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 drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

for

the Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...

during their famous 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 Decembe ...

, sitting in for

Maureen Tucker Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944) is an American musician and singer-songwriter who was the drummer for the New York City-based rock band the Velvet Underground. After they disbanded in the early 1970s, she left the music industry ...

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 (law), paternity, and adoption leave; or may be used distinctively from "maternity leave" an ...

1970

When in early 1970, regular Velvet Underground drummer

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), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

Doug Yule Douglas Alan Yule (born February 25, 1947) is an American musician and singer, most notable for being a member of the Velvet Underground from 1968 to 1973 serving as the bassist, guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. Biography Early life Doug ...

, who had replaced founding member

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter 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 styl ...

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, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. ...

and

Sterling Morrison Holmes Sterling Morrison Jr. (August 29, 1942 – August 30, 1995) was an American guitarist, best known as one of the founding members of the rock group the Velvet Underground, usually playing electric guitar, occasionally bass guitar, a ...

) immediately and made his live debut on June 24 at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, during the legendary 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 at Max's Kansas City'' is a live album by the Velvet Underground recorded at the famous nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was originally released on May 30, 1972, by Cotillion, a subsidiary label of A ...

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

. 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 A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

. 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 ''Peel Slowly and See'' is a five-disc box set of material by the Velvet Underground. It was released in September 1995 by Polydor. Compilation The name of this box set comes from the instruction presented on vinyl copies of the band's debut alb ...

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

1973

A band featuring Billy and Doug Yule played the

New England New England is a region comprising 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 to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

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 (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, 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) * ''

'' (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