Sting says: My record is called "All this time" And it was recorded in the North of Italy in my home and it's a live record.
Jules Holland says: I heard a bit and it's great. You revisit material.
Sting says: We basically reconvigured songs and remade them. BEcuase we'd been playing these songs for 2 years. The last thing I wanted to do was that, it was some value added.
Olivia: Sting, one of my dreams/goals in life is to meet you just once. Do you still have any dreams/goals that you want to fulfill? If so, would you tell me?
->Sting replies: You know, I'm not a terribly ambitious person. All the dreams I had as a young man have been realised. I wanted to make my living as a songwriter, musician, to have a good relationship, family, friends. After that, what is there I want? I want to stay healthy, be of use to the world.
Jules Holland says: BUt you are very unusual because you play live a great deal. Do you think that makes you much stronger as live performer?
Sting says: Well I didn't have a choice. Going up and down the motorway. That's the way I do it. Now there are many more options. Going on the road, that's my way.
Wendy&Dave;: Sting, we understand that you and Jools perform a duet on Jools' new album. Can you tell us how that came about and a little about the song you perform?
->Sting replies: Jools and I have been friends for over 20 years. He was in a band called Squeeze, the piano player. We were in the police. BOth management company and record tours, I've performed with him on anumber of occassions. He plays with countless luminaries on this album inc. Wilie Dixon and I picked a song that opens his big band album, and I am very honoured.
sophia: Hi Sting. Can you please explain the significance of the bracelet you wear next to your watch?
->Sting replies: Okay. This was given to me, I think in Spain, I was doing yoga backstage and this guy turned up and said you're doing good work and he put this on my rist. I later found it it was a Sanskrit inscription. I really like it. It's a nice thing. It's a nice little mantra.
Wendy&Dave;: Are you and Trudie planning to host a Rainforest Benefit show next Spring, and if so, will it be at Carnegie Hall?
->Sting replies: Yeah. I think we have Carnegie Hall booked. I'm not sure what the theme is. That's really Trudie's dept. I will be there and all the usual suspects, I hope.
Olivia: Sting, in much of your music, there is a sense of growth and understanding in life. What is one of the most important things you have learned in your life?
->Sting replies: I think when I was setting out, in my early 20s, I thought I knew so much, was very confident about knowing how to write hit songs. Now I know far more and I realise there is far more to learn than I ever had a chance. So in a way having more knowledge makes you more humble, to realise how big the whole thing is. That's a wonderful adventure and will never stop. That's one thing that will save me, is my curiosity.
You once said in a TV interview 'The most beautiful thing in music is the silence'. What did you mean, and who said it first?
Rebecca wants to know: Do you get sick of being labelled a tantric sex god?
miraculix: When we can see you next time in a movie?
->Sting replies: I haven't made a movie since 'Lock Stock..' and I've been so busy touring. I don't know, I'd like to do another movie. I'd like to play a little part, not too much responsibility, interesting character role, not heroic types.
Sting says: I have this telescope, you can look into this telescope and see a million stars, it's the most exciting thing. We have these problems in the world at the moment, people should do that, it's a wonderful thing.
Olivia: Sting, you've been an inspiration to me musically, and in so many other parts of my life. Thank you for that. My question is, who has always been an inspiration for you in your life and career?
->Sting replies: Hm. Probably everyone I ever heard. I was very lucky growing up, coming to musical consciousness in the 60s because the world exploded in a creative way with the Beatles, Dylan - you know, it was an amazing time to come to realise the world. So they inspired me, the Beatles. Miles Davis too.
Mrs.Floyd: Why there isn't a second part of Jeremiah's Blues?
->Sting replies: Hmm. Mrs Floyd, I haven't written it yet.
Paulie: Your music is very personal, certain tracks reminding me of certain times in my life. Is this the same for you? And which track would go with what memory?
->Sting replies: I like that kind of feedback from people when the say, 'I remember your wedding because your song was played', or the occasion, you know, or my father/brother died and your album has helped me in the grieving process. Because that's what i think my job is, to provide the soundtrack for people's lives, to make things better.
Joost from Holland: How would you have helped the rainforest if you were not famous?
Nicole: Have there been moments in your life when you were so sad that you could drown the whole world in your tears ? If so , what did you tell yourself to make yourself feel better ? Nicole, 17 from Germany
->Sting replies: Well there are moments when you feel overpowered by depression, a lot of people suffer and you shouldn't feel isolated, it happens to us all at one stage or another. You basically have to breathe, in and out, and find something to focus your attention on, whether it's a cat/dog/friend... finding something to help, to care for, is the best way often of solving your problems. Finding someone worse off will often help you too.
Sting says: It's also a soundtrack to my life because although not biographical, they're from a reservoir of experience. And that's good, memories are a very important human quality.
dine: what is your favourite meal
->Sting replies: Depends! I'm pretty adventurous food wise. I have a nice garden at home and we grow our own food so it's nice to have organic food where you know where it's come from.
Demolfi wants to know which songs you'd like to cover, and why?
Wendy&Dave;: Have you had chance to visit Segedunum yet, the Roman Fort/Museum which is near your old home in Wallsend?
->Sting replies: (Sting corrects pronounciation!) LAtin for the end of the war. It was the end of the Roman Empire, Hadrian's Wall.
Jules Holland says: Favourite topiary shape?
Sting says: A large pheasant! Big tail, big beak
funnygirl2001: Have you drunk from the fountain of youth?!
->Sting replies: Yes.
william: Thanks to your fabulous bass riff of Walking on the Moon I decided, back in '79 (I was 12) that that's what I wanted, "to play the bass". I'm still playing it with lots of passion and so are you. I'm curious to know whether it is also your most favourite instrument to play and listen to? Or do you have other favourites? William
->Sting replies: I wish I was a better guitarist, but I'm not. I think the bass allows me in my limitations as a musician to direct things in a band to a great extent. The bass controls the harmony. I can alter the harmony of the band. Dynamically I can affect the band, it alters the perameters.
Sting says: I think the fountain of youth really is curiosity, and flexibility in the mind and the body. I haven't achieved it yet, if I have an ambition, it's that.
Wendy&Dave;: Have you ever thought about recording an album of your favourite songs? Most of us love the standards you do for soundtracks such as "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Sabrina" but we really need a full length album of them!
->Sting replies: I do have a collection of standards that I've recorded over the years as both duets and on my own. Putting it out I don't know, it sends a signal that you haven't got any songs left! I would like to put it out at some point when I feel like it in the future. I don't know.
adrianna: Who is your favorite author? Could you choose 3-5 books, which you recomend for everyone to read them? ( I�m sorry, my english isn�t good enough.)
->Sting replies: I'm going to be an English teacher here. I think the greatest American novel ever written is Mark Twain, who wrote Huckleberry Finn. Perfect plot AND characterisation. A perfect line between those two things. I like Moby Dick, Catch 22, Gravity's Rainbow (Tho. Pynchon). American novels really. I'm reading now a book about the Third Reich by Michael Burly. It's devastating, makes me cry and is terribly sad.
Jules Holland says: What standards would you do that you haven't recorded?
Sting says: I think my voice suits the romantic ballad more than anything else, so anything sort of Gershwin era, 30s 40s. You don't want to compete with Sinatra, you have to bring something different to the genre.
Paulie: My girlfriend and I saw your last night on tour in Hyde Park. It was a magical evening but I am curious just how you manage to make the event so personal and refreshing for what must be an ardous tour?
->Sting replies: That was the last show of almost 300, we played 51 countries, 2.7m people. You would think I would be sick of it by now, I'm not. There's something about walking on the stage that gives you the most amazing buzz. I'd do it every night if I could. Only thing that stops me is I'd get a sore throat if I did it every night of the week.
Desert: Greetings, Sting, from NYC. Fabulous show last week! Curious as to what are you plans after your December tour ends?
->Sting replies: Well, I am working up until XMas to promote this live album, and then I'm going home to watch the grass grow, the river go by at the end of the garden, do I have anything to say, do I have any more musical ideas - I don't know the answers. Hopefully I'll have something
roxanne005: What kind of things do you like to do with your kids?
->Sting replies: They're all different ages. Youngest is 5, eldest 25, 11, 16, 17, 18. So I do different hings. With my big son we go to the pub... my 11 year old likes me to read Harry Potter, things like that - go for walks. Normal stuff
Sting says: My thing is to keep learning about music, and life. So you just apply yourself as a student and things come to you. I'm going to watch the grass grow, and things come to you then.
georgia: here's a silly question for you..boxers or briefs ?? :-)
->Sting replies: Briefs. I don't feel comfortable in boxers.
annaclare: If only one of your songs could survive over time, which would you most like it to be and why?
->Sting replies: I can't really separate the songs, for me it's all one continuous idea that's evolving. I wouldn't have written 'Every Breath...' if I hadn't written others before that - they all were part of a process of me figuring it out, so I'm not sure I can separate them like that.
Wendy&Dave;: How scary was your near accident at Florence airport earlier this year?
