Unsigned Band Review: Patrick Lew Interview

PATRICK LEW INTERVIEW (from unsigned 

band review)

• HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO PLAYING MUSIC?

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When I first saw Silverchair in concert back in 1997. I was amazed by the dynamic performance from the Australian rock trio onstage. I was playing second fiddle playing sports in school, and was getting hurt all the time. And of course, I've always loved music. Because I used to watch a lot of TV growing up finding out about the latest rock bands that were mainstream at the time. Going to my first concert made me realize, "This is what I want to do!"

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PERFORMING?

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Since 2001. For a long while, I experimented with many different names for my band's music. We had band names like Samurai Sorcerers and other random shit. But this was meant to be my solo project with the help of some friends. Me and my friends would do a collaboration online putting pieces of the music together online. Like we would send each other instrumental parts we've recorded in our own studios when we had the time to. So we basically Frankenstein the music together through online collaboration. So I guess calling it Patrick Lew Band it was then.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SOUND IN ONE SENTENCE?

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Imagine if Nirvana, The Beatles, Marilyn Manson and Green Day had a foursome and had an Asian baby.

WHAT MAKES YOUR MUSIC UNIQUE?

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I always strive to be myself for the most part as a musician. Combining all my influences from my mom's generation like The Beatles and The Stones alongside my 90's kid inspirations. Like all the grunge bands from Seattle like Nirvana and of course, the Britpop bands like Oasis. I try to study as many great rock musicians and bands as possible to create my own sound in the studio. But for the most part, when I play live, I sound like an amateur punk rock band. Haha.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO WRITE SONGS?

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You know? The personal experiences I've had growing up and present. Or inspirations of stories and news I find through the television.

WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR BEST AND WORST GIG EXPERIENCES?

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I don't play shows usually as a solo musician. I will say this though. When I play with other guys in a band, we take it a little more seriously as far as being in a band goes. But alone, I just come up with some idea here and there, record them on my laptop, and post the songs online for some recognition or merit. I toured the San Francisco Bay Area sporadically over the years. Me and my former friend and bandmate Greg did a bunch of secret shows in Contra Costa County and later uploaded them on YouTube and Facebook in 2011. In my old band, we played a couple of shows in San Francisco, we were touring with Tinkture and Elevator Love Letters at the time. This was in 2007. I also played an outdoor event at Dolores Park in San Francisco in February 2012. Since then, I played live whenever I felt like it and had the time to. I didn't had anything really to prove by being in a band, I just wanted to be known as an artist rather than just being this dude in a rock band.

IF YOU HAD TO LISTEN TO ONE ALBUM FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WHAT WOULD IT BE?

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Any album from The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones (circa 1968 to 1972), Guns N Roses, Nirvana, Blink 182 and of course, the 1992 album Refugee from Bad 4 Good.

WHAT DO YOU GET UP TO WHEN YOU’RE NOT MAKING MUSIC?

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I am actually an Ambassador for Antennas Direct, a TV antenna manufacturer. I'm very passionate about home theater and over-the-air television. I even was endorsed by Antennas Direct because I've written a song about the cord cutting movement in the States. Other than that, I work my regular day job as a merchandiser in the Bay Area and as a computer sales associate at Best Buy on the weekends, I'm also doing a lot of photography on my smartphone and uploading photos I take through my Instagram and Facebook. And of course, I would do some acting in a film.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS AT THE MOMENT?

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To become more successful as a musician and artist. And to find my future wife,

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING ON LATELY? ANY NEW TRACKS OR GIGS LINED UP?

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Currently, I'm in a new band called TheVerse and I'm right now in the studio with my solo project Steel Lions working on finishing our forthcoming album Play It Loud. I'm doing all the demos at home, and I'm planning to head back to Neverfade drummer Erick's recording space once every demo has been completed and really work on finishing up the album and releasing it on social-media. As far as TheVerse goes, it's a band of three good friends and different talented musicians jamming at my garage, producing music in my home studio and our goal is to make it a hobby but eventually play some shows of course.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF UNSIGNED BAND REVIEW?

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I like it. I hope I get more exposure off this website and some average reviews here and there.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE LAST TRACK THAT YOU WROTE AND WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

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It was a demo of a piece of music I've recorded at Neverfade drummer Erick's studio back in July. I completed the vocals and added extra instrumentation through electronics in my own personal studio using GarageBand. It's been uploaded on the Patrick Lew & the Steel Lions page on ReverbNation. And the old Patrick Lew Band page on social-media. It's basically a four minute rocker where I just scream and wail my ass off on the microphone and proving that I'm no hack in the indie music scene and just basically pretty much sticking it the man.

WHAT WAS THE MUSIC SCENE LIKE WHERE YOU GREW UP?

