When it comes to being a prolific artist, Andy Summers sets an enviably high standard. Having been a part of the power trio The Police in the 80s, he went on to explore a multitude of paths after the group semi-officially disbanded in 1986. His body of work includes several solo albums, collaborations with Robert Fripp and other guitarists, movie soundtracks, and more.
He’s also an accomplished photographer, having released a handful of books and done several exhibits of his work. When it comes to writing, Andy released his autobiography, “One Train Later” in 2006, and a collection of fictional short stories entitled “Fretted and Moaning” in 2021.
In addition to that, Andy has been touring non-stop in South America, with a Police cover band named Call The Police. He’s also doing a solo tour entitled “The Cracked Lens + A Missing String”, where he plays and shares some of his life experiences, as they’re prompted by his own photographs projected on the screen. His most recent solo album, “Vertiginous Canyons”, was inspired by a request from teNeues, the publisher of his photography book “A Series of Glances”, asking if he could create a few tracks to accompany the pages in the book. Andy projected photographs from the book onto a screen and played through various devices and sounds for two or three hours and voilà, the album was done.
Sonic Perspectives collaborator is a lifelong The Police fan Rodrigo Altaf, and took some time to sit down with Andy and discuss his new album, the current tour plans, the reissue of The Police’s “Synchronicity”, and much more.