| Keith Levene | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Julian Keith Levene |
| Born | 18 July 1957 Wood Green, England |
| Genres | Experimental rock, post-punk, punk rock |
| Occupations | Musician/Producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, bass guitar, drums, synthesizer, piano, cello, violin, harmonica, saxophone |
| Years active | 1974–present |
| Labels | EMI/Virgin |
| Associated acts | The Clash, The Flowers of Romance, Public Image Ltd, Pigface |
| Website | www.murderglobal.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Veleno Travis Bean Wedge Parker Fly |
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Keith Levene (born Julian Keith Levene, 18 July 1957 in London) is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was an early member of The Clash, but is best known as being a founding member of Public Image Limited, along with John Lydon.
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Keith Levene was an early member of The Clash and The Flowers of Romance (most notable for also featuring a pre-Sex Pistols Sid Vicious). Although he never recorded with The Clash, he co-wrote "What's My Name", featured on their first album. Levene has often claimed that he co-wrote several songs on The Clash's first album.
According to Simon Reynolds in his book Rip It Up and Start Again, Levene was an avid progressive rock fan who'd served at age fifteen as a roadie for Yes on their Close to the Edge tour.
After the Sex Pistols disintegrated, Levene co-founded Public Image Ltd (PiL) with John Lydon. His guitar work was much imitated by several punk rockers and others, including The Edge of U2. On later PiL recordings, Levene would often forgo his guitar for synthesizer. He left PiL acrimoniously in 1983 just before shows which would later form the Live In Tokyo album. He released the original versions of the songs on his own label[1] under the title Commercial Zone. In 1985 he moved to Los Angeles where he formed a company with his second wife, journalist Shelly da Cunha.[2] In mid-1986, Levene tried to produce demos for the album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan by the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Master Control in Burbank with engineers Steve Catania and Dan Nebenzal,[3] but the band split up over drug money.[4] Also in 1986, Levene worked together with DJ Matt Dike, experimenting with sampling techniques and hip-hop for Ice T and Tone Loc on their early recordings for Delicious.[5]
In 2003, Levene contributed to industrial rock supergroup Pigface's album Easy Listening...
He has released several solo records, most recently the Killer in the Crowd EP in 2004.
At an impromptu appearance at the Musicport Festival in Bridlington Spa on 24th October 2010, where they were joined by vocalist Johnny Rotter of the Sex Pistols Experience,[6] Levene renewed his association with former PiL bassist Jah Wobble. In 2011 Levene contributed to three tracks on the album "Psychic Life", a collaboration between Wobble and Julie Campbell. [7]
In February 2012 Wobble and Levene are set to play three nights in Tokyo, Japan, as Metal Box in Dub.[8]
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