The Drummer There are a lot of reasons to love the Velvet Underground. Lou Reed's deviant poetry, John Cale's belligerent noise, Nico's alien cool...but I love the Velvets for that rhythm. That pounding, repetitive, saturated sound, made without a bass guitar but somehow deeper and more urgent than any band of the era.
"Most of our stuff - especially early on - didn't have a bass," recalls Moe Tucker, former drummer with the Velvets and at least half of that unforgettable sound. "John was always flailing away on the viola or a keyboard, so Sterl and I were naturally the rhythm section."
Sterl, of course, is Sterling Morrison, the late VU guitarist. It was Morrison's metronomic guitar playing that filled out the band's sound, but it was the tom-tom pummeling Moe dished out that drove the songs.
To hear her tell it, you get them impression that Tucker's attack was not so much primal as primitive. For one thing, though she had been playing drums on her own for some time, she had only played in one band before hooking up with VU. For a week. They did one show - in a bar, all covers.
But if Moe's drumming was technically simplistic, she was artistically sophisticated enough to know how well it complemented the crazed rock 'n' roll vision of her compatriots. "I guess I developed my way of playing because of the [VU] style of music," she says. "I never could do rolls, and I always hated cymbals, so I sort of had a style already, but in the early days we often played long improvisations, as opposed to structured songs. I always felt my role was to stay out of the way, keep the rhythm, and try to play in a way that would compliment the feel of the music."
The Music Picturing this untutored young musician walking into the Cale/Reed crosswinds, you can't help but wonder if she realized what she was getting into.
"Yes, instantly!" she says. "The first time I heard any [of their music] was when I went into The City to learn the three songs we were going to play at our first show, and I was stunned!"
Tucker grew up on Ricky Nelson, Otis Redding, Chuck Berry and Little Richard - music she still holds dear today. Bo Diddley, in particular, was and is an inspiration. While you may not think of an "avant garde" band like the Velvet Underground as kindred spirits of Bo and Otis, remember that there is no bigger soul/rock 'n' roll/R&B fan than Lou Reed. Not to mention the Velvets' sly lyrical subversions ("Head Held High") and mythologizing of rock 'n' roll ("Rock 'n' Roll"), both very much in the tradition of Chuck Berry.
Moe Today Moe Tucker is in the rock 'n' roll hall of fame now, a singularly weird honor for a member of the quintessential underground band. Tucker dismisses the idea of a rock peerage: "I don't think I'd ever be considered part of the pop establishment," she says.
On the contrary, she's still a rough rock diamond. If Moe's drumming was primitive, the singing and guitar playing she's doing with her current band are, by her own admission, even less polished. "I just wish I could sing better and louder!" she says with disarming honesty, adding, "I'd give my right arm to be able to play lead guitar." Well, there's an image.
Tucker's recent covers of girl group classics ("Be My Baby," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "To Know Him Is To Love Him," "Then He Kissed Me") show that she's still driven by the music she loved in the '60s. The versions are occasionally awkward - especially Moe's hushed singing - but it's all charming enough to remind you that Tucker's musical strength was always simple enthusiasm over forced sophistication. Unfortunately, she's not driven to drum anymore ("Too much crap to carry!"), which is a loss to those of us who would have loved to hear her pound out the intro to "Be My Baby."
She's writing songs and touring now, and refuses to describe her current muse much beyond "Fun, I hope!" Most VU fans keep up with Lou Reed's solo twists and turns, and many have even bought the occasional John Cale album (though others, like Tucker, consider most of his music "a little wacky"). For those of us who always listen for Moe's parts, though, it's good to know she's still in love with rock 'n' roll. Catch up with the latest on Moe Tucker at:
