For the last five years, Patrick, Dave, and the rest of the musicians and friends associated with Patrick Lew's Electric Army are positive everyday people doing music as a passionate hobby, and balancing everything important essentially before getting together to make music.
Patrick Lew's Electric Army reign over localized Bay Area rock music - and for that matter, the social-media - was a critical success and sporadic struggle since 2008. As a cult-like social media phenomenon on the Internet and their very own hometown of San Francisco, California, Facebook "likes" and Internet virality through the Electric Army's music websites online varied but never kept themselves or their fans quiet worldwide since their 2008 formation, the garage punk band while often a critical jackpot or success within the music industry - depending who you ask - have created very extraordinary experiences for themselves in contemporary society. Before they became band, Patrick, Dave, Faith, and the rest of the musicians and friends associated with this garage band phenomenon in Patrick Lew's Electric Army, were merely misfits and fairly below the status quo of society. They struggled years to accomplish what they've dreamed about, musically procrastinated for a long time, and yearned for in their pre-adolescent childhood aspirations to become and feel like a part of something, after being isolated for so long. Anyone who had played music, made contributions, and recorded with these peeps, was a precursor for bigger things to come in life generally speaking.
All the band members (former and current) were 1980's babies, who had their childhoods growing up in the 1990's, but growing up in that essence was found comfortable through the Grunge (Nirvana and Pearl Jam) and later, Britpop musical movement that found their way through the pre-YouTube, pre-Facebook, and still fairly primitive technologically resourced days of cable TV on a Magnavox.
Patrick was just 13 years old when he found out what he wanted to put his passions and interest towards, whether it made him successful or not. He was a pre-teen rebel at the infamous Rooftop Middle School in the city of San Francisco. Life wasn't easy for the de-facto leader of the band growing up. His beloved grandfather passed away when Patrick was aged four, and spent nearly his whole childhood sheltered and isolated from "the in-crowd." When he was just aged 13, he bought his first electric guitar at a mom-and-pop music store, and painstakingly practiced and procastinated when learning how to play the guitar.
While he wasn't particularly skilled as a musician, at least not yet by conventional standards, Patrick was going to Cumberland Church every Sunday in the Chinatown. It was here! Where he met his soon-to-be high school classmate Tommy and struck a close friendship which lasted since day one. The two friends began establishing themselves with aspirations to become professional - or semi-professional yet amateur - musicians and were damn passionate about playing rock & roll music. Regardless what many critics and haters thought of them since day one, never letting those jeers and poor criticism discourage their passion for playing music in garage bands. Tommy and Patrick formed a garage punk duo called Goldenweasel (which eventually became Band of Asians), and it was the tail end of the 90's as the two were about to graduate from 8th grade with diplomas before luxoriously attending Raoul Wallenberg Traditonal High School as freshmen.
Whilst their freshmen years in high school, Napster and mp3 technology was changing the way the music industry and how bands, musicians, any many other things could be heard and distributed. Computers and Internet, while still in its pre-Facebook days, were becoming more affordable for home office usage and digital music software was replacing the 4-track Tascam! While the Internet didn't virally made Patrick Lew a very successful millionaire rock & roll superstar with millions of "likes" or "fans" on Facebook, it did give him and a million other unsigned bands locally an option to get heard. But realizing the oversaturation of the Net of dozens and dozens of unsigned bands putting themselves out there, Lew had a lesson to learn in later years.
The next step meant! Jamming in their garage, playing their music aimlessly to create instrumental and songwriting ideas, fine tuning their musicianship, and everything else. This took quite a long time, as Lew procrastinated and practiced for years on-and-off to consolidate himself as a guitarist, songwriter, and musician. Plowing through a series of unsuccessful garage bands, and battling his own problems in his life before putting it back together.
In 2008, that dream being a successful musician making money, touring and performing in bands across nightclubs and theaters, and being super publicized and making professional studio recordings, were slowly but surely fading. Even though realizing music wasn't going to pay the utility bills, groceries, and the rent, Lew enrolled into a university in Hayward called CSUEB. Resumed his music as mainly a hobby, but cutting any expensive seriousness that would devour time, money, and effort into making a music career work in the long run. He graduated university in June 2011 with a B.A. in Philosophy and Music. Although music was no longer meant for seriousness for a potential career and benefit. It didn't mean he had to quit doing what he loved doing. He had to make music primarily as a hobby, and play guitar with the friends he chose carefully to play music with as a favorite past-time when everyone isn't busy with school, work, and other important or busy things in life. Flashing back three years prior to graduating college, Lew formed the Patrick Lew Band - later band named the Electric Army or simply, Patrick Lew's Electric Army.
Together, the PLB Army recorded and created music at the expense of their much heavily invested musical gear that Lew spent on with some of his college aid money. Somewhere in Patrick Lew's king-size bedroom inside a house in Antioch, California, that became the band practice room for the PLB Army where they made music. Sometimes, digital and electronic collaboration via Internet was related to the music making priorities. Through Skype and private email messages through social-media website GIANT, Facebook. This led to how Lew created music alone and with the assistance of others as sidemen musicians on record.
To get themselves out there however! They had to have a website. Most of Lew's free time leisurely on his Netbook was spent making a few websites here and there and posting the music by Patrick Lew's Electric Army up for everyone to hear online - SoundCloud, Reverbnation, etc etc. Lew and the rest knew this was going to be mainly a passionate past-time hobby recreationally, not a career path for success and to make a living financially. While the PLB Army doesn't really perform locally live, given the lack of many kinds of resources to do so. This doesn't mean the Patrick Lew Band doesn't perform onstage. They busk low-key shows and gigs anywhere they can. Whether it be downtown SF near the Powell BART station, churches, Antioch house parties, or secluded small Contra Costa County warehouses. That's their philosophy on how they handle their musical entrepreneurship. While the Patrick Lew Band is open about opportunities for exposure in music, they're not getting their hopes up. Many of the band members are rapidly approaching the big Three-O, and have other personal and career priorities for the most part.
But let's hope the music stays what it is and forever. Music will always be the weapon for the Patrick Lew Band.
WATCH THIS GROW! ENJOY THE MUSIC AND PLAY IT PASSIONATELY.
