The Steel Lions - Band History

Impressum: Patrick Lew and the Steel Lions was a hard rock band founded and led by TheVerse guitarist and PLB frontman Patrick Lew.

STEEL LIONS HISTORY

Following a short tour across Antioch, California which was later broadcasted on YouTube and Facebook and the release of the album Murder Bay in the Summer of 2011, Taiwanese American and Canadian musician and artist Patrick Lew moved out of his parents home in Antioch and relocated back to San Francisco. During this period, Patrick Lew Band was going through a major reconstruction as a local Bay Area rock band and touring members Greg Lynch and David Hunter alongside Patrick’s then-fiancee Faith Marie became official band members in the Patrick Lew Band lineup. Greg became the project’s co-leader and Patrick settled into his childhood home in San Francisco living with his older brother. He then built a home recording studio in his bedroom and began working on new music for songs and ideas he had written while on tour with Patrick Lew Band at various locations. Patrick worked on the demos with Patrick Lew Band drummer and long-time close friend David Arceo. By this time, it became apparent that Patrick Lew Band was going to be remade into an actual band, unlike the online collaboration that the bandmates did in their own personal studios by recording their own individual parts at home and cutting and pasting everything together on the computer. When Patrick played the demos for Greg and David Hunter, they rejected the material for creative and religious reasons. So instead, what Patrick kept on his hard drive on his Toshiba laptop running Windows 7 and Mixcraft became an idea for a side project as Patrick still wanted to carry on with home recording and putting his music out there on social-media sites like Facebook and ReverbNation. Patrick Lew decided to record and use the demos with his close friend David Arceo and then-fiancee Faith Marie. He then posted a status on his personal Facebook page asking mutual friends for an idea for a new band name before settling on the name Heavy Sigma at the time. He began recording more in his home studio, as he felt the next step to succeed creatively was to do it with computers. The lack of unity in the previous lineup for Patrick Lew Band led to intermittent band practices, lack of productivity and usually tensions creative and personal. Little progress was made with the former lineup for Patrick Lew Band because every member had different priorities and different ideas where they wanted to take the band. Also, Greg and David were residing in Antioch, Patrick Lew himself was living in San Francisco, David was living in Daly City and Faith was living in Lubbock, Texas. So the lack of unity that was present before while Patrick Lew Band was an online collaboration project continued during this major period of rebuilding. Instead, Patrick wanted to continue playing music and recording. His close friend and bandmate David was fascinated with the San Francisco Bay Area rave music scene and Electronic Dance Music. Using his influences in the creative process, the band then known as Heavy Sigma recorded, composed and self-released a 30 minute recording titled Taiwanese Rebels. Around March 2012, Heavy Sigma signed a distribution deal with ANN, an upstart indie label in the Washington area. Following a performance at Dolores Park on February 4th with Patrick Lew Band, Heavy Sigma began compiling other demos and assorted home recordings that Patrick recorded and kept on his computer’s hard drive and released the album Voyager later that year. Under the influence of attempting to improve his relationship with his then-fiancee and discouragement from one of his former peers in the San Francisco indie rock scene, Patrick decided to not play shows or do any touring to promote Heavy Sigma. Instead, Heavy Sigma kept their audience updated through social-media to maintain connections. During this period, Heavy Sigma reached number 1 on the local punk charts in East Contra Costa County courtesy of ReverbNation. The last recording session the previous lineup of Patrick Lew Band took place in Antioch during July 2012, resulting in three throwaway jams - “The Thickness” and “Crippled”. On September 4th of that year, the lack of unity within the band during the rebuilding process and Patrick and David’s tensions with Greg over creative and personal reasons led to the dissolution of Patrick Lew Band. Instead, Patrick turned his attention to Heavy Sigma and began working on a new album (which later became Patrick Lew Band’s 2015 release To The Promised Land) tentatively titled Radio Daze which eventually was scrapped. Major problems began to appear during the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. Patrick began experiencing a sharp decline in his