Heavy Sigma EPK

We're a hard rock band from San Francisco. Just passionate about playing music and being committed to the Bay Area scene. We love jamming and rocking out. We put our music out there on social media. We're like a modern interpretation of all those late 80's and early 90's hard rock bands. No we won't change America or be on the covers of teen magazines, but we will rock you! 

Why this name?

Patrick: Well, I typed "Heavy" on a band name generator online and got the name Heavy Sigma when I saw it on the computer screen, liked it, and declared my one-man band under that moniker. At first, Heavy Sigma was named Chaos In Chinatown, which my Facebook friend Candace suggested when I posted a Facebook status about my ideas to do music outside of PLB. But I was worried it would offend Asian people and I'm very self respecting of my culture and my ethnicity, so I decided to change the name of my new garage band. I was thinking of calling it Your Audio 2 Riot, but I f***ing hated that idea. It sounded too much like a Bay Area metalcore band name, and this music that I am doing isn't modern metal. So when I went on one of those name generators on the Internet while I was browsing for King of Queens reruns to watch on my laptop on YouTube, that's how the band name Heavy Sigma came to be.

At one point, Heavy Sigma used to be known as Chaos In Chinatown, which a friend named Candace suggested. But I was scared shitless that it was gonna cause controversy, so I had to change it right away.

There has been rumors that I got the name Heavy Sigma based on an old grudge I had with someone from the scene, or it was a parody of Mick Jagger's supergroup Super Heavy. Or I was watching too much GI Joe, and was inspired to name my band after an old school cartoon from the 80's.

But the whole Heavy Sigma name was completely random and thought of without any real meaning. 

Do you play live?

Patrick: Not really. I'm more into producing my own original music at home. I have too many limitations and things that hold me back from playing live. I like recording more. Plus I'm not really that good at playing sometimes, but practice makes perfect right? But I played shows sporadically with Patrick Lew Band and Power Trip in the San Francisco Bay Area. We sounded like a punk band playing at a bar. Definitely not like the Rolling Stones playing Madison Square Garden, but we were definitely a no nonsense local rock and roll band from the Bay. Some of our live performances can be found on my YouTube page. Because I work 32 hours a week in retail trying to keep a roof over my head and pay the bills, sometimes I don't have a lot of time to pursue a career as a professional musician. But I'm still willing to take opportunities if someone throws a good deal either at Heavy Sigma or PLB.

How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?

I came during a generation, where bands and musicians didn't need to sucker themselves into signing with a major record label, getting on TV and radio, and doing mass live performing as a way of bigger exposure. I came during a time where the computers and social-media made it more possible for the little or middle fish in the pond to get themselves heard. Despite my love for 90's rock, I highly doubt I would have been recognized back then like I am now supposedly, and it's not a money thing either. It's recognition and building an audience. And for bands who use social-media to get themselves out there, it increases chances of getting booked to play shows locally and other things. 

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?

Maybe. Who knows. If someone really appreciates what I do musically and gives me a chance to grow bigger as an artist. I would certainly do it.

Band History:

I'm a freelance rock musician who began making music on my own in 2009 after several flops with a local band I used to be in. I'm always trying my best to get better when recording and when it comes to playing the guitar. I always use social media to put my music and every band I played guitar and sang in out there.

Originally, I did Heavy Sigma as a creative outlet for my musical ideas that were rejected by former bandmates in my old band. I began making music with both Patrick Lew Band and Heavy Sigma, and my former bandmates and myself had creative and personal differences along with my dysfunctional relationship with my former fiancee at the time, so I quit creating music and playing guitar for about 2 or 3 years. I picked up the guitar again and started using my MacBook Air running GarageBand and began producing demos and new musical ideas again. Then one day in early 2015, my friend Erick Salazar who also plays drums in the San Francisco based punk band Neverfade sent me a private message on my Facebook profile talking about collaborating and working on new music together.

So in May of that year, me and Erick began creating music under the Heavy Sigma name in his home recording studio. Erick isn't an official member of the band, but he plays a big role in creating the music and business related things when getting it out there! And the rest is history!

Your influences?

Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Tesla, Def Leppard, White Lion, Mother Love Bone, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Green Day, Beady Eye, The White Stripes, Blink 182, Smashing Pumpkins, Enuff Z' Nuff, Liam Shy, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Beyond, L'Arc En Ciel, Nine Inch Nails

Favorite spot?

San Francisco, Seattle, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

Equipment used:

My musical gear. I use this equipment as a Bay Area musician...

GUITARS:
- Epiphone HotWheels Les Paul
- Red Epiphone Les Paul Special Edition

BASSES:
- Rogue RBX200 Bass Guitar

AMPS:
- Fender 25 Watt Frontman

PEDALS:
- Boss DS-2 Turbo Distortion
- Digitech RP50 Multi-Effects
- Digitech Death Metal Distortion

RECORDING GEAR:
- Line6 TonePort Silver DI
- Peavey XPort DI (used rarely)
- Line6 POD Farm
- Acoustica Mixcraft 6 (2009-2012)
- Apple GarageBand (2013-present)
- LANDR.com (for mastering all of my tracks)
- Toshiba PC Laptop (2009-2013)
- Early 2009 Macbook (2013-present)
- 2014 MacBook Air (since 2015)
- Apple Logic Pro (when collaborating with Erick at his studio)
- Radioshack Microphone
- Logitech USB Microphone

INSPIRATION:
- 32 GB Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Smartphone
- My BIG CD collection (mostly ROCK)
- Watching local bands live!
- Finding out about new music on the social-media or through friends.

Patrick Lew Band EPK

Patrick Lew Band
Hometown: San Francisco, California, USA
Years Active: 2001-2012, 2015-present
Website: www.patricklewband.com
Gerne: Hard Rock, Punk Rock, Post-Grunge, Alternative Rock, Alternative Metal
Members:
Patrick Lew - Guitar, Bass, Programming, Lead Vocals
David Arceo - Drums, Programming
Former Members:
Tommy Loi - Drums
Eddie Blackburn - Lead Guitar
Jeremy Alfonso - Lead Guitar
David Hunter - Bass
Greg Lynch - Guitar, Lead Vocals, Keyboards

Websites:
ReverbNation - http://www.reverbnation.com/patricklewsband
ReverbNation – http://www.reverbnation.com/heavysigmaband
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/patricklewband
MySpace - http://www.myspace.com/patricklewsband
SoundClick – http://www.soundclick.com/patricklewband

Patrick Lew Band is a Taiwanese American rock band which is the solo moniker of former Power Trip rhythm guitarist Patrick Lew. Initially, the band was described as a “virtual rock band” which friends would collaborate with Lew via Internet, recording in their own home studios and cutting and pasting the music together. The band initially consisted of former Distorted Harmony guitarist Jeremy Alfonso, OC Bay bassist David Hunter and former Power Trip drummer David Arceo. Multi-instrumentalist Greg Lynch also supplemented the lineup whenever the band played shows locally.

Prior to the breakup of Power Trip in mid 2008, many speculated that Lew might record a solo album. After the disbanding of Power Trip, Patrick Lew kept a low-profile and frequently recorded new music in his personal studio and posted his material on the Internet. In January 2009, Patrick Lew Band released Curb Your Wild Life, which was met with negative reviews from critics. As a result of being musically uneven, Lew collaborated with several friends and began an online collaboration in order to create new music. This resulted in the albums Let It Rise And Against and Murder Bay, released in 2009 and 2011 respectively.

The band is often using social-media sites to put their music out there, and has performed live sporadically. In mid 2011, the band performed several surprise shows without any advertising or word of mouth locally and through social-media which they would play a low-key set and later broadcast it on Internet television through YouTube and Facebook. However, a period of creative and personal differences alongside tensions with Lew’s former girlfriend caused the online collaboration to cease, which led to Patrick Lew recording material for Heavy Sigma, releasing three albums in 2012: Oddities, Taiwanese Rebels and Voyager.

Patrick Lew returned to creating music in the studio under the Patrick Lew Band moniker prior to the end of 2014. He currently is the only official band member in the project. Playing all instruments, writing all the music and self-producing the 2015 release To The Promised Land. The album To The Promised Land was released on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon and received small recognition on social-media sites and through the independent music community via Internet. Patrick’s goals is to remain true to his music and being an artist with many different passions as opposed to being a rock band chasing the spotlight in the music industry and to create success and recognition on his own terms. Patrick currently handles the business side for Patrick Lew Band’s music on his own. Utilizing social-media and putting himself out there in the San Francisco Bay Area music scene.

Why this name?

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.

Do you play live?

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.

How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?

I came during a generation, where bands and musicians didn't need to sucker themselves into signing with a major record label, getting on TV and radio, and doing mass live performing as a way of bigger exposure. I came during a time where the computers and social-media made it more possible for the little or middle fish in the pond to get themselves heard. Despite my love for 90's rock, I highly doubt I would have been recognized back then like I am now supposedly, and it's not a money thing either. It's recognition and making an audience.

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?

Don't know. I really don't know for sure, it's kind of hard to make it in the music business but as long we do what we love doing. I however, do not want to be told to be someone who I am not as obvious and want full creative control and copyrights to what I'm doing. It's really hard to say, I am open about major label deals. But I sometimes wonder, if it's worth the chase? But I'm still reluctant to actually do it. I can handle this, even if fame and success really bothers me sometimes.

Band History:

The Patrick Lew Band is a grandiose rock band that was conceived by eccentric and rebellious San Francisco guitarist/songwriter Patrick Lew. Patrick intended the Patrick Lew Band to feature talented musicians with the same passion and drive to accompany his musical ideas onstage and in the studio. The Patrick Lew Band was formed in 2001 in San Francisco by a group of friends from Wallenberg High School. Many talented musicians has contributed to the band over the years from different ethnic backgrounds, different influences and different levels of skill sharing the same passion for making rock music and expanding many different boundaries for themselves. Currently, the Patrick Lew Band consists of long-time friends Patrick himself (Guitar/Bass/Vocals) and David Arceo (Drums). The band’s mission is to expand their music to a larger audience through social-media and their local scene, and create what they call, “primitive rock and roll” music.

The best way to describe the sound of the Patrick Lew Band: late 80’s and early 90’s influenced hard rock blended with an old school punk attitude and sound. Their onstage performances is heavily influenced by the stripped down no nonsense punk music. In short, the band sounds very much like a punk band when they play live. However, the Patrick Lew Band does not conform to one genre or sound by trying new things out with their music in the studio, but often maintains their own described sound. For those people who had the rare opportunity to witness the Patrick Lew Band live, many of those people enjoyed the raw, energetic and empowering presence that these musicians performed onstage.

The Patrick Lew Band began their 14 years as a band by jamming endlessly at former lead guitarist Eddie Blackburn’s basement. After many false starts, hardships and numerous original music recorded in Patrick’s home recording studio, they began earning minor recognition in 2009 when the band constantly put themselves out there on social-media websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Reverbnation, putting out flyers anywhere they could locally and sporadically busking all across the San Francisco Bay Area. The Patrick Lew Band’s audience began to grow because they were consistently put their music out there regardless of critics and what kind of results they would get out of doing what they love doing. In 2011, the band performed at Patrick’s alma mater CSU East Bay and played a few shows locally in Antioch, California during the Summer. In February 2012, they performed at the first Mobzilla event that was held at Dolores Park in San Francisco with DJ Kevin Sparkle as a guest performer. Currently, the Patrick Lew Band has self-released five albums: Psychotic Love (2003), Curb Your Wild Life (2009), Let It Rise And Against (2009), Murder Bay (2011) and Rebel On The Dance Floor (2014). The band records all of their music digitally through Apple GarageBand alongside a Line6 recording audio interface. The Patrick Lew Band can be found on several websites online and has been endorsed by television antenna makers Antennas Direct, and was interviewed by Absolute Punk and Leicester Bangs. The Patrick Lew Band has also been advertised on a past issue of Recording Magazine.

As a part of the Patrick Lew Band, it is important to do what’s entirely right for you and go for whatever makes you happy. They also believe that playing rock and roll music should be all about having fun and being 100% carefree when it comes to some things that goes against the music that you are making and putting out there. The band also has a strong Do-It-Yourself philosophy. The band also has a philosophy that “less is more.” The band has experienced many highs and lows during the last 14 years as a rock band, and doesn’t base their popularity and success through the amount of likes on their Facebook page or what music critics say about them in the press. The Patrick Lew Band also creates their own merchandise such as CDs and t-shirts themselves. When putting themselves out there locally or online, they will try their very hardest to promote themselves and expand their audience by putting out flyers anywhere they can, utilizing social-media, meeting new people, talking to people about what they do and much more.

