Andy Summers brings his latest multimedia project “The Cracked Lens + A Missing String” to the Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center/San Francisco this Saturday, Sept. 27th.
Summers has reached and surpassed what can be described as the ultimate artist’s career as the guitarist for The Police. It was in the earlier touring days with the English band where photography clicked with Summers, and he began documenting his life, perspectives, and experiences on film.
Summers’ current project “The Cracked Lens + A Missing String” may be a sharp contrast to the mega-arena days of the Police, but it suits the mediums in which he has continued to create, and allows the audience to experience Summers’ guitar playing and storytelling up close. Add to that the backdrop of his photography, the event becomes a sensory experience delivered by the hands, voice, and brain of Summers.
Summers also has plans to release his 16th album, a photography book of black & white and color, and has developed a docuseries titled “Global Guitar,” which explores the guitar and its important place in cultures around the world.
KALW’s Janice Lee spoke with Andy Summers about art, and his upcoming multi-media event at the Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center/San Francisco.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
JL: Your current tour brings together all the artistic mediums of your life. It’s a live score and narrative to moving still photos.It’s also personal and special in that the music, visuals, and commentary are – created and performed by you. Is each show unique?
AS: It is mostly improvising – the guitar solos. The film sequence is fixed, but the playing is always a little different. I have a rough idea at the start–it’s worked out and it’s improvisational at the same time. We’ve kind of got it now – so that it seems seamless, it flows. It all goes very well – no one’s complaining.
JL: Photography – what was the spark?
AS: With photography I started in the earliest days of The Police. We were traveling and I just started photographing everything. It was so natural – like I dived into the lake and really liked it. So I had a great time doing photography and it’s continued on.I didn’t just drop it when the band stopped. I’ve published a few books – it’s been a very nice sort of substrata.
JL:You have your own studio, can you tell us a little about how you approach your recorded projects?
AS: It’s a process. Let’s say I’ve got 300 guitar ideas in the iPhone, I write them all down. They are notated and I put an asterisk by the ones which are worth looking at again. In the studio, I’ll play it again and maybe instead of 4 bars, we’ll make it 64 bars,and I’ll open up the ideas. We’ve got it on the big speakers, I’ll start to play it, and perform it. I don’t know if it’s necessarily inspiring, but it does create a landscape for me to continue that idea all the way out to see if it’s any good.
I like the concept of one sound – and you just stay there. It’s like so old style. Unfortunately, I was a major contributor to people using so much gear - all this equipment, pedalboards. But some of those sounds are so retro,they sound good again. “Oh, they’re so fresh!” No, they’re really old.
JL: What’s old is new is actually old. How do you navigate through today’s landscape of social media, and so much content and information available 24/7, on-demand?
AS: I have the daily IG, and there’s someone who does my website – I have help.
I’m in touch, but I’m not obsessive about it. I’m in the modern world in that sense – that’s what you have to do now as an artist. I do try to stay in a noble place.With the Police, we just saturated the media (before the internet/social media), we were so popular.In my era, we had managers and tours. We didn’t have to do all this. Remember the words “Fan Club”?
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Presidio Theatre & Guitar Player Present:
An Evening with Andy Summers: A Cracked Lens + A Missing String
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 | 7:30PM
Presidio Theatre Performing Arts Center / SF
To purchase tickets:
https://www.presidiotheatre.org/show-details/https/youtube/qpoxabgbxhcfeatureshared
Explore Summers’ extensive music works and photography galleries at:
https://andysummers.com/
Summers invites you to check out the following:
Music:
2021 solo release “Harmonics of the Night”, a musical/sonic accompaniment to a retrospective photography exhibition inf Montpelier, France.
https://andysummers.com/album/harmonics-of-the-night/
Photography:
“A Series of Glances”
2023 photography book release
https://andysummers.com/photography/new-photography-book-release-a-series-of-glances-from-acc-art-books/