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I grew up in the Bay Area music scene. I've been a part of it since 2001. I've meet many peers here in the local music scene where I live. I've always attended shows that friends of mines put on at local venues with their bands. As far as music goes, there's a lot. But it seems like the rock/metal scene is bigger in San Jose than it is here in San Francisco. The rave music scene has really taken off big time in the Bay. I do go to EDM events here and there locally, what you call undergrounds. I have some friends who are actually DJs themselves spinning at local rave parties. The scene itself is pretty scattered, and I think at times, the techies are kind of killing the Bay Area music scene in some ways. But there's a lot of great talented bands, artists and musicians here of all sorts. But there's a lot of us out here. The dominant genre for musicians who actually play instruments is Metalcore, which I don't mind of course, but it's gotten pretty oversaturated. I do see a lot of great music and bands in San Francisco though, We do exist. Including yours truly.

Behind the Music - Patrick Lew Band

• Patrick Lew Band rose from the ashes of Power Trip (also known as Band of Asians) to become an eccentric and provocative yet compelling social-media attraction in independent music during the 2010s. After Power Trip disbanded in early 2008, long-time friends and musicians Patrick Lew and David Arceo decided to carry on playing music together by forming not only a local punk rock band, but a multimedia concept. They spent most of the year in Patrick’s home studio tinkering and recording fragments of ideas, leading into the 2009 release Curb Your Wild Life. During the recording sessions for the album, the duo received an intense backlash from music critics on Soundclick.com and barely made a blip on the local Bay Area music scene at the time.

Lew and Arceo began assembling a new cast of musicians to collaborate with them through the Internet, recruiting former Distorted Harmony guitarist Jeremy Alfonso, with bassist David Hunter and multi-instrumentalist Greg Lynch augmenting the lineup for live performances. The band experimented with many different names since 2001, before settling on Patrick Lew Band as this was going to be an outlet for Lew’s music, giving other band members the freedom to pursue other projects. The newly christened Patrick Lew Band began collaborating via Skype and sent each other individual recorded parts in their personal studios, cutting and pasting everything together. That led to the 2009 album Let It Rise And Against, which was released on CDBaby. Alfonso later left the band following its release.

Let It Rise And Against didn’t start making airwaves until the middle of 2010, partially due to the private life of Patrick Lew and his then-fiancee Faith Lambright being exploited on social-media and backlash from critics. The negative press did little to hurt the band’s momentum, as Patrick Lew Band received an offer from Tau Kappa Epsilon at UC Berkeley to perform a benefit concert for the university. The band spent most of 2010 rehearsing and writing new material. However, the UC Berkeley gig was canceled due to Hunter and Lynch being unavailable to make the appearance.

Soon after, Patrick Lew was interviewed by AbsolutePunk.com and Leicester Bangs and an iTunes podcast from Googly Ears gave the Patrick Lew Band more attention in the indies. Soon, Patrick Lew Band became a little more accessible, which wasn’t surprising. After all, Patrick Lew Band fused the prototypical hard rock from the 70’s and 80’s with the anger and rage of the Seattle grunge scene and hardcore punk. Patrick Lew Band’s audience began to grow slowly but steadily during 2011, thanks to a series of live performances, busking and YouTube vlogs. The band released their follow-up Murder Bay in the Summer of that year.

Following a couple low-key tour dates in Antioch, California, which was later broadcasted on YouTube, Patrick began working on ideas in his studio what would have become the next Patrick Lew Band album. However, Lynch rejected the material for religious and creative reasons. What was recorded and kept on his hard drive became released under the name Heavy Sigma: the avant-garde progressive mini LP Taiwanese Rebel (2012) and Voyager (2013). The Patrick Lew Band would sporadically practice in 2012. However tensions began to rise between Lew and Arceo with Lynch and Hunter over creative, religious and personal differences. As it became apparent that the band was growing apart, the Patrick Lew Band, who recently gained some small momentum in the Bay Area music scene, went on an indefinite hiatus by the end of 2012.

Lew and Arceo would not speak during the first half of 2013, Lew began experiencing a huge decline in his relationship with his then-fiancee. Lew took a break from the music business, and began exploring other avenues. He didn’t fully disappear, as he would post new promos and vlogs on YouTube during his break from writing, performing and recording. Lew and Arceo eventually reconciled and performed at the Mama Art Cafe on September 13th of that year, debuting the new tracks “See It Through” and Arceo’s spoken word composition “Reality Check.” However, it wasn’t until Lew and his relationship with his then-fiancee Faith ended that Patrick Lew considered returning to playing and making new music. By the end of 2014, all legalities regarding the Patrick Lew Band were resolved, with Lew being granted full ownership of the Patrick Lew Band name. Lew along with help of Arceo, began marketing and recording again, resulting in their first album since 2011’s Murder Bay, To the Promised Land, which was backed by a heavy campaign on social-media sites Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and using do-it-yourself ethics. The album was released on iTunes and Spotify in June of 2015. Lew also began working with Neverfade drummer Erick Salazar on a forthcoming album under the name Patrick Lew and the Steel Lions in the studio. Clearing out the vaults for another new album, the Patrick Lew Band would release their fifth album Bubblegum Babylon on iTunes and Spotify on November 15, 2015, which was Patrick Lew’s 30th birthday.

