Former Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker pens tribute to Lou Reed

The Velvet Underground drummer Moe Tucker has paid tribute to the late Lou Reed in a memorial piece for The Observer, remembering her life and career with the great musician.

In the article, Tucker recalls how they first came to meet (“I first met Lou when he came by one day to see my brother… I knew from my brother that he was into music, but he didn’t make that big an impression”), their debut show together (“A lot of people were bewildered. A lot of people left. I think Lou kind of liked that”) and being inspired by Reed’s musical prowess (“John and Lou were just so full of ideas. I was super-impressed – the drones, the lyrics, the noise, the whole way they approached music was just new and exciting”).

She continues:

“Lou had a reputation, for sure. He was tough and he could be grumpy and bitchy, but I’ve come to realise that his bitchiness came out when there was incompetence about. Didn’t matter if it was a waiter or a record producer, he’d rip someone apart if things weren’t up to scratch. He didn’t suffer fools gladly. That’s just the way he was, but he was also incredibly encouraging and generous. He was a good friend through everything. We had this brother-sister type relationship in the group, and it lasted long after the group split. We would always exchange Christmas cards, Valentine cards. It was one of those friendships where it didn’t matter if you didn’t see each other a lot. We’d meet up after two years or five years and it would be like we’d seen each other last week. As you get older, you come to realise that that kind of friendship is rare, so I miss him a hell of a lot. It’s just dawning on me that he’s not out there any more.”

You can read the full article here.