The Patrick Lew Band feels very blessed to have to created this music for everyone to hear. And the band is very satisfied with how things turned out for them. There’s no stopping the PLB Army. 14 years of highs and lows only made these guys more passionate and driven about what they do, and their ambitions are running wild every album they record and put out and they always dream about being destined for greatness.

Your influences?

Dead Kennedys, Green Day, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Motley Crue, Tesla, White Lion, Mother Love Bone, AFI, The Deftones, Steelheart, Murder Bay, Steve Vai, Minor Threat, Guns N' Roses, John Lennon, Bad 4 Good, Silverchair, Def Leppard, Metallica

I was mostly influenced by 80's and 90's rock music. A little punk here and there. And of course, classic rock from my parent's generation.

Favorite spot?

San Francisco, Boston, New York City, London, Toronto, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Taipei.

Equipment used:

Just anything we can get via retail or eBay. Budget model guitars, crappy amps, etc. We go digital when recording...

Why me and Faith broke up more than a year and a half ago.

I remember 2014 was one of the years where I gotten out of a bad situation which lasted for quite some time. I was dating my first serious girlfriend Faith for over 6 years by that time. But the drama that me and her had to put up with reached a point where it was severe and there was no going back to the late 2011 and early 2012 period where me and my ex gotten along so well. She was no longer the woman I called my first love. I remember as far as back to when I first got my new phone service with T-Mobile was when the bullshit really all started between me and my ex. It’s kind of funny, because when I reconciled with Faith way back in September 2011, she was being the woman I needed as far as a relationship goes. She wasn’t cold hearted, overly possessive, manipulative and she was far more laid back and open minded that time. But when shit hit the fan with her, she was not the same woman I loved when me and her patched things up all those years ago.

One thing that made me very angry was the fact that I couldn’t accept friend requests or send friend requests to anyone on Facebook without it turning into an argument that got all bad that I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. I never cared about who she added on her Facebook, but the overly possessive and controlling side of her came back. She wouldn’t let me live my life with friends, costed my friendships with many people, messed with my accounts online without my permission (which I feel stupid for ever giving her my login in the first place). Plus she became bizarrely religious to a point where, I felt controlled by something I believed was false. Ever since shit started go downhill between me and her again, she became verbally harsher, more cold hearted and even more belligerent than the last time. And she never apologized for these things that went on as well. The worst thing that came out of it was what kind of girlfriend would tell her boyfriend that he is a tone-deaf musician and not take back those words, you know? She also became a financial burden to a point where she didn’t understand the value of money and she was living off of me.

I am not gonna lie. I’m no Saint when it came to me and her. There’s some things that could have been handled differently but it was just a very severely stressful situation. Like a friend said, there’s two sides to every story. I did see her that year in San Francisco right before we broke up. I remember there were some positive moments that came out of it, but everyone knew this was the end of the line. And I handed in my resignation from that 6 year relationship I had with her. We both agreed to break up mutually despite previous reports that she broke it off with me. After me and her broke up, I had no regrets over the situation because it was a long time coming, and I was able to enjoy my life without the pressures and stress of living with a deeply flawed woman who just couldn’t get it together. Even if I’m wrong too.

In short, this is why we broke up. Or I wanted to leave her for good.

1) She was manipulative.

2) She became very mean spirited and extremely brutally honest.

3) She didn't support my music career. As a matter of fact, she was the main reason why I stopped playing music for awhile

4) She didn't let me have any friends or an audience whatsoever on social-media.

5) She never apologized for any of the wrongdoings she might have made during the last two years of our relationship.

6) She became a very unbearable person to deal with.