Musical Entrepreneurship Midterm Paper (Fall 2010 at CSU East Bay)

My Music Business Midterm Project (Written By: Patrick Lew)

October 30, 2010 at 10:28 pm

Music Entrepreneurship Midterm -- Q&A w/ Brian Butts

Written by: Patrick Lew

In preparation prior to writing this midterm project for my Music Entrepreneurship course, I’ve tried as a disclaimer to contact the Art ofEars Studio for a Q&A interview. Given my interest in becoming a future prospect to consider recording inside the same recording studio which generated and produced notable punk bands such as Green Day and AFI. Unfortunately, my hopes to conduct an interview session withArt of Ears Studio in Hayward, California, did not materialize soon enough to learn more essential elements within the music field. I stuckto my last resort. Any contacts within my social-networking who are involved making a living in the music business and field of musical entrepreneurship, and was luckily able to secure a phone call interview scheduled via email with Cal State East Bay music department alumni and musical mentor/friend, Brian Butts.

It was a fun and laid-back Q&A interview to get the inside scoop on the music business! Ranging from various areas within the music industry, which includes the future of mp3 and its impact on the business as a whole, musicians themselves interested in pursuing a career in a very challenging and passionate field of work. Along with Brian’s generous encouragement and his vast musical knowledge as a piece of advice to aspiring and serious goal-minded musicians like ourselves!

My interviewee, Brian Butts, is a CSU East Bay c/o 2009 alumni within the musical department here at our university. As my friend, mentor, and client being interviewed not only as a midterm project fora college-level music course. But as a very informative and maybe inspirational music industry piece of writing, Brian currently works asa music instructor and contractor at Daly City and San Mateo County’s MusicArt Studios headquarters located in the Bay Area. Brian himself, also runs a producing role and musical occupation in a studio part-time and as a hobby. To help out, his social-networking of musicians and artists within the field of musical recording digitally. Brian is a multi-instrumentalist, proficient in such instruments including guitar and drums as his main tools of production and performance! dabbles a little in other musical instruments such as the piano and electric bass guitar.

A Chicago, Illinois native, having studied music at a local community college, alongside Jazz Studies. Brian Butts has been involved in various musical projects and rock/metal bands with others in terms of live performing and studio recording. Having graduated from Cal State East Bay about over a year ago, he still feels it’s not always easy to make a living in the field of music. But he knows like other aspiring musicians, can find opportunities in various fields of music, with or without a college degree at a university.

Brian feels, like many others in his profession, feels it is very difficult to make a decent living to cover the bare necessities in musical entrepreneurship and the field as a career. Still trying to pay off his college loans, and finding ways to balance the money inthe bank for important needs. Brian, as a college graduate, makes roughly $15,000 per year working as a teacher, producer and musical performer and recording artist locally in the Bay Area. College degree or not, he feels passion is what drives most musicians to pursue a living regardless of how hard it is to make a fair living right out of college, or as an independent musician generally without being signed to a record company as a music artist.

When asked about the differences between being an independent musician as opposed to being signed to a record company, Brian was uncertain about the means of making a living without being signed to a record company or major music distributor/publisher. Nowadays,anyone, millions even. Can self-promote and self-employ themselves getting their music out there through the Internet as independent artists. Given the fact, MySpace and many many other websites viaInternet can host a countless number of talented or non-talented musical groups and artists across the universe. “Everyone has the ability, to self-produce, self-distribute and self-market,” Brian implied.He also queried, “There’s lots of talent out there, but who’s listening to these people?”

While, music is a very challenging business to break fortune and fame either way, Brian separated the differences between being independent to being a person or group actually signed to a record label. Independents are able do work creatively to a great amount, and profit only comes through how much painstaking work and progress one puts into it. Whereas, record labels offer the big so-called “exposure” as not the artist worries about profit, whereas the record label does. And in fact, artists are told what to do once signed a big lucrative recording and performing contract within the realm of major or independent labels for musicians.

In recent years, mp3 and the Internet has hurt the music industry and affected profitability over distributed music. Big record stores like Tower Records and its retailers globally are no longer in operation publicly. “I think the CD age is dying, as the mp3 is taking over. I think if you can sell an mp3 in an affordable, convenient ‘manner, the profitability of music will stay afloat,” he told me. I do think, like Brian mentioned, the mp3 and the Internet itself has indeed reshaped the distribution of recorded music. He feels, the music industry in terms of profit and money-making in distribution of recordings and other products, can survive to an extent with a reshaping and reconstruction of the Internet and mp3 as a music industry format, such as iTunes.

