[Genteel Death]

How did you get into drums in the first place?

I always liked [African music pioneer] Olatunji. I used to listen to him a lot. I really liked rock too, what was going on at the time. When The Stones first came out, I didn't want to just listen, I wanted to play along. And since I didn't know how to play guitar or anything, I bought a snare drum, and I would sit in my room and just play along to their album until it was white. It made it more fun than just listening.

Was The Velvets your first professional gig?

I had played a year or two before The Velvets in a little cover band with people I worked with. We rehearsed and rehearsed, and played one show, in Long Island. That night the drummer in the house band was shot by a ricocheting bullet! But anyway, the singer had a real ego and the whole thing became sort of a drag and we didn't want to deal with it anymore.

The members of The Velvets had unique musical backgrounds and abilities. What was it like being in the middle of that?

I think what you just said is what made it so different. I couldn't play a perfect roll for a million dollars. I didn't know how, and I didn't want to know how. John was on the other side of the scale - stunningly classically trained, experienced. And Lou loved doo wop - I did too - and had taught himself music. And there was Sterling, who started out on trumpet and later played guitar.

I think our technical background was what made our sound. For instance, if I was able to play rolls, I would have, and that would have made a big difference. If Lou had gone to music school, he would have learned, "Oh, you can't play a D, this song is in F# - which, by the way, I've heard from five different session musicians over the years, who all went to music schools. I don't always know what note it is, but I do know when it's something I want to hear.

Something I also realized much later is that we all really watched each other on stage. And it was fun, because we communicated - oh, he wants to go double time, or he wants to emphasize this so I won't emphasize it. And we did a lot of improvisation. It was fun playing like that, not knowing what was going to happen.

You weren't completely welcomed with open arms for doing that sort of stuff, were you?

Oh, no. [laughs] When we first started with Andy, many times the reason we played was because he had been invited to this event or the other. We were his 'exhibit,' The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. And usually, these people were there to see Andy's art. And they weren't hippies, they were rich people and socialites. No, they didn't appreciate us much at all.

Let's talk about a couple specific songs. On your Web site, you describe "I'm Waiting For The Man," and how everybody played so heavily on all four beats.

I love that song. It's like a train, there's no stopping it. When we were rehearsing for the '93 tour, we weren't three or four bars into it and everybody stopped, like, what the hell's the matter? I knew what the problem was, but I didn't say anything at first. But eventually I was like, "Lou, you have to play all down strokes." He had forgotten that. Just the difference between playing down-up-down-up and playing down-down-down-down was incredible.

Tell us about playing "Heroin." You musically represented the lyrics so well, speeding up and slowing down, symbolizing the rush.

I loved playing that. When I first joined, they already had that song, but were actually playing it like a folk song. Angus MacLise was their percussionist at that time, and he played bongos and stuff, which fit in with that style. I honestly don't remember what caused the shift. Maybe me pounding on the drums the way I did. But I felt that what I played worked with the lyrics and the ominous mood.