Ivan Julian

After Julian was diagnosed with Stage III gastrointestinal cancer in 2015, a two-day benefit concert was staged for him at City Winery in New York. The musicians who performed included Debbie Harry, Thurston Moore, and Matthew Sweet. Declared cancer-free in 2016, Julian played a comeback show at Bell House in Brooklyn. [2]

Julian formed a group called Lovelies which included his then-wife, former Bush Tetras vocalist Cynthia Sley in 1988. Mad Orphan (an early version of the band was called The Mad Orphans) is their one and only release. This release is characterized by percussive downtown NYC post-punk.

Julian formed The Outsets just after the breakup of Richard Hell and the Voidoids in 1980. He remembered seeing Vinny DeNunzio, of The Feelies, playing with Richard Lloyd's band and being impressed. As it turned out Vinny was ready for a change so they started holding auditions for bass and the other guitar. When the word got out, Fred Smith (Television, Blondie), Ted Niceley (producer, Fugazi and Girls vs. Boys), and Tommy Keene were among those that came to play. Niceley and Keene had both played in (the) Razz, a D.C. band whose members were friends with Julian.

After several months the band was signed to Contender Records and released their first single, "I'm Searchin' For You" b/w "Fever". Much has been made of the misprint on the label that incorrectly list the publishing rights for the B side. As a result, the record company corrected the mistake after the first pressing which has made it somewhat of a collectors item. The songs on The Punk/Funk Voodoo Collection were recorded in the basement studio of Giorgio Gomelsky, Yardbirds producer and early manager of the Rolling Stones. He persuaded Ivan Julian and the band to explore sounds outside of the boundaries of American pop music, most notably Fela Kuti. The music and the lyrics resound with the rough and tumble immediacy of East Village New York in the early 1980s. Included as Bonus Tracks are remastered versions of The Outsets first single originally released as a 45 on Contender records.

In 1977 Julian returned to the U.S. to New York, where he was a founding member of the seminal Punk/ New Wave group Richard Hell and the Voidoids. Soon after the band recorded an EP that was heralded by the Village Voice as one of the best records of the year. Early traces of Julian's prowess grace two sides of this historical platter.

Ivan Julian (born June 26, 1955) is a guitarist and bassist. He is also founding member of such punk groups as Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Lovelies. He has performed with the Isley Brothers, The Clash, Matthew Sweet, The Bongos, Richard Barone, and Shriekback.