When exploring possibilities in the music entrepreneurship field, Brian thinks the roles and possibilities are endless. “Music is an abstract thing,” he says. He feels while, most of the greatest musicians themselves were doing it only as a hobby. He feels, the possibilities are available and accessible in a variety of fields. If one has passion to pursue what’s possible, there are those opportunities that come with one’s area of expertise musically. Brian feels that’s the case. there are many areas where a person can work in the field of music:teaching, retail, production, performance, recording arts, musicology,journalism, DJ’ing, talent scout, software and hardware development, and the list goes on…

Lastly, as a word of encouragement. Brian feels, musical career opportunities can be made if one makes music his/her own job. Such as opening a recording studio, rallying musical friends and connections, joining a musical union and etc etc. To separate the passion of being a working musician from hobby and serious passion in comparison to making money within the field of music itself. Brian leaves us with these words, “I couldn’t wake up everyday and do something like most people hated. I might be making only $15,000 a year, but it’s not bad for a first year out of college graduate! I’m lucky and I get to work in a very comfortable environment, and I pride myself in knowing I will do and play music with and like some real masters.”

Balancing musical money and passion might be two different things, but Brian feels no one should discouraged to pursue both methods as far as a career in music is concerned in various areas. My reaction as we concluded this interview session with Brian Butts,who’s been a mentor for my musical education and pursuit to a degree and friend also. Anything’s possible. Be passionate and explore.

PLB Biography

The new-school hard rock group Patrick Lew Band were formed in the suburbs of San Francisco, California around guitarist/vocalist Patrick Lew, lead guitarist Eddie Blackburn and drummer Tommy Loi. Originally known under different pseudonyms and band names, the band debuted in 2002 by starting a website and uploading their demo “Live! Like a Garage Band” on the Internet. In 2003, the band signed to Statue Records and released their first album Psychotic Love later that year. Both Lew and Blackburn were active in other projects in the local music scene, with Blackburn, performing in San Francisco in the band Logic’s Enemy (later Nocturnal Rock Turtles).

In mid 2004, the Patrick Lew Band began busking locally and playing house shows across the Bay Area. Patrick Lew began attending City College of San Francisco, and founded the nu-metal outfit Power Trip with schoolmates David Arceo, Zack Huang and Cory Gaitan. Putting the Patrick Lew Band on hold during the mid 2000s, in order for Lew and Blackburn to focus on their own bands separately. Loi left the music business to focus more on his college education, Blackburn would sporadically contribute to the group between 2005 to 2007 as a part-time band member.

Power Trip (formerly known as Band of Asians) recorded their only studio album Revenge in 2006, self-releasing the album on CDBaby. In 2007, Power Trip went on a tour across recreational centers and parks in San Francisco with Tinkture and Elevator Love Letters, alongside performing open mics at their alma mater City College. The band would debut their controversial first hit single on social-media “Asian Girls” during these live performances. When the tour finished in October, Gaitan and Huang departed Power Trip, leaving Lew and Arceo as the only members in the band. The band would also begin receiving a critical backlash on Soundclick.com, with users complaining about the quality of their Lew’s music and questioning their abilities as musicians based on the humorous slant of their performances. Power Trip quietly disbanded in April 2008, and Patrick Lew would spend a few months away from performing and recording and making public appearances. Something that would affect Lew for a couple of years after.

In August of that year, Patrick announced on his MySpace blog that he will pursue a solo career and begin recording new material in his personal recording studio under the name Patrick Lew Band. Releasing the group’s second album Curb Your Wild Life in January 2009. Wild Life was greeted with negative reviews, with many critics criticizing the amateurish punk rock style of the band and deriding the toilet humor common in the Patrick Lew Band’s music. Realiizing the situation he was in, Lew recruited Power Trip drummer David Arceo and former Distorted Harmony guitarist Jeremy Alfonso whilst attending California State University, East Bay. The band would begin recording their third album Let It Rise and Against and performed an exclusive free concert for Lew’s Philosophy course on September 1, 2009. Because of the grueling schedule and demands faced by all band members, the Patrick Lew Band initially was a virtual rock band in which the members would collaborate on the Internet, send each other recorded instrumentation via Facebook or email and copy and paste everything together. During this time, Lew began uploading videos on YouTube of himself playing music or creating promos.

Let It Rise And Against was released in December 2009, saw the band trying to “mature” as musicians. While some of the humor and raw punk rock in previous work was retained, Lew began exploring songwriting dealing with more serious and personal topics: “Gift of the Artist”, “Free My Soul” and “Subhuman Threat.” The album spawned the hit “Little Miss Preppy” on the Internet. Lew recruited college friends David Hunter and Greg Lynch into the Patrick Lew Band and began rehearsing for a possible tour locally as indies.

