|
PSF: Some of your fans on the internet talk a lot about a bootleg of the Velvet Underground called the “Gymnasium tapes”--
The quality of those tapes is just unbelievable to me. Somebody knew what they were doing. I don’t know who made those tapes, but DAMN! You know, I saw a photograph of us the other day at Paraphernalia, ‘cause I was trying to figure out the layout of the Dom, I was trying to remember where everything was. And I called Paul, and I said “Paul, where did we get the PA from for the Dom?”
He said, “What PA? You didn’t have a PA.”
I said, “What are you talking about?”
“No,” he said, “you never had a PA.”
“So where did the voices come out of?”
“I dunno,” he said, “your amps! Your guitars, your voices— everything came out of the amps!” And I remember that we were spending a lot of money on speaker cords, because we broke them all the time. We had the viola, the bass in one amp, a Silvertone, and there was another guitar in the bass amp, and I don’t know where the voices came out of— you know, in those days, we used to think that if it’s in a different channel, it’s okay, right? But oh, boy, we must have sounded like shit! [Laughter]
The people that were there, Walter Cronkite and Jackie Kennedy, listening to Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancin’ in the Streets,” that was easy; those were coming out of those little speakers on the projectors, there were three projectors. So, in general, what you’re talking about is a pretty nasty sound environment.
PSF: The contention on the internet is that you have these tapes and you refuse to release them.
Look, believe me, there’s a guy at Universal named Bill Evanson, and if there were any tapes he would have got ‘em out years ago. But the Gymnasium tapes are really good. “Walk It as You Talk It” is really crunchy. Great guitar sound. But no, I don’t know where they are.
PSF: You’ve said that you find the cult of the Velvet Underground distasteful.
I don’t know what I meant by that; it must have been in response to something. People are trying to pigeonhole you. . . it was just four guys, you know, that came together and did something for, like, three years? I’m proud of it. Really lucky to be around those people. You go looking for creative circles ‘cause you can’t live without it. You’ve gotta find somebody in your trade. You know, I did it in London when I was in college; I used to go up to the West End all the time, there were artists and painters. But then getting to New York— when you saw it around Andy, you saw how he. . . nurtured it, in a way. Some people say he took advantage of it and controlled it. Valerie Solanas certainly did.
|