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Call the Police!
The original guitarist for The Police was a Gall, and now he’s touring Australia alongside screenings of a documentary about his life.
Henri Padovani's (sticking his tongue out in picture) career has included almost every aspect of the music industry, from co-creating punk rock band The Police to playing guitar, managing, and becoming a record label vice-president, an author and now back to his first love, playing music. Padovani has experienced a lifetime in music, and now filmmaker Lionel Guedj has made the documentary, Rock ‘N' Roll Of Corse about this intriguing figure.
Leaving Corsica, France and arriving in London in 1976, the young Padovani didn't know where the trip would lead to; he just knew that's where the music scene was happening at the time and he loved playing guitar. "I said to my parents ‘look, I'm going to go to London, spend two weeks', and I never came back," he remembered when we spoke to him in Paris late last year, as the documentary was nearing completion.
In London, Henri met Stewart Copeland who took him to gigs. "I just didn't know how long I would stay there, so I started a band with Stewart and we found Sting so we started The Police together."
In the summer of 1977 Andy Summers joined the group and they played as a four piece for a while, but "it didn't work for us," claims Padovani, so he left and joined a band playing a fairly new style of music, punk, in the form of Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, whilst The Police went on to conquer the world.
After he stopped playing music in 1984 for personal reasons, Henri went on to take another unexpected path in becoming Vice-President of a record label. Henri goes on to explain how this came about with his former band mate's brother Miles Copeland. "We started I.R.S. Records. It became the biggest independent alternative. It was the label that signed REM, The Cramps, Fine Young Cannibals, The Go-Go's, The Flesh Tones, Lords of the New Church, all of those bands that kind of changed music from new wave into alternative."
Henri remained at I.R.S. for 10 years, until finally in 1994, after working on a daily basis, the company was sold to EMI and Henri started his 5 year career as an artist manager.
"I managed a guy called Zucchero, and we went to number one everywhere. In 2000 I stopped and wrote a book which came out in 2004," Henri says.
Padovani's book, Secret Police Man, was the inspiration for the documentary film Rock n' Roll Of Corse.
After reading Henri Padovani's book, aspiring filmmaker Lionel Guedj approached the muso with the idea of making a documentary. "If you have time to waste," was Henri's reply, and fortunately the young Guedj was more than happy to devote himself to the task.
Cut down from 80 hours of footage, Guedj admits that the final cut 2 hour Rock ‘N' Roll Of Corse was a journey of discovery. "We just began doing the thing without knowing exactly where we are going, but I like to do a movie which is kind of the human stories behind this great adventure," Guedj says.
This approach struck gold when Henri joined The Police on stage during their Reunion Tour of 2007-08 in Paris at The Stade de France, and again in 2008 in Hyde Park, London, with access all areas footage of both of these monumental performances appearing in the documentary.
Henri Padovani's story travels through the usual locations that a musician who was part of the scene in the ‘70s and ‘80s would trawl through, but Rock ‘N' Roll Of Corse director Guedj feels that the film is "mainly a story of friendship", which is seen through the interactions between reunited friends, many of whom, like Sting, are icons today. "They're just friends, and real good friends," says Guedj.
Discover it for yourself when Rock ‘N' Roll Of Corse plays at Sydney's The Factory Theatre in Marrickville on Thursday, November 12 at 8pm followed by a Q&A with Henri and the director, and on Saturday, November 14 at 8pm followed by a solo performance by Henri Padovani.
Tickets are only $15 + booking fee for film and $30 + booking fee for film and show. Go to www.factorytheatre.com.au for tix.