Native New Yorker, London resident, former Kindergarten Gym Teacher and one-time Parisian Street Sweeper, Julian Velard is a true original. The kind of character in a Wes Anderson or Quentin Tarintino film you’d like to grab a drink with. A real-life, musical version of Philip Marlowe (more Elliot Gould than Bogart) fusing the effortless
cool of Robert Downey Jr. with the self-depreciating humor of Woody Allen, serving up slices of old-school Pop perfection with a raised eyebrow.
Born in the heart of Martin Scorsese’s Big Apple to a Queen-sized legs model/4-time Jeopardy champion mother and a French ex-patriot/ATM designer Father, Velard attended Laguardia High School for the Performing Arts, immortalized in the movie Fame. His first job was delivering videos to the likes of Cyndi Lauper and The Coen Brothers. It was during those after-school afternoons Velard devoured the albums that would form his musical landscape for years to come – Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, Elvis Costello’s Armed Forces, Billy Joel’s The Stranger, and Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection.
Velard spent his young adulthood paying his dues, living in an efficiency apartment literally in the shadow of Manhattan, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He supported himself with some very odd jobs (including the afore mentioned “Hungover with Hula-hoops” episode) and touring the U.S., playing shows anywhere and everywhere, from rock clubs to cabarets to bar-mitzvahs and back again, honing his quirky brand of Pop all the while. After releasing three records independently, in 2007 Velard was plucked from relative obscurity off of Myspace, the source of well deserved UK Major Label attention. He signed a record deal and promptly moved to England.
Since then, Velard has straddled both sides of the Atlantic, writing songs for himself and others, and playing shows alongside Goldfrapp, Shelby Lynne, Marc Broussard, Amy McDonald, Kate Nash, Jose Gonzalez, Sonya Kitchell, Tom Baxter, The Clarks, Horatio Sanz, Ben Kweller, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and others, and is currently working towards the 2010 release of his label debut.
Just showin some love, hope ya year went well. Keep up the good work, there's no rest for the BLESSED! Add me on Facebook if you wanna network, I hold media orientated networking events every month. h2thefire@hotmail.com
Hey friend, I just wanted to stop by your page and wish you a Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Thank you so much for your support and friendship and cheers to a brand new 2010. Feel free to drop by your love on our facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/JonPaul-Palombo/87428539793 and dont drink too much!! All my love, JP x
Hey, just showing some love, i've been listening to nitetime on spotify, didn't realise just how good your old songs were, you're more awesome than i already thought you were. enjoy the holidays and merry christmas!
Hey Julian! I hope all is well brother! Last time we met was almost a year ago at Rockwood for your first new years show, so its safe to say its been way too long. Congratulations with the album, I know it's been a long time coming.
When you get a chance, check out our music and let us know what you think! We've got a couple of tunes up, but if you want a better feel of who we are, check out the videos we posted from our last show @ Arlene's Grocery earlier in December. We're a relatively new band so your feedback would mean a lot. Hope to hear back from you, and best of luck
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