John Cale: interview in Paper

John Cale was interviewed by Tobia Hess for Paper. About getting into the New York avant-garde scene and the influence of La Monte Young:

It began in London, where I got to know Cornelius Cardew there. I was aware of what Stockhausen was doing, and it was very entertaining to hear what La Monte was doing in regards to Stockhausen because he was at odds with him. It was a period where there was a changing attitude towards tonality in Europe. He was really driving a different kind of perspective than Stockhausen. Stockhausen was hellbent on saying, “You've got to invest in new music.” In Europe, it was: you just make sure that you have a 12-tone scale, and if you don't have a 12-tone scale, you can have a 12-tone instrumentation. It was a quick shift that was going on in Europe. La Monte was from the West Coast jazz groups, it was Terry Riley, Terry Jennings, etc. So when I got to New York, La Monte had already established himself. And John Cage was very generous with his recognition.

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