relationship with his then-fiancee Faith. A lot of it being very personal. During this period, his former significant other discouraged Patrick Lew from being a musician. Alongside a growing a number of detractors, dissatisfaction with the music business and “religious” brainwashing from his former bandmate Greg, Faith and the church that Patrick previously attended services. Patrick decided because of outside influences and anxiety blocking his passion for music, he decided to work a 9 to 5 job and walk away from his passion. Patrick and his close friend David briefly had a falling out over undisclosed reasons and didn’t speak to each other for half a year. When Patrick and David reconciled, they had sorted out their differences. Because of encouragement from peers and close friends, Heavy Sigma got booked to play a show at Mama Art Cafe on September 13, 2013 (which was broadcasted on YouTube) to a gleeful reception. However, Patrick’s difficulties and hardships caused by his then-fiancee forced him to walk away from playing music. With no other ideas or plans in progress, Heavy Sigma quietly disappeared after the Mama Art Cafe open mic. Patrick Lew did not decide to seriously return to playing music and being involved with his local music scene and social-media until his relationship with his former fiancee ended. By this time, Patrick invested on a MacBook on eBay and began producing new music on GarageBand. His other passion in home theater led to the first new single he had released in three years: “Cut the Cord”. TV antenna makers Antennas Direct found out about the track and endorsed Patrick as their Ambassador. Renewed creativity and passion came about and by the end of 2014, all legalities surrounding the Patrick Lew Band name was resolved with Patrick Lew being granted full ownership of the band’s name, business and direction. A full fledged campaign and flurry of activity followed on social-media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and Patrick Lew returned to the local music scene under the Patrick Lew Band name. There were stashes of demos and unfinished material that was kept on Patrick’s hard drive on his MacBook and he began putting together a new album. The album cover was taken on Patrick’s Android smartphone by his former girlfriend Pitalu while they were together in Mexico. The long awaited return was official on June 8, 2015 as Patrick Lew Band released their first album since 2011’s Murder Bay digitally titled To The Promised Land. Around this period, Patrick became more carefree about the music business and began passionately playing again without developing lack of self esteem and anxiety over fame, record sales, social-media likes and music critics. Patrick also connected with his friend and Neverfade drummer Erick Salazar via Facebook and began collaborating in Erick’s home studio making music for a new Heavy Sigma album. Heavy Sigma later changed their band name to The Steel Lions. Named after two 80’s hair metal bands Steelheart and White Lion. Patrick’s relationship with his close friend David also has remained consistent. However, Patrick also experienced dealing with several detractors in 2015. His relationship with his former girlfriend Monique became annulled after she reportedly stole a hefty sum of money from him on the Internet and committed deception. Patrick also dated YouTube personality justlizzyxx briefly, the two remain friends and on good terms. Patrick returned to live performances with Patrick Lew Band in 2015, performing at Cafe International on August 14th of that year. The Steel Lions future was put into question when Patrick Lew began heavily working with the newly revived PLB and himself and Steel Lions member David Arceo began collaborating with long-time close friend Janny in the band TheVerse. This resulted in studio autonomy for the Steel Lions upcoming album. Erick began sending over recorded files to Patrick's email and Patrick began working on the new album within his own flexibility and grueling schedule. Patrick Lew Band and TheVerse became Patrick Lew's priority as a musician when 2016 began. Patrick recorded parts for the Steel Lions album in his own home studio. The album, then titled Play It Loud, was delayed several times within the previous year with a tentative release date during the 1st quarter of 2016. The album would see the light of day when it was released through digital distribution on May 12, 2016, coincidentally, the 15th anniversary of the formation of Patrick Lew Band. Focusing more on his other projects, TheVerse was then booked to play a show at the Stork Club on May 18th in Oakland, CA, which was Patrick's first major live appearance at a Bay Area live music venue. On May 20, 2016, Patrick Lew announced on his official Facebook page that he had disbanded Steel Lions.