William Yule (born c. 1954) is an American musician, best known for his brief stint as a temporary

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

for

the Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...

during their summer engagement 1970 at

Max's Kansas City Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City, which became a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists, and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s. It was opened by Mickey Ruskin (1933–1983) in Dece ...

, sitting in for Maureen Tucker while she was on

maternity leave Parental leave, or family leave, is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term "parental leave" may include maternity, paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" and "paternity leave ...

1970

When in early 1970, regular Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker became pregnant and had to go on maternity leave, a temporary replacement was needed to fulfill the band's live obligations.

Bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Doug Yule, who had replaced founding member

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, dr ...

in 1968, proposed his younger brother Billy, then sixteen years old; he was accepted. Yule started practising with the band (Doug Yule,

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Althoug ...

and Sterling Morrison) immediately and made his live debut on June 24 at

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, during the two-month engagement the band had there. In addition to the residency at Max's, he played drums on two songs on the band's fourth album '' Loaded''. He played with the band until the end of the engagement on August 28, after which they temporarily stopped activities to cope with the loss of lead singer Reed, who had abruptly quit on August 23. When they reconvened with Doug Yule moving to lead vocals and guitar and Walter Powers coming in on bass, Maureen Tucker also returned from

, ending Billy Yule's time with the band. Two sets from the engagement, one in July and the other on August 23, were taped and edited to form the '' Live at Max's Kansas City''

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th centur ...

. Yule plays on all selections. A final recording session for ''Loaded'', which they recorded at the same time as the Max's Kansas City engagement, also featured Billy Yule on

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. Two of the songs recorded with Yule, "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" and "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'", made the album, while a third song, "Ocean", was included on the 1995 '' Peel Slowly and See''

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

1973

A band featuring Billy and Doug Yule played the

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

bar circuit in 1973, and was misleadingly billed as the Velvet Underground by the tour manager, despite the members' objections. In late May 1973, the band and the manager parted ways and the Velvet Underground name was laid to rest. The penultimate concert from this tour, on May 27, 1973, in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, was taped and eventually released on '' Final V.U. 1971–1973'' (2001).

References

According to Doug Yule's recollection, quoted on Olivier Landemaine'
Velvet Underground Web Page

Discography

All performances are with the Velvet Underground. * '' Loaded'' (1970, two tracks) * '' Live at Max's Kansas City'' (1972, recorded 1970, all tracks) * '' Final V.U. 1971-1973'' (2001, recorded 1973, ten tracks) Living people 1954 births American rock drummers The Velvet Underground members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers {{US-rock-drummer-stub