Biography
MacLise was a member of La Monte Young's Theater of Eternal Music, with John Cale, Tony Conrad, Marian Zazeela and sometimes Terry Riley. He contributed to the early Fluxus newspaper VTre, edited by George Brecht, and was also an early member of The Velvet Underground, having been brought into the group by flatmate John Cale when they were living at 56 Ludlow Street in Manhattan.
MacLise played bongos and hand drums during 1965 with the first incarnation of the Velvet Underground. Although the band regularly extemporised soundtracks to underground films during this era, MacLise never officially recorded with them, and is often considered something of a shadowy, legendary figure in their history. When the opportunity of the band's first paying gig in November 1965 arose, MacLise promptly quit, suggesting the group were selling out.
MacLise was replaced by Maureen Tucker, resulting in the "classic" lineup of The Velvet Underground. In 1966 when Velvet Underground singer Lou Reed was in hospital with hepatitis, MacLise rejoined the group for a 5-day run of performances at Poor Richard's in Chicago, June 21–26 1966, sharing duties with Gerard Malanga, whom Angus had taught to play tabla. By this time the Velvet Underground had found some notoriety (if not great financial success) and MacLise was anxious to rejoin the group, but according to the notes of the box set Peel Slowly and See, the VU's primary songwriter and de facto bandleader Lou Reed had specifically prohibited MacLise from rejoining the band full-time due to his erratic behavior.
Later in the 1960s, Angus and his wife Hetty traveled around between Vancouver, Paris, Greece and India, finally settling in Nepal. They also had a son, Ossian Kennard MacLise, who was recognized by Rangjung Rigpe Dorje, the 16th Karmapa, as a reincarnation of a Tibetan saint, or tulku, and at age four became a Buddhist monk.
A student of Aleister Crowley (he was working on a script for a film version of Crowley's Diary of a Drug Fiend before he died), he began to blend Tibetan mysticism with his music to create sound through various drone techniques.
Read more about this topic: Angus MacLise
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