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Hamish McKenzie asks Sting about his real name, that message in a bottle, and what he thinks of the world’s next superpower.

For a start, can you tell me what sort of satisfaction this album, Songs of the Labyrinth, has brought to you that your pop albums couldn’t?

Well, I’m always satisfied, whatever the resonance with the public, or what the material is. It’s just very satisfying to have done some work and to have some people that appreciate it and enjoy it. This record was a surprise for me. First of all, it was surprising that it became a record because it began as just a labour of love. It was just something I was curious about and put some energy into. I didn’t for a minute think it would be a record. But I persevered with it, and after a year I realised that I happened to have something that people would like – but it wasn’t until I found the letters that Dowland had written to Robert Cecil in 1595 that I had a bit of context with which people who have never heard 16th-century songs before could perhaps understand where they came from and who this man was. Once I recorded the letters, I thought, ‘Oh, okay, I think the public may be able to stomach this, I think they could probably enjoy it’. Again, I didn’t have any huge expectations about record sales. But then I was surprised – happily so – because it sold almost a million copies. I mean, it’s amazing. Very satisfying.

When you’re performing these songs live, is it weird for you that you have that sort of pause at the end of the song before the applause starts, compared to your previous years with the crowds screaming out all the way through your songs?

No, actually, the songs kind of engender a kind of reflection – not only in the performer, but in the audience. A silent moment: ‘Wow! What was that?’ It’s not the sort of hysterical response you get at the end of a pop song, you know it’s all built up with the drums and the lights are flashing – it’s pretty obvious what to do. These songs leave you a little bit stunned, and a little silenced at the end of it. It’s fantastic. It’s very meaningful. It’s a very intimate concert and something that’s completely different from rock’n’roll. It’s a little bit scary, to be honest with you.

You don’t get intimidated by the closeness of the audience?

I don’t get intimidated. I enjoy the chance – because there’s nothing to hide behind. There’s no smokescreen; there’s no mirrors. It’s just you and the songs and the music and the audience’s response to it. It’s very satisfying.

Have you started thinking of yourself any differently as a musician since you finished this album?

You know, looking at John Dowland’s work and his life, I have realised that all the singer-songwriters who have followed him have really followed his DNA, his legacy. He invented this thing. Really, this is the first one we know about – a guy who could write his own songs, accompanies himself, travels the world, makes a living that way. It’s something we’ve always followed. So I do feel a great deal of affinity with him. And also, bringing yourself into someone else’s creative processes is a very useful thing to do periodically. You just learn stuff, just by reading his music, playing it, you see him making decisions. You’re learning.

Moving on – now that you’ve got a bit of distance from The Police Reunion Tour, how do you feel about it?

I feel kind of vindicated that my timing was good. I think it was the most successful tour of all time. We played to 3.7 million people [laughs]. So it wasn’t a bad idea. At the same time, we had a lot of fun and I think the band sort of reached what the Americans call closure. We’ve achieved closure. We didn’t do too much. We did just enough to feel that particular asset had been realised – we can feel satisfied.

Considering your outspoken support for Tibet and the Dalai Lama, and your wife’s documentary about Tiananmen Square, how do you feel about coming out to China, or close to it?

It’s a difficult one. I’m a supporter of human rights, per se, as opposed to specifically about Tibet – I’m not a Tibet campaigner. I support human rights and I support Amnesty’s campaigns throughout the world. Human rights are extremely important – they really are. We’re not going to sort this problem out in a day – or even an interview – but, you know, dialogue is important. A cultural boycott is not the way. We need the cultural dialogue to keep going on.

Do you think you’d be welcome to play on the mainland in China?

Would I be welcome to play? I have no idea.

Would you like to play there?

Of course I would. Yeah. Of course I would. I mean, I’ve enjoyed playing Hong Kong, I’ve played in Macau. Yeah – I don’t believe in cultural boycotts.

What’s the biggest compliment you could be paid: is it winning a bunch of Grammys, being featured as a playable character on Guitar Hero, or having a species of Colombian tree-frog named after you?

[Laughs] You know, I get more compliments about my children than I do about anything else in my life and that makes me extremely happy. That makes me feel like I’ve done a good job in life. It’s nice to win Grammys, it’s nice to have platinum hits, to have a frog named after you – but actually to be a reasonably successful father for me is a major accolade.

Do your kids take after you?

I have a few musicians in the brood. Six children. Two are very, very serious musicians with recording contracts, I have two actors, a filmmaker, and my youngest apparently is going to do a job that hasn’t been invented yet. So he says.

You’ve got a very strong literary interest – one of your albums is named after Chaucer’s works, and another one after a Shakespeare work – why do you like to do that?

Well, you know, I would say I’m a very literate person. Literature has always been an inspiration to me. I always quote my sources. This is what inspires me. Nothing wrong with that. You could say, ‘Oh, that’s pretentious’, but it’s actually the truth.

How did you go about researching John Dowland?

Basically the song books he published in his own lifetime – I think he wrote about 50 or 60 songs in his own life time – they were very popular in the 16th century, all over Europe. That’s the start – you read the notes, you read the lyrics and you start playing. And then the only information you have about him really is this letter he wrote to Robert Cecil, who was secretary of state, in an effort to try and save his life – he got mixed up with a political brouhaha, it was a very dangerous time in Europe, he was a Catholic, the Queen was Protestant, and he wanted to declare his loyalty to the Queen, and he felt himself in danger – so I learned a great deal about the man, his frustrations and his fears, from that very long, involved letter.

Does it ever bother that there’s so much focus on you and talk about tantric sex?

