![]() ![]() Well, I was born at the end of World War II, so it had something going on there that when you got out of it, you thought, Well, I'm glad that's over. Having been born at the top half of the '40s, do you remember another time when things were this nuts? And we were really badly in need - and still are - for people to speak the truth, to help heal this mess and get to the point where redemption was possible. Disinformation, conspiracy theories, guns - so much hate. ![]() Pandemic mitigation, and distorting the truth. I was angry at the number of people in positions of power that should have known better and didn't. You seem to have a bird's-eye view of everything. Reading the lyrics, I was captivated by their heavy, overarching topics. And the songs benefited from all of that interruption. So, there was Laurel Halo there was Actress there was Weyes Blood, Sylvan Esso, Animal Collective, and Fat White Family. I was really glad I did, because the variety of the musicians I found - I mean, I'd worked with them for the Velvet reunion concerts and other places. I went straight back into it and added some other musicians. Two and a half years later, I was still working on the structure and the noise of the album. So, I came back and was thinking: What is it I can add to this, and maybe ignore the lockdown for a minute and get on with some useful stuff? I'd already written the bulk of the album. I was on tour in São Paulo, and I was getting on a plane to go home, and by the time I landed in LA, everybody was under strict lockdown. Well, it was happenstance more than anything. Whether political or personal, what raw materials went into Mercy ? This interview has been edited for clarity. caught up with Cale to discuss the origin of Mercy, the young rapper that's influencing him lately, and what the remainder of 2023 holds for him. "I was angry," Cale says of his mindset while writing songs like "Noise of You," "Story of Blood" and "Not the End of the World." More specifically, "I was angry at the number of people in positions of power that should have known better and didn't." Thus, Cale remains a truth-teller as well as a thoughtful collaborator and vital innovator - and it's all there in the music. His new album, Mercy, is one of his very best - aurally immersive, lyrically wise and filled with facilitative guests, from Weyes Blood to Laurel Halo to Animal Collective. Where do you go from there, with Reed Nico manager, producer and cover artist Andy Warhol and founding Velvets guitarist Sterling Morrison no longer with us? Cale remains a potent creative force, so he keeps hurtling forward. The impact of the Velvet Underground on alternative, punk and experimental music has been litigated and relitigated - most recently, in Todd Haynes ' fantastic 2021 documentary The Velvet Underground and Ignacio Julià's illuminating 2023 book of interviews, Linger On. Not only on the avant-garde, but on a lot of other different styles. "I thought if I put together the music that Lou and I would do - which was out of tune slightly, but getting somewhere - the idea of what the music was going to be was going to have an effect. "I had some theoretical ideas as to why it was important," Cale tells over the phone from Los Angeles, where he resides. What must it be like to be chiefly known for what you did as a very young man, for all of two years? To boot, after decades of a storied solo career - including classics like 1973's Paris 19's Music for a New Society - what is it like to have people chiefly want to talk about the Velvets? On top of that, was there any perception among its members that what they were doing was important - much less momentous, and pivotal for popular music? This writer was there, and the memory lingered - as did its attendant questions. His new album, Mercy, is available now.īack in 2018, John Cale strolled into the Velvet Underground Experience, an exhibition in New York City's NoHo neighborhood, and gazed upward at a massive projection at Lou Reed 's face for several seconds. This week, spoke with John Cale, a singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and founding member of the Velvet Underground who has steadily built his solo discography for more than half a century. Living Legends is a series that spotlights icons in music still going strong today. ![]()
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