As for when Julian first knew he wanted to be a musician, the answer is simple. “From the time I came out of my mother and started to cry. That was the first note I ever sang,” he laughs. “As I child I was grown to be around music and play with instruments all day and night, which made music a very spiritual experience for me from day one. Music is healing, uplifting, This is why it is important to feed music to all children.”
Julian’s career has seen several collaborations with his brothers, including the Awake highlight Violence In The Streets with Damian and Stephen Marley. “It is a very natural thing to work with my brothers, we are inseparable,” Julian explains. “We grew up living together, we play football together, we make music together. It is a very natural and Blessed feeling, as we have love and respect for each other, always.”
Although Bob Marley stands as one of the biggest legends of contemporary music, Julian sees his father as an inspiration, rather than someone to live up to. “I don’t feel any pressure to live up to my gather. My father made me, my name is Julian, I have my own genetic make up, I wear size 11 shoes and that’s me, I am myself,” he beams. “I stay grounded and not suck up, I am normal and do not think in the way that I am my father’s ‘shadow’ but instead that he is my inspiration, my teacher.”
Joining Julian onstage in Australia will be his 12-piece band. “The band is called The Uprising and came together around 1994. There is wicked talent in the The Uprising band! Growing up in Jamaica I started to play music with my bass player – Owen Dreadie Reed – which is from the school of Aston ‘Family Man’ Barrett. I have a wicked keyboardist that has been with me from the start, as well as a wicked guitarist. I love performing with my live band, and the entire crew will of course be with me in Australia, bringing that great live sound, energy, spirit and light,” he reveals. “The audience can expect conscious music, reggae music, spiritual music. It is an overwhelming feeling every time we perform, I love to play music to a live audience because the heartbeat of the music can be felt, the upliftment and positive messages of the music can be felt experienced by the live audience.”
Born from a highly-political climate, the message of reggae still rings true today. Julian feels the need to uphold the truth associated with Jamaica’s foremost genre. “There is a new generation that likes reggae music and perform reggae music now, however it is important that our peers and the new generation overstand the foundation of reggae music and its upliftment comes from struggle. Reggae literally means King’s Music. Our peers need to overstand that in order to perform reggae music, you must perform the King’s Music, meaning keeping with the integrity of the highest quality of music,” Julian reasons. “Reggae music represents the hearbeat of every person, and speaks of the struggles and ups and downs of life. Regardless of the language that is spoken, reggae resonates globally because its message breaks race and class, and is dedicated to positivity, hopeful times, unity and love.”
As well as recording his own solo works, Julian contributed guitar elements to Lauryn Hill’s landmark The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. “It holds up as a legendary album. Since the album was recorded at the original Tuff Gong studio’s in Jamaica – not the one that is there now, but the original house of music for Bob Marley and The Wailers – the energy of the album is of course very high,” the spirit is high. There is tranquility in the album, as well as the magic was felt by all and beautifully conveyed by my sister, Ms. Lauryn Hill.
As for new studio material, we can tentatively expect Julian’s first recorded material since 2009’s Awake sometime soon. “I’m writing songs now and working on ideas to follow up Awake. We do not rush inspiration, and though I have some material ready now, we do not rush the mystic.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