The band continued to evolve as musicians and songwriters, which was evident in their 2011 release Murder Bay. The Patrick Lew Band began touring in the Summer of that year, playing surprise shows in the Antioch and Brentwood region of Northern California, which some of those performances were later taped and broadcasted on Internet television through Facebook and YouTube. Jeremy left the band that same year, and Lew and Lynch became the main leaders in the project which later led up to the band’s three-year hiatus.

By this time, Lew and Lynch decided to make the Patrick Lew Band into a serious touring and recording act. But musical differences, different priorities and friction divided the group and began takings it toll on the band. Lew presented the rest of his bandmates material he hoped would become the follow-up to Murder Bay, which Lynch and Hunter rejected his musical ideas. Lew and Arceo were also having difficulties playing music with Greg Lynch, and tensions began rising at an unprecedented level. Lew took his rejected musical ideas and recorded three albums under the pseudonym Heavy Sigma in 2011 and 2012. A growing number of detractors began appearing on the Internet and through the Bay Area music scene, dating back to the release of the song “Asian Girls”, began taking its toll on Lew mentally. When it became apparent that Lew and Arceo couldn’t collaborate with Lynch in a civil manner, the Patrick Lew Band went on an indefinite hiatus by the end of 2012. Lew’s relationship with his on-and-off again fiancee Faith Lambright also declined and his displeasure with the music business forced him to reconsider his music career. He didn’t fully disappear, he would upload vlogs on YouTube during his absence.

Lew and Arceo were invited by guitarist Salvador Martinez to play in the new band Kings of Malevolence during late 2013, but didn’t work however for the long run. By the time Patrick Lew and his former fiancee Faith ended their six year relationship, he made the plans to return to performing, recording and being actively involved with the music scene. He returned to producing music under the Patrick Lew Band name in his home studio, and fully returned to the indies in 2015 by becoming active on social-media. He also became an Ambassador for Antennas Direct, a television antenna maker, and released two albums that year: To the Promised Land and Bubblegum Babylon.

Patrick Lew Music Resume

PATRICK LEW (Musician/Band) 

• Short Description - Musician. Guitarist. Artist. Actor. Cord Cutting Advocate. The official band page of Patrick Lew (劉冠達)!

• Start Date - Born on November 15, 1985
• Genre - Rock
• Band Members (see below)
• The Whole F'N Show:
• Patrick Lew: Guitar, Vocals, Electronics, Executive Producer, Frontman
  
• Special Assistance:
  David Arceo: Drum Machine, Electronics 
  
• Alumni:
  Tommy Loi: Drums (with PLB)
  Eddie Blackburn: Guitar (with PLB and Power Trip)
  Jeremy Alfonso: Guitar (with PLB)
  Greg Lynch: Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards (with PLB)
  David Hunter: Bass (with PLB)
  Cory Gaitan: Bass (with Power Trip)
  Shawn Blacharski: Bass (with Power Trip) 
  Zack Huang: Synth (with Power Trip)
  Faith Lew: The Rock Star Girlfriend (with PLB)
• Hometown - Taipei, Taiwan
• Record Label - Unsigned
• Impressum - Musician, actor and artist from San Francisco, CA. Delivering no nonsense rock and roll with a little help from his friends.
• Long Description - Patrick Lew Band is a rock band that was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2001. This is predominantly an independent DIY rock & roll band and the social-media is spreading our music to the masses. Our music is best described as straight-forward 70’s and 80’s influenced typical hard rock with an old school punk attitude and vibe. We’re like a modern day tribute to the bands we were inspired by from the early 90’s, except for the 2020s. 
  
  We are not an imaginary rock band, hacks, or fakes when it comes to the music. 
  
  We don’t do this to please everyone and have everyone kiss our asses. 
  
  We refuse to play shows or venues where audiences are segregated by race, gender, sexual orientation and different backgrounds. 
  
  We do not do pay to play or pre-sale ticket shows. 
  
  Our friends locally and the social-media is keeping our legacy and momentum rolling.
  
  We support our friends in the scene.
  
  We can’t read music, we know little about conventional musical theory, but we still can play our instruments and make something new and fresh.
  
  All our music was recorded on Mixcraft, GarageBand and inexpensive gear.
  
  Don’t forget to look us up on Google!  
• Bio - The Patrick Lew Band was founded in San Francisco during the early 2000s originally by guitarist/vocalist Patrick Lew, lead guitarist Eddie Blackburn and drummer Tommy Loi.
• Awards (see below)
• Sexy Asian Guitarist (MySpace, 2005) 
• Upcoming Artists (DMusic, 2007)
• Soundclick 10th Anniversary Songwriters Contest Quarter Finalist (Soundclick, 2007)
• Most Hated Artist of the Year (Soundclick, 2008 and 2010) 
• Number 1 Local Punk Artist  (ReverbNation, 2011)
• Celebrity Endorsement (Antennas Direct, 2014) 
• Distinguished CSU Alumni Nominee (CSU East Bay, 2015) 
• Gender - Plural (male)
• Personal Interests (see below)
• Patrick: Watching TV, Photography, Playing Guitar, Singing, Music, Blogging, Going To Concerts, Going To Sporting Events, Food, Rock And Roll, WWE, Fitness, Photography, Swimming, Making Bank, Cats, His Girlfriend/Fiancee 
  
