Interviews
Bloodied but Unbowed
Interview by Scott Isler. Published in Musician no. 126 - April 1989
Violence, Viola and Enigma Variations
The Reed-Cale partnership evolved into the Velvet Underground. Cale played on the band's first two albums; then Reed fired him, giving rise to persistent mutual-hatred rumors (though the two reunited onstage with another VU alumna, Nico, a mere two years later). Cale admits he and Reed were out of touch for some time. But in 1987, Cale says, "I called up Lou and I said, 'Look, I've got these few songs and I'm stuck with them. I thought maybe you'd be interested."
That was the beginning of Songs for 'Drella: A Tribute to Andy Warhol, a commission by Arts at St. Ann's, a Brooklyn heights church, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Cale "sup-poses" Reed was surprised to hear from him. "But I think he was more surprised how easy it was to get back into working than anything else – just as I was that things started off in one direction and rapidly grew in strength. The ideas were really good."
Songs for 'Drella (a Warhol nickname, from Cinderella) completes a circular voyage for Cale-not only reuniting him with Reed but acknowledging the artist and media guru who was the patron saint of the Velvet Underground. In the 20 years that Cale has been on his own, he's dabbled in various areas: Besides his own recordings and productions for others, he's been a record-company A&R rep and even acted on film. Since the release of his last studio album, 1985's Artficial Intelligence, Cale has purposely emphasized his classical-music side. The catalyst was the birth, also in 1985, of his daughter Eden.
"I took a year off to be a father," Cale says. "I wanted to learn parenting. Then I decided, okay, I'm not going to go out and tour and leave my family, and I'm not going to take my family with me. I'll do something that would be a compromise: I'll write more classical pieces." He began with a string quartet in 1987, a commission from the Massachusetts College of Art. Then he started a symphony, but before he could finish he received another commission, from the Randy Warshaw Dance Company. The orchestral ideas went into Sanctus, which the Warshaw company performed (with the aid of Kurzweils and string synthesizers) that November.