User:Sbutler860/sandbox

Biography
Julian Butler BA (Hons.) (born 15 August 1970) is a singer, songwriter, performer, composer, writer and actor. He studied drama at the Liverpool Institute between 1989 and 1992, and subsequently at LAMDA in London. It was while at LAMDA that he began attending rehearsals with a friend, Rachael Carter, for his brother's band, Private Joke. Within weeks Julian was the band's lead singer while Rachel Carter performed as featured singer on many of the band's early material. The brothers spent much of 1993 writing material for the band's debut album, The Greatest Show on Earth. Upon the album's release in November 1994, the band undertook a number of shows in and around the London area, at many primary spots for burgeoning groups, such as Covent Garden's 'Rock Garden,' and The Garage in Highbury and Islington. Private Joke played a handful of shows to promote the album between November 1994 and May of 1995. Setlists varied, but for the most part included material from The Greatest Show on Earth, as well as one or two cover versions and new, previously unreleased songs which eventually found their way on to the second, much darker album, Night of the Living Dead, which was released in December, 1995.

In the meantime, the brothers undertook the writing of a full-scale musical, Space Family Robinson, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 1995 to mostly sold out houses and positive reviews. At the same time, the brothers released a soundtrack album which sold at the venue. Julian spent much of 1996 with Stephen revising the musical for its entry into the Vivian Ellis Prize in March 1997. Again, a soundtrack - featuring a large number of new songs - was released at the time; however, it was never made available to the public as the musical failed to progress among the prize's judges, which included Sir Tim Rice.

At the same time, the brothers spent the end of 1996 and much of 1997 recording the third Private Joke album, Metropolis, which was released in December 1997. This album was a radical departure from the previous two; for the first time, Rachael Carter contributed to the songwriting ("Damaged Goods" and "Watching") while other songs on the album demonstrated the band's increasing maturity in songwriting - more complex harmonic progression and much more mature lyrics. It was the first album without guitarist Roger Williams, who left after the release of Night of the Living Dead.

During 1998, Julian began work developing ideas for a second musical, to be entitled Phantasmagoria. This was to be a murder mystery set in Scotland. This took up much of his time, and so Stephen put together the first Private Joke compilation, Privates on Parade, which was released in November 1998. The 17-song set included a couple of re-recordings, a few alternate edits and one previously unreleased song, "My Heart Has Been Hard to Find," left over from the Metropolis sessions.

At the beginning of 1999, both Julian and Stephen were hard at work on the musical Phantasmagoria. Even more musically diverse than previous efforts by the two, the styles ranged from driving rock in "Jesus Keeps on Knocking But He Can't Come In" to all-out jazz on "Death is Nature's Way of Telling You to Drive More Slowly." In addition, classical music traditions were used and parodied, such as the inclusion of a complete requiem mass within the score, played and performed in reverse.

A further entry into the Vivian Ellis Prize saw Phantasmagoria recorded and performed in March 1999. It proved to be the only performance of the musical to date.

Relations within Private Joke grew increasingly fractious; Rachael Carter in particular saw the break in band activities during 1998 and early 1999 as an opportunity to leave. Private Joke were now simply Julian and Stephen Butler.

At the beginning of the 21st Century, Julian and Stephen were hard at work on two almost simultaneous projects: a new musical, Phantasmagoria, and a new Private Joke album, Unfaithfully Yours. Fan(s) saw a more fundamental shift in the band's style with the release of this album. Long, noodling songs were, for the most part, gone; in came pure pop - shorter songs, and a far more commercial production. Phantasmagoria was released in June 2001, while Unfaithfully Yours the following September. Julian's songwriting, always dramatic in nature, required the presence of at least one other lead singer in Private Joke, not to mention others in the musical productions themselves. Laura Sheppard, who was later to appear in the stage production of Victoria Wood's Dinner Ladies was introduced on Phantasmagoria, as was Paul Manzi, who later became vocalist for the band Arena.

During the sessions for the new Private Joke album, Julian recorded six ambient tracks in the space of two hours, and the resultant album - 2 Hours - marked the first time that Julian had recorded and released any solo material at all. The album was released under the moniker 'Juleseybaby.'

