MGMT have discussed how they reached out to Lou Reed with the offer of a collaboration, revealing that he turned them down and even suggested that they should fire their managers.
The duo, who performed with Reed’s bandmate John Cale at the ‘Velvet Underground & Nico’ 50th anniversary gig last year, spoke on the Best Show podcast about meeting Reed.
Frontman Andrew VanWyngarden explained that they had a “breakfast meeting” with Reed because they wanted him to contribute spoken-word vocals to ‘Lady Dada’s Nightmare’ for their 2010 album ‘Congratulations’.
However, Reed firmly rejected the offer and “pretty much said [the song] didn’t need it”.
Reed then, according to VanWyngarden, started talking about “how we didn’t need managers” while “our managers were there”.
“But at least we got to meet him,” the singer added, before recalling how they later saw the Velvet Underground icon again at the Westminster Dog Show in New York.
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“We kind of, like, dressed up like dandies,” VanWyngarden said. “We were just being really silly. Fred had on a top hat, and I had on a velvet jacket and a scarf and gloves. I had a notepad. I was taking notes on the dogs.”
Listen to the podcast in full here. The Lou Reed talk begins at the 53:40 mark.
Lou Reed passed away in October 2013 of liver disease.
MGMT’s latest album ‘Little Dark Age’ was released in February.
NME described the record as “the biggest curveball of the Connecticut pair’s consistently unpredictable career”.