Julian Keith Levene (18 July 1957 – 11 November 2022) was an English musician who was a founding member of both the Clash and Public Image Ltd (PiL).

Levene was born and raised in London, and although initially influenced by progressive rock, his musical taste changed after meeting fellow Clash founder Mick Jones.

[3][4] He was an early fan of ska, The Beatles and progressive rock; at fifteen he worked as a roadie for Yes on their Close to the Edge tour, "cleaning Alan White's cymbals" amongst other mundane duties.

"[9] When interviewed about "I Was a Teenage Guitarist 4 the Clash, Levene recalled "I was a kid, I was into all sorts of music, The Beatles, reggae, and at the time, prog rock.

Like when I met Mick Jones and how I talk about the scene that was emerging..."[10] After the late 1970s British punk group the Sex Pistols disbanded, Levene and their lead singer John Lydon co-founded Public Image Ltd (PiL) in May 1978.

In mid-1986, Levene was asked 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.

Also in 1986, Levene worked with DJ Matt Dike, experimenting with sampling techniques and hip-hop for Ice-T and Tone Loc on their early recordings for Delicious.

[18] At an impromptu appearance at the Musicport Festival in Bridlington Spa on 24 October 2010, where they were joined by vocalist Nathan Maverick, Levene returned with former PiL bassist Jah Wobble.

[19] In early 2012, after some planned Japan gigs were cancelled because of visa issues, Levene and Wobble played various venues in England, Wales and Germany as Metal Box in Dub, followed by the release of a four-song EP,[20] Yin & Yang.

Peacock stated: "It's primarily instrumental in design, veering from the chilled, scene-stealing Behind the Law to the synth-heavy Kraftwerk-ian noir of They Came to Dance.

Well, that all changed and I started doing a ton of interviews with Kathy DiTondo, talking about the times, the people, the places and it was quite fucking heavy therapy.