Hey everyone, Julien here. I‘m the new guitarist for this awesome band: The Great Leslie!
This is my first blog post and there’s lots I want to write about, but I’ll keep things simple this time around.
A bit about myself. I come from Toronto, Canada, but grew up in Nice, France and have been a musician since the age of three! I come from a musical household where my dad plays guitar and my mom, piano. Vinyl was a big part of my early years and I scratched a few too many records to be left alone with my parents’ turntable… Naturally, my parents thought it would be a good idea to have me running around a room with other toddlers, while listening to classical music in the background to awaken our minds to music. At the time, music was something new and fascinating, programming my brain to have a better understanding of things.
After moving to France I started another conservatory learning Harpsichord (that’s right, I was not a ‘cool kid’, but a true nerd in the making!). Nerds are cool today, right? Anyway, It didn’t take long to notice that the harpsichord didn’t have much to offer in the sex appeal department and when, at the age of fourteen, my classmate told me we had to learn to play the guitar so we could “get chicks”, it was game on! The “getting chicks” thing wasn’t big for me at first as I quickly realised that you actually had to be good to impress other people. I took lessons with a great teacher and it all stemmed from there. I couldn’t put the guitar down. For up to eight hours a day, I used to play anything I could. Nevermind, The Black Album, Blood Sugar Sex Magic and so on… I would play to tunes I heard on the radio and within a few years of practicing, my high school band played the “fete de la musique”, the first day of summer and National music day in France. Bands were playing at the corner of every street and my 16 year old self had a faux hawk, a tie die t-shirt, and stickers on my guitar. I was ready to rock.
Fast forward five years and upon graduating from university with a degree in sound engineering and music production, I headed to London to live the dream working as a studio engineer. It was good while it lasted, but the city ate me up… I made my way into the live circuit where I worked in house in various venues over a five year period before going freelance. One day in 2019, I was working at a venue in Camden. That night, the act headlining was called Ollie Trevers. I’ll never forget the gig. I met Ollie, Sam and Ryan. They were kind and the music was most excellent. When I saw a post by Sam saying they were auditioning for a new guitarist, I didn’t hesitate one second! I’m still the same guitarist, minus the faux hawk, the tie die t shirt, and stickers on my guitar, but with the same desire to play music with people I like and call friends. I can’t wait to get back on stage and bring these wonderful new tunes to you. That’s it for now.
Until next time,
Julien aka Danger Canada.