• David: Raving, Playing Video Games, Going To Sporting Events, Going Out With Friends, Watching YouTube, Long Boarding, Food, Clothes, Going Online, Underground Hip Hop, Venting, Writing Spoken Word, Listening To EDM, Sports
• Current Location - San Francisco, CA
• General Manager - Self-Managed
• Influences (see below)
• Nirvana
• Oasis
• Pink Floyd
• The Rolling Stones
• Green Day
• The Stone Roses
• The Smashing Pumpkins
• Silverchair
• Beyond
• The Deftones
• Pearl Jam
• AFI
• Guns N’ Roses
• Tesla
• Mother Love Bone
• Blink 182
• Incubus
• Metallica
• Steve Vai
• Def Leppard
• John Lennon
• Aerosmith
• Van Halen
• The White Stripes
• Muse
• White Lion
• Steelheart
• Led Zeppelin
• Lamb of God
• Sublime
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• The Dead Kennedys
• U2
• Bon Jovi
• Band Interests - Life, Playing Music, Pizza, In And Out Burger, Being Awesome, YouTube, 49ers, Raving, The Giants, PlayStation, Netflix, Long Boarding, Northern California, Television, Keeping It Plur, Fun Stuff…
• Email - taiwanesemusician1985@gmail.com
• Website
• http://www.reverbnation.com/patricklewsband 
• http://www.soundcloud.com/patricklew
•  http://www.youtube.com/djaudiorage66
• Press Contact - Google “Patrick Lew Band” on your computer, smartphone or tablet.
• Booking Agent - N/A

Taking a break from romance and dating.

I've decided to not pursue any dating websites or in person matchmaking until the beginning of Spring next year. Maybe even Summer. I am mentally drained from all the bad outcomes that came out of LDR online dating via Facebook and it traumatized my ability to date or have a relationship with the opposite sex. But believe it or not, I haven't been this happy since February this year. I don't really need a woman right now to make my life complete and 100% because my main focus is making Benjamins and furthering my career along with making up for borrowed time. If I do come back, I'm definitely gonna do my research and try a more legitimate service to meet someone. And keep it in Cali.

There will be no more acknowledgement of this ever happening.

Open letter to the Facebook peeps.

There were a lot of red flags regarding the LDR I am or was a part of and a possibility that I was being taken advantage of. It's a pretty complicated situation. But my intuition is telling me to start from scratch.

I don't want people to assume I'm doing something wrong by calling it but there were a lot of things I've never revealed publicly (except to close friends) that might have went on since September that did put me down, and I think it's best for me to go a different route. I felt there was a lack of effort and communication on both sides, probable red flags, I also had my PayPal hacked which pretty much dropped my credit score and other things I will keep private. There's a possibility I was dating someone at the time who was a gold digger, using me for money and had a lot of probable red flags that I saw coming pretty fast near the end of it. I no longer would acknowledge that me and this person ever had a thing in the first place.

Taking a break from the dating scene though. Thank you for having my back guys when times were rough. Right now, my main focus is on playing music, making benjamins with my day job and going with the flow. I do want a serious girlfriend somewhere down the line, preferably in California, but I'm saving that for later once I finish working on myself and ready to rumble! Watch this space y'all.

Much love,

Patrick

Check out my band Heavy Sigma!

99 in the shade.
This is peace, love and rock and roll.
No struggles in the world. Just rocking in the garage and doing our thang.
www.facebook.com/heavysigma

One Crazy 2015 For Me

This year was bipolar as f**k. Lol. I went through setbacks and dealt with a severe breakup with an ex who I did love at the time. Plus some people out there were attacking me. Well fuck you and drop dead assholes! Plus I experienced losses financially. But this year was also one of those years where the good made up for the bad. I returned to playing music, started a side project, been releasing new albums and I played two shows since I returned to the local scene.

If anyone deserves a 2015 Comeback of the Year award or nominated for one, it's me. And that's just real talk breh. tongue emoticon Anyone who doesn't think so are scummy people who makes this Generation look bad. I'm doing what's right for me and creating my success on my own terms without having to please everyone or kiss anyone's ass.

I would like to take the time to thank my friends for all the wonderful support, whether it's the Bay Area rave scene, the Bay Area music scene or anyone I've met over the years whether it was Whole Foods, college, high school, social media, just about anywhere. Most of all, I would like to thank my girl Momo, my parents and my son Steven for being my biggest pride and joy. And of course, I would like to thank Erick Salazar and David Arceo for being the best and most dedicated musicians and people I've ever played guitar in a room with.

