Definition of a Garage Band:
1) a rough-and-ready amateurish rock group.
2) an amateur rock band typically holding its rehearsals in a garage and usually having only a local audience.
Definition of a One-Man Band.
1) a street entertainer who plays several instruments at the same time.
2) a person who runs a business alone.
Asian-American males are not always one-dimensional model minority types who have careers in the medical or engineering field and making six figures and living large in the status quo. They're also not always nerdy, asexual and totally undesirable citizens of society. Sometimes, you find Asian-American men that rock like hurricanes and remind you how thrilling and universal music can be with guitars, bass, drums and impassioned vocals. And there's a second generation Asian-American male of Japanese, Chinese and Taiwanese descent looking to pull a Y2J move: "Stir up the pot and break the walls down" and become that self-proclaimed GNR of his kind. That man in his one-man rock and roll freak show known as Patrick Lew and this is how we do. Loud. Abrasive. Proud. Talented. And uber youthful and charismatic.
The seeds and genesis of the jump, rattle and roll of Patrick Lew Band's music started when Lew was just fifteen years old (circa 2001) with some high school buddies. The band was relatively inexperienced and were making "ratchet" noise in their garage in the Marina and Excelsior District of San Francisco, CA. When Lew's beloved mother bought him a four-track machine for his birthday, the band began recording demos in their own garage. Taping anything that was coming out of that ruckus they were playing. Shortly thereafter, the band began putting themselves out there by uploading their home-recorded songs on the Internet. At the time, the band was performing under many different temporary band names. When Lew was in college, he was playing rhythm guitar in the short-lived nu metal group Band of Asians (which included long-time collaborator and Lew's close adulthood friend David Arceo) and recorded one album in the studio together (the eponymous "Revenge" in 2006).
By 2008, the Band of Asians went their separate ways and Lew was going through an early 20s crisis trying to figure things out. With the money he collected through financial aid, he went out and purchased home recording gear and some new guitars and amps. Of course, he was still passionate about playing music but the haters stopped him dead in his tracks temporarily. After a brief period to recollect himself, he decided to form a "grandiose" rock and roll band in his garage under the Patrick Lew Band name after being intermittent for a couple of years. He referred to playing music by himself (he says that "it were like playing a difficult video game with one player on hard mode"). He then began recruiting members to join his project from his circle at CSU East Bay and ex-Band of Asians drummer David Arceo signed up to be on board for the Patrick Lew Band.
Between 2009 to 2012, the Patrick Lew Band was a collaboration between friends and schoolmates via Skype and social-media. Writing each song and recording each part individually through their own home studios. This form of productivity resulted in three albums together: "Curb Your Wild Life" (2009), "Let it Rise and Against" (2009) and "Murder Bay" (2011). One thing Lew missed during his short and failed run with Band of Asians was performing in front of a live audience and playing shows. In 2011, Lew began playing shows again acoustically in the East Bay and was planning an unsponsored and non-sanctioned tour across the Bay Area with Patrick Lew Band. While that plan was quietly dropped, members began flaking and not joining Lew during band practice. So in the Summer of 2011 upon graduating college, Lew and former PLB guitarist/vocalist
Greg Lynch began playing surprise shows outside of Antioch, CA and playing house parties at Patrick Lew's parents former residence in Antioch.
In 2011, the Patrick Lew Band began receiving notice through online media outlets such as AbsolutePunk.com and were interviewed by renowned British music critic Leicester Bangs. Things were apparently looking up...
The masterplan initially was to reinvent and rebrand Patrick Lew Band as an actual performing and home recording band. Playing shows locally and recording songs in their own home studio in the East Bay. However, creative and personal differences and some band drama ripped apart the former PLB (in the interim, Lew and Arceo were playing together in The Steel Lions) and Lew and Arceo were trapped in loveless unhappy relationships with their former significant others and dealing with other demons.
For a time being, that almost served as the tragic abrupt end to the Patrick Lew Band story. But not going down without a fight and determined to stay in the game, Lew and Arceo reformed and relaunched Patrick Lew Band on New Years Day 2015 and continued where they left off. Lew was putting himself more out there on social-media platforms like Facebook and received an endorsement and became a spokesmodel for Antennas Direct, a digital HDTV antenna maker. Lew rebuilt his home studio and rehearsal space in his residence in San Francisco, and began playing music again. More determined to become better at what he's been doing. In 2015, the Patrick Lew Band V 2.0 began self-releasing new music on social-media and through iTunes, Spotify and other digital platforms (including their albums "To the Promised Land" and "Bubblegum Babylon").
After dabbling with side-projects and some personal demons, the Patrick Lew Band returned to the scene better than ever. Lew won the award for "Best Experimental Rock Song" in July 2016 with the Akademia Music Awards. That same year, the PLB released their first official DVD "Live! Tonight! Not Really Sold Out...LMFAO" (a pun on a title of a DVD from legendary grunge band Nirvana) and began working with booking company Afton to help get the PLB some shows to play locally. Even local Bay Area rock radio station 107.7 THE BONE mentioned the Patrick Lew Band on air.
By 2017, Arceo mutually left the band on good terms to focus on other life avenues leaving Lew in charge of the band's destiny, brand awareness and possible legacy. The loss of his mother and a scabies scare took a toll on Lew temporarily and for awhile, he laid low. But never the man to surrender his passion for rock and roll despite what he's gone through, he performed a blistering five-song set at San Francisco's Brick & Mortar Music Hall on October 8, 2017 and released perhaps the best PLB album to date "OAKLAND."
When he's not playing one-man band with his jump, rattle and roll freak show. Lew is playing guitar in his other band TheVerse with long-time friend Janny on lead vocals. TheVerse has played The Stork Club in Oakland, CA and recently played a bewildering high octane setlist at Brick & Mortar on November 26, 2017. One of the reasons why Lew had to return to music and be in a band again was to play shows once again because in today's world, touring has become the main attraction for bands and musicians. Nearing the end of 2017, Lew has officially reached semi-pro status as a musician and live performer. Be on the lookout for TheVerse's debut EP sometime in 2018 digitally!
PLB is looking to refine and hone his craft and put himself more out there and stick it to the man and break the walls down for everyone who has always felt awkward in society. Musically speaking. There's only more to come when it comes to new music, more shows and more of everything else. Stay tuned for the latest exciting developments fellow PLB Army.
http://patricklewband.fourfour.com
http://www.instagram.com/officialpatricklew
http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/patricklewband
