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Angus MacLise (1938 - 1979) was a percussionist and composer.
MacLise was an early member of The Velvet Underground. He played bongos and hand drums during 1965 with the first incarnation of the band, having been brought into the group by flatmate John Cale. Although the band regularly extemporised sound tracks to underground films, he never officially recorded with the group, and is often considered something of a shadowy, legendary figure in the band's history. When the opportunity of the band's first paying gig in November 1965 arose, Maclise promptly quit, calling getting paid for playing and being told when to start and stop playing music a sellout.
Maclise was replaced by Maureen Tucker, resulting in the "classic" Reed/Cale/Morrison/Tucker lineup of The Velvet Underground and only briefly returned for a handful of dates in 1966 when Lou Reed was in hospital with hepatitis. Cale moved to lead vocals, Tucker moved to bass and Maclise played percussion. By this time he was anxious to rejoin the group but was explicitly refused by Reed.
MacLise worked with LaMonte Young, Tony Conrad and others. He died in 1979 in Kathmandu of tuberculosis.
Beginning in the late 1990s, a number of rare or previously-unreleased recordings featuring MacLise have been issued on CD.
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