The Life and Times of Patrick Lew

As the singer/songwriter and only constant member of the Patrick Lew Band, Patrick Lew is one of the most charismatic and decorated individuals in the second half of the 2010s. He parlayed that recognition into the dynamic project Heavy Sigma, a group heavily indebted to the late 80’s and early 90’s rock of Nirvana, Mother Love Bone and Green Day, which Lew formed while Patrick Lew Band was on hiatus in the first half of the 2010s. For awhile, he kept a dormant Patrick Lew Band and Heavy Sigma afloat, but after the lineup of the Patrick Lew Band collapsed in 2012, he briefly retired from performing and recording partly due to his disillusionment with the music business and his crumbling relationship with his former fiancee Faith Lambright. In 2015, Lew returned to music and launched a solo career under the Patrick Lew Band name with the clearinghouse demo To the Promised Land.

To the Promised Land appeared nearly fifteen years after the Patrick Lew Band formed, but that was only the first major breakthrough that Lew has experienced in his music career. A San Francisco native, the teenage Patrick Lew loved television, extreme sports and rock and roll, learning how to play guitar in his early teens. In his mid teens, he formed a band with drummer Tommy Loi and lead guitarist Eddie Blackburn, flying through a variety of names before landing on Patrick Lew Band. They cut a demo called Live! Like a Garage Band in 2002 and began self-producing their own music. Psychotic Love, their official debut, arrived in 2003, supported by do-it-yourself efforts promoting their group through the Internet, all of which helped the Patrick Lew Band reach out to listeners on social-media.

In the mid 2000s, Lew formed the alt-metal outfit Band of Asians with college classmates David Arceo, Augusto Hernandez, Zack Huang along with Blackburn, putting the Patrick Lew Band aside so he can focus on his new project. Revenge, the group’s only album, came out in 2006 and the Band of Asians began touring locally. Different priorities in life came ahead, as both Blackburn and Loi left the Patrick Lew Band during 2007, with Band of Asians drummer Arceo replacing Loi. The Band of Asians however, split amicably in early 2008. Lew and Arceo began directing their main focus on the Patrick Lew Band. They recruited former Distorted Harmony guitarist Jeremy Alfonso and newcomers Greg Lynch and David Hunter, and the new lineup recorded 2009’s Curb Your Wild Life and Let it Rise and Against. The latter, helped raise their profile in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Over the next few years, the Patrick Lew Band embarked on a long road to thrust themselves in the spotlight and further their band in the music business. Their 2011 album Murder Bay, sustained their momentum.

Despite their promise and lofty ambition, tensions started to surface in the band when polarized reception from audiences and critics affected Lew emotionally at the time. Lew got engaged to his former fiancee Faith Lambright, and his relationship with her initiated many tensions with his creative pursuits and his personal well being. His creative pursuits and ideas didn’t satisfy some of his bandmates, and a growing number of detractors began to appear. Then came further fractures in the band’s relations, highlighted by the lack of support from some of his bandmates, David Hunter and Greg Lynch’s projects outside of the group and Lew’s desire to slow down his music career so he could spend more time reconciling with his significant other. All this led to the Patrick Lew Band’s breakup in 2012.

Lew resurfaced later in the year with a new band called Heavy Sigma, a hard rock outfit inspired by 80’s and 90’s rock icons Guns N Roses, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Green Day and Oasis. Heavy Sigma released an experimental debut, Taiwanese Rebel in 2012, quickly followed by Voyager in 2013. Following the release of Voyager, Lew quietly announced his retirement from the music scene. However early retirement was not to be, as Lew personally missed performing and recording music and developing a bond with his audience. In mid 2014, Lew ended his six year relationship with his fiancee Faith and began pondering a return to the scene. He began sporadically recording new material in his home studio, and revived Patrick Lew Band with long-time friend and collaborator David Arceo by the end of the year. A full fledged campaign followed on social-media sites Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and Lew decided to pursue a solo career under the Patrick Lew Band name in 2015. After several months of home recording, the album To the Promised Land surfaced in June of that year. Along with participating in Patrick Lew Band, Lew began collaborating with Neverfade drummer Erick Salazar with Heavy Sigma, currently working together on the new Heavy Sigma album Play It Loud. Alongside a flurry of activity. While turning his attention to Heavy Sigma with Salazar, he turned his attention back to Patrick Lew Band, compiling new music for the upcoming album Bubblegum Babylon, which is set to be released during the fall of 2015.