The Sunday Times Magazine - UK (2022-06-05)

Joe

I wasn’t really aware of Dad’s fame during the very early

days. Then one day he came to pick me up from school

and I remember asking him why people wanted his

autograph. As a kid it seemed uncool to follow in your

parents’ footsteps. The idea repelled me. It was just a lot

of grown-ups running around being pretentious.

From the age of eight I would go on tour with Dad

during the school summer holidays. I liked the whole

teamwork aspect with the road crew. I would tune the

guitars, plug lights in. My teachers definitely looked at

me differently because of Dad. Sometimes it was a little

creepy, like a perverse fascination. They would overlook

my failings as a student because they didn’t want to be

coming down too hard on me, as Dad was paying for

my schooling and had this level of celebrity. But being

held to a lower standard does you no favours.

Then at the age of 14 I found myself in a band.

Nirvana’s Nevermind album changed everything for me.

I picked up the guitar, did my best to be Kurt Cobain,

but then I realised I’m not Kurt, life’s not so bad really,

so I kept going from there.

I had plenty of starry moments growing up. I’m

aware of privilege and sometimes wrestle with it. I get

angry when Dad gets stick in the press, but then you

PORTRAIT BY DAVID VINTINER

STRANGE

HABITS

Sting on Joe

He always beats

me at Scrabble.

I’m currently

50-0 down

Joe on Sting

He’s never

surprised. I could

jump out of

a plane and

land where he’s

having dinner

and he’d just

say, “Hello”

are a fair target to be criticised sometimes. I read the

paper and think, “You bastards, look what you’ve done,

you’ve said this thing about Dad ...” But I also know how

things get taken out of context. If you are playing a gig

for a Russian billionaire and they are paying, should you

be taking their money? All you are doing is playing a gig

— they don’t have anything to show for it afterwards.

It’s a very strange world we live in. [In March Sting said

the days of musicians performing private shows for

oligarchs were over. He performed at the wedding of

Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev’s son in 2016.]

My career has always been this little dance. Avoiding

my dad’s whole existence or embracing it head on —

that’s always been tricky. I paid my dues, riding around

America for ten months in a van with my previous band

Fiction Plane. We did a gig with Coldplay 20 years ago,

then they went straight to arenas. I saw the drummer,

Will, and he was saying, yeah, it’s tough, and I thought,

you don’t know it’s tough, but good for him. In music,

I feel like I’m just getting started and that’s exciting n

Interviews by John Coleman.
A deluxe version of Sting’s latest album, The Bridge,
is released on June 17. Joe’s solo album, Sunshine in
LYNN GOLDSMITH / CAMERA PRESS the Night, is released later this year

The Sunday Times Magazine • 9