The Velvet Forum

Yes, all else aside, I'm very happy for them for the same reasons. I'm glad Sterling got to experience that before his death. Too bad they couldn't survive to tour the States... oh, hell... too bad they didn't get REALLY inspired and start making Velvet Underground records again!!!

In case anyone's wondering, the reason Sal posted this question is that I'll shortly be doing an interview with Doug Yule for the 'Hello/Goodbye' section of Mojo magazine. In case anyone's not familiar with this, it's a section of the magazine where a member of a well-known band talks about their first and last days with the band.

Doug's happy to talk, but of course there's a bit of a grey area as to when Doug's "last days" with the Velvet Underground really were. The way I see it, Doug's career with the VU had four distinct phases:

1. 1968-70: The Lou/Sterl/Doug/Moe band, starting when Doug joined at La Cave in Oct '68 and ending when Lou walked out at Max's in Aug '70. Although the end of this phase is obviously the end of the Velvet Underground as most people know them, it can't be called the end of Doug's time with the band, because they carried right on with...

2. 1970-71: The Doug/Sterl/Moe/Walter band, touring in the US and Europe from Lou's departure up to the end of 1971, with Sterling being relpaced halfway through by Willie Alexander. This was a direct continuation of the above phase - the band didn't split and reform, they simply continued without Lou. I think there is a case for saying the final end of the Velvets was at the end of this phase - the point at which Sesnick flew Moe, Walter and Willie back home, leaving Doug in London to record Squeeze. After this point, the band did not reunite - the four members, Doug, Moe, Walter and Willie, went their separate ways and didn't play or record together again.

3. Late 1972 - almost a year after the end of the above phase, Sesnick calls Doug up, puts him together with three new musicians and they tour in the UK for a couple of months as 'The Velvet Underground'. I think band this has a weaker claim to a genuine VU connection than the 1971 band because Doug was the only original member and the line-up didn't evolve directly from any previous version of the Velvets.

4. May 1973 - Doug does a few gigs around New England with his new band, featuring Billy Yule, George Kay and Don Sliverman. Against the band's wishes, the promoter keeps bililng them as 'The Velvet Underground'. Definitely not The Velvet Underground!

What I think I might do with Doug, assuming he's happy with this, is to talk with him about late '71 as the end of the VU per se, but also talk about the later bands cos they're obviously sort-of part of the story too.

There's some interesting stuff about the post-Lou band in Doug's liner notes for the Final VU box - transcribed at http://bobchaos.com/squeeze/squeeze2.html

When Lou left is to me the end of the V.U. And I'd say that i'm totally agree
with mg196
Let's stop about the fact that the John's area was THE Velvet Underground
and that Doug's one was v.u.

i think thru all the stages the velvets went thru the 1 thing that stayed constant was mo's drumming so i think when she left the spirit of the velvets left and they turned into a vehicle for lou,s songwroiting

Mark wrote:In case anyone's wondering, the reason Sal posted this question is that I'll shortly be doing an interview with Doug Yule for the 'Hello/Goodbye' section of Mojo magazine. In case anyone's not familiar with this, it's a section of the magazine where a member of a well-known band talks about their first and last days with the band.

Doug's happy to talk, but of course there's a bit of a grey area as to when Doug's "last days" with the Velvet Underground really were.

Well now that we know why this was asked I DEFINITELY think the last days should be the post Lou, post Moe, post Sterl days in 1973 on whenever it was.

MOJO magazine is great and that interview is always interesting. As Doug was the only real Velvets member (and yes, that he was!) in the end, who better to tell about the last days of the band!

Also, too many people think the band ended with Loaded and Lou walking out, I think this interview would be great to correct this misunderstanding for a lot of people!

So ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY have him talk about the VERY END...!!

length wrote:i think thru all the stages the velvets went thru the 1 thing that stayed constant was mo's drumming so i think when she left the spirit of the velvets left and they turned into a vehicle for lou,s songwroiting

Ummm...Moe left AFTER Lou. Or am I reading this wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

length wrote:i think thru all the stages the velvets went thru the 1 thing that stayed constant was mo's drumming so i think when she left the spirit of the velvets left and they turned into a vehicle for lou,s songwroiting

Ummm...Moe left AFTER Lou. Or am I reading this wrong.

I guess you could say she left first, then Lou, then she came back...

she left to have a baby, so i dont think she's on loaded at all

length wrote:she left to have a baby, so i dont think she's on loaded at all

Actually, Moe is credited w/ playing bass & drums on Loaded. And although she wasn't the "main" drummer on the LP, she was still "in" the group...just on temporary leave for her new baby. There are plenty of pics of her w/ the guys in the studio.

whatever the rest of you think, to me the VU died when Lou left....what was left was the Velveteens. (not to belittle the others' contribution one iota, but to me the VU was Lou Reed)