->Sting replies: I landed in a little plane in Florence, quite a short runway. It was me, my tourmanager, 2 pilots. I landed and the pilot said I haven't got any brakes, we can't stop. They'd turned the engine off so there were not retro brakes either. So we hit a fence but we had a long time to think about it. I felt quite detached, happily. I think it was the most violent thing I've ever expeirenced. Everybody was fine. Totally broke the plane. I remember getting out and laughing at the joy of everyone being fine. It was on the net within 25 mins. I'm glad nothing happened to any of us.
Kathy: It's been 15 years since your last live album, what made you decide to record a new one?
Mrs.Floyd: What do you think about Alanis Morissette's version of King of Pain and would you ever do a version of the song with her?(That would be just great! the two best singers in the world together - except for Janis Joplin)
->Sting replies: I like Alanis alot. She's a very original artist and I was thrilled when she covered my song, and very intruiged. Do we need to sing together? Who knows. The nice thing is you meet people in an organic way, by accident, but would be nice.
Shell: Do you believe that love can last forever?
->Sting replies: Yes i do. i think it's the only thing we can really count on in this world. everything else is in a total state of flux. it holds the whole thing together, all that we have at the end of the day - love for each other, the world, for yourself. it's terribly important.
narif: Each of your songs have a meaning, what is the meaning behind the song Ghost storties? this is my best friends favorite song. I have listened to this song about thousand times, but can't figure out the meaning behind it. please help me understand
->Sting replies: People often interpret my songs in a different way to how they were intended but I would never contradict anyway, unless it was perverse! But that's the interesting thing about songs, you can invest meaning in them from your own life. So except to say that the song is about my father.
aeiou: why did you change the name of the new album?
->Sting replies: Okay. That's a good question. The LP was recorded on Sept 11, that appalling day, recorded that evening. Originally called 'on such a night' but ridiculous in the context of what happened that day. it was intended to be a joyous celebration of 2 years of work. And then this terrible massacre. And it became a different event. We had a webcast that night and we did one song, Fragile, as I thought it was appropriate. We then had a minute's silenece, as a mark of respect, and then we shut the website down. I asked people what they wanted me to do. I was in shock, but as the night came on the mood became more healing and almost defiant in a way, and we kept the tapes on. The band played out of their skins. I played in a way I never have before. It's what it is, it happened on that day.
Karel: Hello Jools and Sting, nice to see you together again. Sting, any chance you cover Squeeze again? ,-)))))
->Sting replies: Yeah, one of my favourite songs that I never wrote was 'tempted' and i did cover it on some album, and it's a great song, and those 2 are great songwriters, always a great band, and it was nice to cover it. Cool for Cats?
lena: do you enjoy doing these "webchats"? aren�t they boring, talking to people you don�t know, always telling how much they love you?
->Sting replies: You know I've done a few, this is the 3rd or 4th. I enjoy the challenge, you never know what's coming in. Also it's a nice forum, hearing people's feedback. It's not bad, hearing nice things!
aeiou: which is your best memory performing?
->Sting replies: I'll never forget Sept 11, for a start, for all the wrong reasons. There are amazing countries I've been to. This year I've been to Lebanon, Egypt, EAstern Europe, S America. Places I've never been to before.
Sting says: You do feel connected.
Sting says: I take my chess set, but my favourite one got nicked!
megb: Hello Sting. When you write songs, do you come up with the lyrics first, the music, or is it a combination of the two? How are you inspired to write? Thank you.
->Sting replies: There's no one way of doing it. Sometimes the lyrical idea will come first. I'm attracted by paradoxical statements, eg, I'm so happy I can't stop crying. Or a musical idea, your fingers find something on the guitar. 'Walking on the Moon' I was singing this bass riff, it wouldn't go away. Sometimes simultaneously, I wish I knew!
Sting says: I play chess with Dominic, jason rebello is very good. Chris Bodie is a very good player. I don't mind losing but I'm very competitive.
mantis: how did u celebrate ur 50th birthday?
->Sting replies: Well after Sept 11 I didnt' feel like celebrating. I cancelled my birthday. My wife and I went to the Lake District in N.England. Went walking. She cooked, I washed up, it was fantastic.
Nicole: Why did you choose to wear black today ?
->Sting replies: Ah, actually wearing green underneath. Brown suede shoes. I like the sweater, it's warm but light. Black is this year's black, isn't it? I've got a camel coat here.
brandnewday: hello dear Sting, my question for you: if it was possible to be an unknown man for one day, what kind of thing would you do for which you don't get the chance being a popstar?