After the terrorist attacks in the USA on September 11, 2001, the idea of doing Phantasmagoria live on stage was dropped; the final plan was to revive Space Family Robinson once again for its debut on the London stage. In the days before crowdfunding, the good old-fashioned telephone had to be used, Sponsorship was raised, and a stellar cast of the London stage was put together: Hannah Waddingham, Tim Barron, Stuart Piper, Stephen Carlile, Laurie Hagen and Arvid Larsen were the stars of the show and went some considerable way towards attracting sell-out audiences to the Pleasance Theatre in London's King's Cross when the show opened there on May 4, 2002. The show ran successfully for its planned run of three weeks, after which the album continued to rot in cardboard boxes in Julian's bedroom. As of January 2018, there are still plenty left.

After Space Family Robinson, the Butler brothers continued to work ferociously, but not on their own projects. While establishing between themselves what to do next, they fielded offers from a variety of sources to provide music for their productions. First was an offer from Polka Theatre in Wimbledon, London, to adapt the music of Mozart for a production of Cinderella there; however, the score was lost and, when the album finally saw release for a proposed production in China in early 2015, it was in a re-recorded form. Next, famous writer Patrick Wilde (he once wrote an episode of Casualty) asked the brothers to compose music for his play, You Couldn't Make it Up, which they did, contributing the hit single 'Hey Kids!' among the half a dozen or so new tracks on the soundtrack album, released in July 2002. Finally, Peter Joucla wrote a dark, bleak adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, which saw a limited run in January 2003, in London.

Julian was looking to rest Private Joke, possibly to split the band up completely (the brothers would still send each other Christmas cards). He wanted an outlet for his burgeoning collection of solo songs, none of which fitted the profile of "The Joke." In March 2003, Julian began rehearsals in London with Matthew Jones (guitar), John McCraw (bass) and Matthew Hutchinson (drums). This new band was initially called The Virgin Suicides, Julian wanted a hard, fast rock sound to suit his new songs, in particular "Computers Are Taking Over the World," and the song which was ultimately to become the set's crowd-pleaser, "Debra." While he could produce whatever he wanted in the studio, Julian felt that something was lacking in the sound when the band met for rehearsal. That sound was keyboards, and if there was anyone to ask to fill in that job, there was only one person to ask: his brother, Stephen, who leapt at the opportunity but, when asked, appeared casual - "Yeah, OK, if I have to."

The band began to play gigs in the London area - but it soon became clear that a change of name was needed. Julian arrived at a rehearsal with a new name - Viper Squadron, named after the popular font. but a name strong enough to give the band an image; they were intergalactic soldiers of fortune out to save the Universe from the corporate forces of rock. Their sound took in every influence imaginable - from punk to progressive rock; from jazz to classical music. Julian wrote song after song, many destined to be fan favourites: 'Computers Are Taking Over the World' 'World on Fire', and soon came the band's most well-known song, 'Debra.'  These songs were the antithesis of all he had done with Private Joke - joyous, celebratory, and with more detailed and complex storylines - the lyrics were as bold and adventurous as the music.

But more was to follow. After taking two or three London pubs by storm, the reputation he was gathering for himself and his band ensured and cemented his standing as a varied and capable songwriter. After the release of the first Viper Squadron album, Attack of the Vapours, in June 2006, Julian turned his attention to musical theatre - specifically, children's musical theatre; a genre in which he found his niche. His first, Charlie & Lola: I Am Not Sleepy & Will Not Go to Bed, was a commission and was released to coincide with the opening of the show at Wimbledon's Polka Theatre in July 2007. Julian wrote songs and instrumental music to accompany onstage action. Since then, music for the stage has rarely stopped coming. Even for revivals of earlier shows, Julian would frequently go back into the studio and re-record the entire score. The Snow Queen (2010/2017), Run!: A Sports Day Musical (2012/2013), Beauty & the Beast (2012/2015), Neverland (2015/2016), and Flat Stanley (2009/2014) were among those that received at least one revival. Julian has also become associated with, and written children's shows for, Nottingham's Lakeside Arts Centre under the directorship of Matt Aston. Like Irving Berlin and Cole Porter before him, Julian Butler is an accomplished lyricist and composer, and furthermore has written the book for a few of the shows such as Neverland. (See below for detailed information).