Heavy Sigma Biography

Heavy Sigma is a San Francisco Bay Area rock band formed in 2012 by Asian American-Canadian musician and artist Patrick Lew. Patrick Lew has been active in the Bay Area music scene since 2001, playing guitar and singing in a variety of different local bands, the most notable, being the Patrick Lew Band. Lew was active online on social-media heavily promoting his work with Patrick Lew Band.

Originally, Heavy Sigma was a creative project which Lew recorded music in his studio that was rejected from former members of the Patrick Lew Band prior to their hiatus in 2012. Heavy Sigma released three albums during 2012: Oddities, Taiwanese Rebels and Voyager. All of the music on these albums consisted of material that was turned down by his former bandmates from the then lineup of the Patrick Lew Band. 

Patrick intended Heavy Sigma to be a continuation of the Patrick Lew Band's musical style during their hiatus. Since 2015, he now intends Heavy Sigma to a modern and polished update of the 80's  and 90's rock bands he was inspired by growing up. The band uses modern musical gear such as computers, guitar synthesizers and more incorporated in their music, but maintains their self-described intentions and sound.

For a short time, Anti-Nonsense Networking, an upstart indie label in Washington, handled the band's distribution on social-media. 

After the release of Voyager, Patrick Lew briefly retired from the music business for personal reasons. Following the return of the Patrick Lew Band in music during 2015, Neverfade and former Distorted Harmony drummer Erick Salazar contacted Lew through a private message on Facebook about collaborating on new music together in his studio. Currently the band is recording their fourth album Play It Loud which is being produced by Erick with all music being written by both Patrick and Erick in the studio. 

Alongside his pursuits and activity with the newly revived Patrick Lew Band on the Internet and with the Bay Area music scene, he is also dedicated and passionate about his upcoming musical work with Heavy Sigma with Erick producing. Stay tuned for the latest news on Heavy Sigma's Facebook page!

www.reverbnation.com/heavysigmaband
www.facebook.com/heavysigma
www.youtube.com/djaudiorage66

Timeline of Patrick Lew Band's return to the music scene. From indefinite hiatus to the present day.

Regarding the 2012-13 split of the original PLB:

In 2012, I was still passionate about playing music right before the hiatus. There was a lot of different directions that me, Greg and the rest of us were going at the time. We were still getting along fine at the time. The original plan was to make Patrick Lew Band a serious band. Not an online collaboration like we did during Let It Rise And Against and Murder Bay. Jeremy moved out of the Bay Area, and I decided to let Greg take over. However, there was a lot of difficulty getting everyone in the same room at the same time when it boiled down to writing and recording. There were a lot of differences when it came to how everything was being handled. I moved out of Antioch back to San Francisco after we did a show in Antioch, and the plan to make PLB an actual band was put on the back burner.

I written a lot of material during the Fall of 2011, and unfortunately the rest (except David) didn't want to record those ideas I contributed to the table. I always had problems trying to get my ideas across, even during the online collaboration days of Patrick Lew Band. I've received little support for my input and whatever direction my life was heading at the time. So as a result, I took the rejected ideas and recorded them under the name Heavy Sigma.

I announced on March 6, 2012 that the Patrick Lew Band will take a brief hiatus to rebuild ourselves for the long run. I was still on good terms with everyone involved. But a former friend from the Bay Area music scene who I will not mention openly criticized PLB publicly while we were hanging out and created a wave of self doubt because of his brutal honesty. I cut ties with him since then, and PLB was rebuilding ourselves and I went out and did Heavy Sigma. Heavy Sigma also had a label backing me up from the Pacific Northwest at the time. I was on good terms with everyone by that point.

But the rebuilding process for PLB was dormant most of the time. I think it had to do with creative differences, going into different directions, commitment issues and everyone having different priorities by that point. I began to lose a little patience. As 2012 rolled around, my relationship with Greg and David H began to slowly drift apart. Greg actually wasn't very keen on my musical ideas and my input when it came to things, and was closed minded about what I can bring to the table. There were some other trivial problems as well, most of which was related to religion and other things. But we did squash the misunderstanding, and I announced on social-media near the end of Summer of 2012 that we couldn't carry on with the rebuilding process. My relationship with Greg and David H was still cordial at that point.

By late 2012, my relationship with my former girlfriend took a 180 dive and once 2013 rolled around, shit really hit the fan within everyone involved. David himself went through his moments, and my relationship with my ex began to decline considerably. We were arguing pretty much more than 50% of the time and we just weren't getting along anymore. The same can be said about my relationship with Greg and Little David. Greg became more insensitive and disingenuous as my friend and me and Little David pretty much drifted apart considerably. Me and David also didn't speak for about half a year. Also, despite the fact I've received some reward for my work as a musician, I became utterly disillusioned with the nature of the music business and the scene itself. After all I've done for 12 years up to that point meant nothing to me because my self doubt began really kicking in when ruthless competition, politics of the music business and the fact that we're so polarized by the public for what we do. I could have been DGAF about the whole thing, but my self doubt created by these experiences caused me to rethink being an artist.

