Timeline 2015
The Velvet Underground Trust
In January Cale's lawyer Christopher Whent becomes the trustee for The Velvet Underground Trust. he starts to sort out the mess of the Velvets' financial records in 1983 - it took three years for the first royalty checks to arrive back then, mainly due to the mess created by Steve Sesnick, who started managing the band in 1967.
Interview about Bowie in Uncut
He discusses David Bowie's Heroes and more in Englis music magazine Uncut:
"My first encounter with David was when I was doing A&R at Warners in 1971. I was there to bring in the strange and freaky stuff, the underground stuff. So there we were with Hunky Dory, the deal was on the table and everyone was trying to figure out how this cabaret-ish, Brit art-rock could work. At that time, Warners had The Doobie Brothers and Alice Cooper and all of that, which they understood. But coming around to the art side of things, they just didn't get what David was doing. It was [producer] Ted Templeman and I who went to [Warners head] Joe Smith and told him the rest of the A&R department was really divided about Hunky Dory. It's a very difficult thing to fight for in a large corporation like that if no-one understands where they're going with it. It really wasn't fair, certainly not to David. There were certain things you knew you weren't going to get your hands on in those days and that was one of them. You were struggling in the trenches. But I loved Hunky Dory. I saw the Anthony Newley/Lionel Bart vein in it. It was unique, strange and very unorthodox. But if you tried to explain Anthony Newley and British music hall tradition to the executives, they just wouldn't get it. So I was really disappointed I couldn't do anything at Warners with him. I think, later on in the '70s when I saw the whole thing build with David, it all started to make sense to people.
David and I didn't actually meet until I first went back to New York, after I'd done Patti [Smith; Cale produced Horses in 1975]. When we did that bootleg [Cale and Bowie recorded “Piano-La” and “Velvet Couch” in New York in October 1979], it was like the good old bad old days. We were partying very hard. It was exciting working with him, as there were a lot of possibilities and everything, but we were our own worst enemies at that point. We also played that show for Steve Reich and Philip Glass [1979's ‘The First Concert Of The Eighties']. That was a lot of fun. That was when we were hanging out, so I asked David if he'd like to come and play “Sabotage” with me. I ended up teaching him the viola part, which he had a whack at and then ended up playing on stage for the first time. Did I ever want to produce Bowie? After spending time with him, I realised the answer was no. The way we were then would have made it too dangerous. Nowadays it would be different, though. He could improvise songs very well, which was what that bootleg was all about. The great thing about when we met and then started hanging out in the '70s was that he would say [puts on thick Welsh accent] “That's Dai Jones from Wales, isn't it?” He loved all that. That set us off. We got along really well, but most of what we were doing was just partying.
I suppose David and I were similar in that we were coming from the European art side of things as much as rock'n'roll. What struck me about “Heroes” was that branded hammer piano. There was a lot of layering, too, a lot of orchestral stuff on it, but it's really that two-chord special. It was that “Waiting For The Man” thing, though when we eventually met, we didn't really talk about The Velvet Underground at all. Aside from the repetitive hammer piano, there's a real groove in "Heroes", but it's very horizontal. And then it was layered with all Brian [Eno]'s stuff. If anything, I think it was their dissimilarity that drew David and Brian together. It was kind of how the VU was with Lou and I: put two people from very different backgrounds in the same room and you get a third thing. And I think that's what happened with David and Brian. Did I see my own influence on Low and "Heroes"? If you're talking about David's use of drone, then yes. It's all through that stuff. That's why Brian was involved. But I think the tapestry idea of “Heroes” and blanketing the music to give it depth was a very good idea. I could see David's progression to making it rhythm-oriented and then disco-oriented, which was the style of the day. Against what was happening with disco, if you had that sustained tapestry of sound behind you, it really helped. Especially if you had material like David had. It wasn't like doing The Village People.
The imagery in "Heroes" is interesting. Hansa Studios was an interesting place to be at the time. The Berlin Wall was still up. I saw the two lovers by the Wall as two Brits adrift in Berlin, when Berlin was really something you couldn't pin down at all. You'd have to drive through East Germany to get there. Being in West Berlin was very different from what it is now: everyone was nuts, living on the edge. It was a real circus over there. When Brian and I did that Nico concert where she insisted on singing “Deutschland Ü;ber Alles” [in October 1974 at The Nationalgalerie], they really went nuts. All the young people there were living with the Wall. And it was a fiery place to be."
