Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.

John Kales' career in music stretches back at this point more than 50 years.

He grew up a promising viola player in Wales, in Flew West to New York to study classical

music.

Instead, he fell in with an artsy or crowd.

John Cage, Lamont Young, Andy Warhol, and eventually Lou Reed.

With Reed, he formed the Velvet Underground, one of the most influential acts in the history

of rock music.

You can hear his viola on the classic track, Venus and Furs.

Although his time with the band was short, four years, two albums, John Kales was just

getting started.

He became a producer, responsible for shaping the debut albums of the Stooges, Jonathan

Richman, Patty Smith, and Squeezie.

He also worked as a composer, scoring the film Spasquiat and American Psycho.

It's the kind of resume that guarantees you a place in the Rock and Roll history book.

But even that is just one side of Kales' work.

He's also an accomplished trailblazing solo musician.

He's recorded nearly 20 albums on his own.

He's worked in genres like folk, metal, classical, and industrial, and pretty much everything

in between.

He's collaborated with Lou Reed, Terry Riley, and Brian Enault.

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