn’t work in such a case:
“God, that’s very difficult. Well, let’s say ‘Kind of Blue,’ Miles Davis. Probably something from [fellow jazz great Thelonious] Monk. Maybe some Bach cello suites. There wouldn’t be any pop music because it just wouldn’t last. You’d go out of your mind. You have to have sort of immortal music if you were ever in that situation, and you never know.”
In the interview, Summers also explained why he thinks a good photo’s features should parallel with a good song:
“I think all great art should be musical in quality. I certainly think that about writing. You know, if I’m reading various books, which is sort of nonstop, I think at some level I’m looking for a musical quality in the way the sentence is laid out, the phrasing.
And with photography, a lot of the terms of music translate across into light, line, shape, form, what you don’t put in, so on and so forth. You’re trying to give a photograph a quality that’s musical, like a great chord you might find on a guitar. There’s a resonance to it which could be a little bit more out there or really straight ahead.”
‘The Cracked Lens + A Missing String’ tour started on June 12 and will continue throughout fall until December 10. You can check the dates, tickets, and more information here.