As my relationship with my ex began deteriorating at a fast pace, I received no support from her when it came to my music career. She even said very harsh and insensitive things that added more fuel to the fire and made me want to reconsider. I believe after all these years, she never really wanted me to be a musician or be who I really am and wanted me to be someone I'm not.

So me and David began talking again after half a year caused by difficulties created by bad experiences and a former friend who is out of the picture by now, and we began hanging out more. Deep down, I missed playing music and performing in front of others. So with the encouragement of others locally and motivating ourselves, Patrick Lew Band returned for one night only with just me and David on September 13, 2013 at Mama Art Cafe in San Francisco. It was a fairly good experience. And suddenly, my difficulties with my ex continued where I was being knocked down and I came to a point again in my life where didn't want to play music again.

A friend I know from the Bay Area music scene by the name of Salvador, saw the video footage of PLB playing at Mama Art Cafe and offered me and David to start a band with him. Unfortunately, we were playing third wheel in the whole situation and we had little input with the whole thing. Plus, my heart wasn't really into it creatively and personally. Not much happened with the band Kings of Malevolence. We jammed, but it wasn't going anywhere creatively. No original music was even recorded or written during me and David's time with the band. While this was my original plan to return to the music scene, it didn't work out for everyone involved. Creatively, it wasn't going places. Personally, it wasn't something our heart was into at the time.

The first half of 2014 was silent. There were various reports about a new Heavy Sigma album I was working on which was going to be titled Radio Daze or Some Kind of Misfit, and it almost became a Chinese Democracy kind of situation. By this point, all legalities and disputes regarding Patrick Lew Band were resolved and I was granted full ownership of the band's name and legacy. Because my heart wasn't into it still and how I resented being in the business, I put out a limited edition PLB album Rebel on the Dance Floor which was released in a very low-key manner on social-media. It went on sale as a ReverbNation exclusive album on CD and was a limited edition only release.

But good news! I got so disillusioned with my crumbling relationship with my ex and became a free man. Me and my ex mutually decided to end our six year relationship in the Summer of that year. I also decided to sever ties with Greg because during the last two years of our friendship, he became a hindrance. He had no faith in what I was doing and wasn't being supportive of my ideas, plus he did something really shady and I decided, no more. By the time this all happened, I really felt like I had to return to playing music and performing and recording. So I picked up the guitar again and began writing, playing and recording new material. My passion for rock and roll music has finally returned! In August, I recorded a Heavy Sigma demo titled Cut the Cord, which was my piece of music I written for the cord cutting movement and passion for digital television. It was actually the first major release from me as a musician and artist since the 2012 Heavy Sigma album Voyager. The song became popular with television technology people in the United States, and that led to Antennas Direct endorsing me as their Ambassador and spokesmodel.

In September that year, I did my first exclusive interview as a musician which aired on social-media and YouTube for the first time since the Patrick Lew Band hiatus, announcing to the world simply, "I'm back." So I was getting pretty serious about creating music. If I didn't do it, I would go completely crazy. So I would spend most days off work in my home studio recording, fine tuning and self-producing new music. Because I now owned full rights to the Patrick Lew Band name, I can release new material under the PLB name and pursue my musical entrepreneurship as the Patrick Lew Band because of that. While it's a solo project of mines as we speak. My good friend and broski David helps out whenever I need him or whenever he can. He's an integral part of this as much as I am.

As 2015 came around, that's when I really decided, I don't care about what other people think. I don't care if we're not mainstream, I don't care if we're not loved by music critics or the music business themselves, and I don't want to base my level of fame or success through likes on social-media and numbers. Patrick Lew Band is back with a vengeance. It's gonna be no nonsense and all about the music. And we don't really care what people think or what happens, we're going to create our fame and success on our own terms and continue doing what we love doing. Playing music. Recording. Playing shows sporadically. Keeping the audience up-to-date on social-media and putting ourselves out there no matter what. Which pretty much led to Patrick Lew Band releasing the first album since 2011, To the Promised Land, on digital music downloading services like iTunes, Spotify and Amazon MP3 in June. What was going to become the next Heavy Sigma album, which was in the works for about three years up to that point, instead became the return of the Patrick Lew Band. Instead, Heavy Sigma became a collaboration between me and my friend Erick (who plays drums in Neverfade) after he contacted me in March 2015 about collaborating on music together in his studio.

We're here. We're now older, wiser and more conscious about everything around us. It might have been a three year break from doing music, but Patrick Lew Band is back! This time, with a vengeance. We're now rebels without a pause. And definitely rebels without a cause. We're doing it ourselves, I'm doing it myself, and we're gonna continue to record and create new music and create our own recognition on our own terms without the middle man getting involved for sure!