In early 2013, while working on a production of Beauty and the Beast, Butler auditioned a potential cast member: Laura Sheppard, the same singer that had shared vocal duties on the 1995 version of Space Family Robinson and the Private Joke album Unfaithfully Yours from 2001. This prompted the two of them to revisit a song from Metropolis and Phantasmagoria entitled "Caged Bird." This was recorded in January 2013. This in turn gave Julian an idea: to reform Private Joke and record a new album. Although Sheppard ended up not being involved, the two Butler brothers did indeed reunite and sessions for the album that became Honour Among Thieves (2016) began in earnest; although some say it was in Surrey. Honour Among Thieves was released to general acclaim on October 7, 2016, and featured three singles - 'Salvation,' 'We Belong Together' and 'Only Love Can Heal a Broken Heart.' These were all released to YouTube and featured remarkable videos made by Julian Butler.

Julian continues to be diverse in his approach to music. In January 2018 he released an album, The Pink Album, a compilation of covers he recorded for gang shows in his local area. The album was so successful, he released a follow-up, The Pink Album 2, in January 2019. Later in 2019, Julian released a double album, his first as a solo artist: entitled Jules the Man's 1980s ReVersions (2019), an album of remixes of some of his favourite records from that particular decade. He also continues to work with Stephen in Private Joke. Indeed, the much-delayed and much-anticipated collection A Private Function 1994-2019 is due at the end of 2019. His work rate is extremely prolific.

Personal Life
Julian married Mandy Mallen in Cornwall in February 2008. They currently have two cats, and live in Sutton, Surrey, with their two cats.

Discography
Solo Albums:

2 Hours (Ambient) - July 2001 - First solo album recorded in two hours during an all-night recording session.

Non-Musical Theatre Discography & Collaborations
Julian Butler Discography:

With Stephen Butler


 * The Greatest Show on Earth (Private Joke) November 1994
 * Space Family Robinson (Musical) August 1995
 * Night of the Living Dead (Private Joke) December 1995
 * "Space Family Robinson" (Musical) March 1997 -  Revised for the 1997 Vivian Ellis Prize
 * Metropolis (Private Joke) December 1997
 * Privates on Parade (Private Joke) November 1998 -  Compilation
 * "Phantasmagoria" (Musical) March 1999 - Produced for the 1999 Vivian Ellis Prize
 * Greatest (S)hit (Private Joke) October 1999 -  Compilation
 * "Phantasmagoria: A New Musical" (Musical) June 2001 -  Produced to coincide with the aborted 2002 London run
 * Unfaithfully Yours (Private Joke) September 2001
 * Space Family Robinson (Musical) May 2002 - Soundtrack to the third version produced at the Pleasance Theatre in London in May 2002
 * You Couldn't Make it Up (Soundtrack) July 2002 -  Songs written for the play by Patrick Wilde
 * Private Parts (Private Joke) November 2002 -  Compilation
 * Space Family Robinson Live in London 2002 (Musical) December 2002 -  Live album recorded during the London run during May 2002
 * 1984 (Soundtrack) January 2003 -  Score and sound effects for the play produced in London by Peter Joucla
 * Attack of the Vapours (Viper Squadron) June 2006
 * Private Property (Private Joke) March 2010 -  Compilation to accompany remasters of all previous collaborative albums
 * Battle of the Planets (Viper Squadron) May 2011
 * Confederacy of the Bees (Viper Squadron) March 2014 -  Compilation, but many of the songs are new recordings
 * Half the Fun of the Fair (Stephen Butler) October 2014 -  Julian Butler produced and played most of the instruments on this Stephen Butler solo album
 * Honour Among Thieves (Private Joke) October 2016 -  First new Private Joke album in 15 years
 * A Private Function (Private Joke) May 2019 -  Compilation, the first to feature music from both Private Joke and Viper Squadron, as well as solo material by both Julian and Stephen Butler.