Mick: Where did you get you basegitar and why are you so attachted to it?
->Sting replies: My current fave is the one that I adopted 7 or 8 years ago, a very old Fender P-bass from 56 or 54. I adopt battered old basses, I have an orphanage for these old instruments. I love them because they were made by Mr Fender himself, by hand, not a factory line. They just feel, I just love them. I like all the paint and varnish coming off...
Jules Holland says: Do you like looking at historic sites?
Sting says: I love history. In the Lebanon I went to the famous port, Byblos. It was almost in tact, you can almost imagine the Phoenician galleons sailing in. I love history.
Jutta: Dear Sting, today it�s Halloween! What would be your favourite costume? Who would you like to be? Cheers, Jutta from Germany!
->Sting replies: Halloween is not something we celebrate much in England, All Hallows Eve. It's really an American thing. My kids do things, scares the hell out of me.
did you get any wonderful birthday gifts?
portenia: "They build machines that they can't control". You wrote this phrase like 15 years ago. What do you think about it today, right now.
->Sting replies: I think i was talking about, that's in 'We work the black scene' - about the coal strike. There's lots wrong with fossil fuels but I was trying to present an argument about nuclear power - it's dangerous
Sting says: We used to bob for apples as kids, you get blindfolded, there's apples in a basin and you have to get them in your mouth. Bonfire night is what we do.
Lindy: What do you think of Elvis?
->Sting replies: I think one of my earliest rock & roll epiphanies is hearing 'All shook up' on a 78. My mother brought it in and I went into like a catanonic trance, playing it again and again!
Olivia: Sting, what do you think your life would have been like without music? Can you even picture it??
->Sting replies: I don't really want to think of my life without music at all, I wouldn't be complete without music. There's no reason why anyone of us should be without music. It's part of our birth right, isn't it?
Sting says: If you open yourself up to what's happening, you can find song lyrics.
holyman: what is left for you to achieve? what motivates you? is it the fans - if it is what do the fans really long for -
->Sting replies: I've never underestimated the audience, the potential audience for music, never undervalued their ability to understand or to grow with me in understanding of music, because it's a journey and one without end, but it's a fascinating journey. I've been rewarded by not underestimating them, by giving them what intruiges me. I would trust that people will be intruiged by what the journey throw up.
Sting says: I'm not sure I could function in normal life without music, I just can't see it.
Jules Holland says: Some of it is sophisticated music, but you don't have to understand it to enjoy it
lenoil: What is your best memory of your punk period ?
->Sting replies: I think my favourite memory, that was going on the road with the Police, with Andy and Stewart - supporting poeple like Cherry Vanilla, Wayne County - all of these exotic creatures that this era brought up - the Clash - everything was up in the air, not certain any more - it was a good time to start out. Formally you couldn't get in, it was a monolithic music industry, and then everything changed with the Sex Pistols. God bless 'em.
Sting says: I like to have a foot in both camps. I'm a popular singer, I'm not out to alienate people's hearing. It's not what I do, but I also like to stretch what people consider to be pop music because I don't really believe in definitions, labelling music like 'jazz' or 'pop' or 'R&B;'. They're artificial and invented by people writing about not playing that music. You flow from one to the other. If I do anything it's that I don't take the illusion of barriers seriously, they simply don't exist.
iaia: are you still optimist?
->Sting replies: Yes. I think pessimism is a disease. I think you have to be optimistic in any situation that you enter otherwise it's self-fulfilling. So yes. I'm forced to be, it's been my strategy for all of my life and I still am optimistic.
Corinna: Has yoga helped you to keep a balance in your life?
->Sting replies: Well, um, astrologically - not that I believe in it - i'm a Libran - and they say they are balanced people. That's nonsense, what we strive for is balance. Yoga has helped me achieve more of it that I owuld have done. An even keel. I'm happy being more balanced than I was.
Sting says: It was an exciting time. It was largely a flag of convenience to be frank. I think the Police were more sophisticated in their musical ability than most of that era, we were able to edge ahead, the energy and the excitement.
Eddie: Sting what do you drink on stage? (From Eddie, Holland)
->Sting replies: I drink Tea with honey to soothe the vocal chords. Water. Sometimes Gatorade, to give me a bit of energy.
liz-sophie: after this "best-of"-album, are you planning a new album?
->Sting replies: I said before, I'm going away to think about what to do next, I haven't a clue!
Olivia: Sting, if you could sum up what your life means to you in one sentence, what would you say?
->Sting replies: I think, search for meaning. That's it. That's the phrase really.