Complex sentence: In 1965 De Maria became the drummer in the New York-based rock group The Primitives and an artist/musician collaborative group called The Druds--the group included Lou Reed and John Cale, i.e., it was a precursor to The Velvet Underground.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1965 De Maria became the drummer in the New York-based rock group The Primitives and an artist/musician collaborative group called The Druds. The group included Lou Reed and John Cale and was a precursor to The Velvet Underground.