The Soldier String Quartet covers "Paris 1919"
The Soldier String Quartet covered Paris 1919 on their Sojourner Truth album in 1991. This version is included on the 3CD Music for String Quartet: In Four Color released on March 15.
Interview in Air France Magazine
An extensive interview in the March issue of Air France Magazine. He is using a brand new piece of software for his new album:
"It's seduction. Yeah, it's definitely seduction. I was seduced by this software and how it might help me achieve something greater than expected if I take the time to use it. It's at my fingertips, promising to give me something extra. Technology has long been one of the most alluring elements in my daily routine. I'm a tech-junkie for certain. It's embarrassing sometimes because I can't stand the idea of not having every iteration of advanced technological devices. I'm always baffled when people claim to be afraid of new technology — I LIVE for it!"
"The Velvet Underground & Nico" in Paris
On April 11 John Cale announces that he will re-imagine The Velvet Underground & Nico in its entirety at the Philharmonie de Paris on April 3, 2016.
He will be joined by special guests to help him out: Carl Barât and Pete Doherty (The Libertines) on guitar and vocals; Avey Tqare, Geologist and Panda Bear (Animal Collective) on vocals and keyboards; Nick Franglen (Lemon Jelly) on keyboards and samples; Étienne Daho, Mark Lanegan, Saul Williams, Lou Doillon on vocals.
Courtney Barnett covers "(I Keep A) Close Watch"
Australian singer Courtney Barnett covers (I Keep A) Close Watch. It's on the B-side of her Kim's Garden 12", which is released for Record Store Day on April 18.
Whitney Museum of American Art
He performs at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York on April 24, providing a live soundtrack during a screening of Andy Warhol's Empire.
Tony Conrad, a former collaborator in the days of the Theatre of Eternal Music / The Dream Syndicate (1964-5) was also on the program, with the String Orchestra of Brooklyn.
"Faces And Names" on Extended Dynamic Experience 3
Faces And Names is included on the Extended Dynamic Experience 3 CD sampler released by Dutch audiophile label STS Digital.
Eyelids cover "Only Time Will Tell"
Eyelids, an American band featuring former and current members of Guided By Voices, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Decemberists, Camper Van Beethoven, and Boston Spaceships, cover Only Time Will Tell on their self-titled EP.
"Signal To Noise" in Melbourne
Billed as Signal To Noise he performs at the Supersense: Festival of the Ecstatic at the Arts Centre Melbourne, Australia, on August 9. He is joined on stage by Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance) and electronic wizard Laurel Halo, plus a horns and strings ensemble.
"An artist whose biography incorporates some of the most adventurous, ecstatic and explorative output achieved by a single performer today, do not miss the iconic John Cale's Signal to Noise, a major new work commissioned for Supersense that traces the line of experimentation through his career spanning over five decades.
One of the towering figures of modern music unleashes a new cross-media extravaganza set to spark the fires of the imagination, featuring a stunning line-up of performers including Dead Can Dance's Lisa Gerrard and Michigan electronic innovator Laurel Halo.
This genre-bending audio-visual trip furthers his quest to find new ways to startle and seduce the senses. Bespoke arrangements of both classics and rarely heard songs will be matched by intriguing glimpses into what the future holds for this fearless pioneer.
From co-founding The Velvet Underground to collaborating with the likes of Brian Eno, Patti Smith, The Stooges, Happy Mondays and LCD Soundsystem, John Cale seems to have had a hand in every major moment of musical innovation for half a century."
Iron & Wine and Ben Bridwell cover "You Know Me More Than I Know"
Iron & Wine (Sam Beam) and Ben Bridwell (singer and lead guitarist of Band of Horses) cover You Know Me More Than I Know on their Sing Into My Mouth album.
Modest View cover "Paris 1919"
New York indie band Modest View cover Paris 1919 on their Martian Minimalist Poetry album, released on September 27.
"Close Watch" video
Releases a promo video for the new version of Close Watch. The clip was directed by Abigail Portner. This version can be found on the Music For A New Society + M:FANS album.