Postscript - October 2003:

Later on in the year this interview appeared in Hairy Hi-Fi, the line-up of the Velvet Underground that played on their first two albums reunited at the Foundation Cartier in France to play a single song, 'Heroin'. Two years later Moe finally persuaded Sterling to join her on tour and, buoyed by the response, he joined her again for a subsequent jaunt.

In 1993 the Velvet Underground got together for a few dates in Europe. These proved, for the most part, to be depressing affairs. Interviewed before the event, Stirling made the offhand remark that if he got bored he could always entertain himself playing Chuck Berry riffs. Sure enough, in Edinburgh, in the middle of 'White Light / White Heat', with Cale playing what they used to call in Melody Maker "great swathes of synthesizer washes", and Reed strutting around in an attempt to emulate his new pal, Bono, Morrison bursts into 'Sweet Little Sixteen'. The saving grace of the show comes when the spotlight falls on Moe and she sings 'Afterhours' and 'I'm Sticking With You' with guileless dignity.

A later get together at the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, minus Lou Reed, is by all accounts a happier occasion. Sadly, on August 30th 1995, Stirling, having been diagnosed with cancer just months earlier, died.Sterling's unique guitar playing can be heard on all the Velvet Underground albums, many bootlegs that demonstrate what an instinctive and inventive band they were, and on Moe's first live CD, 'Oh No They're Recording The Show'. Other Moe Tucker releases, subsequent to this interview, include the studio albums 'I Spent A Week There Last Night' and 'Dogs Under Stress', a self-issued cdep of Phil Spector-related songs, and a live recording from 2000, 'Moe Rocks Terrastock', that also features Doug Yule from the 1968 - 1970 Velvet Underground.

Many thanks to Moe for being such a delightful interviewee and thanks too to Simon Murphy.