[Laughs] Well, you know, it was never my desire to be a celebrity. I always thought I was a musician but I’ve become a celebrity by accident, and whatever you say sometimes it’s misconstrued, sometimes it’s distorted, sometimes it’s actually what you did say.

Occasionally, right?

But that story is almost – that was 1990, me and Bob Geldof were drunk one day, just talking shit. The story does have a serious heart to it. No, I don’t mind – I think it’s funny.

Got to be good for your reputation in some ways.

Well it intimidates a lot of people, which I don’t mind.

This album, your voice does sound kind of more melancholy…

Well, the songs themselves are very melancholic, and are reflective. I feel my voice suits that.

You didn’t consciously try to shape your voice around the album?

I think it’s recognisably me and it doesn’t sound like anybody else. But the material itself will dictate a certain style. These songs are mainly being sung by operatic tenors since they were rediscovered in the 20^th century, but really that’s not the style of singing that was happening in the 16th century. Operatic singing wasn’t invented until 100 years later. So my argument is that the way I’d sing it, it’s perhaps the closest to what Dowland would have heard.

Okay cool. This is a really stupid question: one of my friends wants to know what the message in a bottle was.

[Laughs] That is a stupid question. [Laughs] ‘Help!’

Okay, is that it?

Yep, that’s it. Help.

Okay, I’m just going to keep asking questions until I get cut off. Is it you that’ll cut me off, or is it the handler?

It’s not me, I’m far too polite. How long do we have?

[Lying] We’ve had about four minutes.

You have two minutes left. Make use of them. Come on.

Okay, um, um, what I have I got. Jeez. Does it bother you when people call you Gordon?

No one calls me Gordon.

When was the last time you got called Gordon?

Probably when I was seven. About 50 years ago. No, no one calls me that.

So you even sign off your letters ‘Sting’, and your emails?

You know, it’s funny – your parents name you and yet they don’t know you. So when your friends name you, you get a name that sort of fits you. I mean, I’m less Sting-y than I used to be, but it certainly suited me when I was a teenager. [Pause] How do you feel about being Hamish?

I don’t mind. But actually, I was having this conversation the other day with someone the other day – that nicknames can much better represent your character than the names you were born with.

They do. It’s also very short and cryptic for writing autographs.

Yeah, it would save you a lot of hand movement.

It really does.

Okay, I know you’re kind of a politically conscious guy, and a socially aware guy, so I’ll ask you about this: what do you think about the prospect of China being the world’s dominant power in the years to come?

Well, certainly in terms of population it’s massive. The economy is growing very fast. I’m just worried generally in the world that the growth and the finite means of resources are opposite trains heading towards each other [incongruous laugh]. We can only grow depending on how many resources we have. And I think that can only end in disaster. So all of us, China included, have to go, ‘Wait a minute – what is this growth, and what’s it going to be like in 100 years time?’ All of us have to take that seriously.

Are you optimistic that China will rise to the challenge?

I don’t want to talk specifically about China. Britain has a challenge. America has a challenge. India has a challenge. Everybody has a challenge to say, ‘Wait a minute, where are we going with this?’ And I think this economic crisis we’re in is actually useful, because it might make us reflect on where we’re actually going with this. This train just keeps moving, but where is it going?

Are you keeping an eye on the presidential elections in the US?

Oh yes, it’s fascinating.

What are your thoughts on that?

I think that the Republicans are desperately trying to keep the electorate away from the issues and distracting them with nonsense; distracting them from what matters with things that should be private concerns, you know, like your sexuality or whatever. The real issues seem to be talked by the Democrats. I’m very much in favour of someone who, like Barack Obama, can speak and represent America and I think it would be a great boon for America’s self-esteem in the world, because America’s lost a great deal in the last eight years.

Where are you at the moment?

In London.

So are you at home?

I’m in a home. I’m off to Los Angeles tomorrow, then I go to New York on Sunday, I’m back in London for a day, then I’m in Paris, Italy, Newcastle, everywhere.

All touring this album?

No, I’m doing a number of different things. I’m doing an opera in November with Elvis Costello.

Tell me a little bit about that.

Well, it’s an album made together with Robert Wyatt and a bunch of opera singers on Deutsche Grammophon, and I agreed to do it. I never suspected it would become an actual opera. Then they came and said, ‘Well, if we could do it at Paris, at the oldest opera house in Paris, would you be willing?’. And I said, ‘Errr, yeah, as long as I don’t have to wear tights’. They said, ‘No you don’t have to wear tights’.

How have you enjoyed the experience of working on it so far?

It’s wonderful. I’m not an opera aficionado – I couldn’t tell you if it’s any good or not – but we’re trying.

What could possibly be next for you?

My whole thing is just to be learning and hopefully be evolving and developing what I have. There’s no end to that. There’s no end journey. There’s no end of the journey. It’s just ongoing. I have no idea what I’m doing next.

So no idea about when you’re going to say, ‘Stuff all this’ and head off to the garden?

I can do that and still be a musician. I’d always take an instrument with me. I’ll never stop playing music. Whether I want to be in the public eye or release another record, I don’t know, but I’ll always be a musician.

What did you think when Jennifer Saunders made fun of your lute-playing on her comedy show?

Oh, it’s hilarious. No, it’s all good – it’s all good that people are interested and make comments. I’m far too thick-skinned to be affected by it negatively. No, it’s good – you become a public figure and sometimes you’re ridiculed and sometimes you’re praised, and it’s all part of the rich tapestry of life.

Sting & Edin Karamazov play the Jockey Club Auditorium at Hong Kong Polytechnic University on Wednesday, December 10.