He has released a few home-recorded albums, EPs and uploaded a number of tracks on the Internet. His debut solo album under the PLB name, OAKLAND, was self-released through CDBaby.com on Valentines Day 2017. He is currently an unsigned independent musician but distributing his music through his own label The Promised Land Recordings.
HISTORY
The Patrick Lew Band was previously an sporadic online collaboration project between friends and former schoolmates from California State University, East Bay. They performed under many “guises” such as Famiglia, Samurai Sorcerers, Patrick and Greg Blues Band and so forth. After a few home-recorded demo albums between 2009 to 2012, the former band talked about making their band to transition from being an online collaboration to becoming in between a live performing and home recording local rock band. However, tensions flared within the band over creative and religious differences. Lew wanted to take his band and put it out there to see where the band’s music would go, whereas the other band members were uninterested in pursuing a secular area in the music business.
The idea eventually was abandoned, and Lew was dealing with a loveless relationship with his former fiancee which affected and drained him mentally. Having played in the indie scene in many failed startup bands and false starts for over a decade, Patrick Lew seemed to have lost his passion for music. When his relationship with his then-fiancee ended, Lew decided to rekindle his passion for playing music and doing home recording.
The Patrick Lew Band as we know it now started in 2015 as a home studio project where Lew would write songs or compose instrumental ideas and post them on social-media to see what comes out of it. It was at this point, Lew uploaded a raw and unmastered copy of the song “Cut the Cord” on his page. Digital HDTV antenna makers Antennas Direct heard the song and contacted Patrick Lew for an exclusive interview and endorsed Patrick Lew Band as their “cord cutting” spokesmodel. At this point, Lew was working a full-time job as a retail merchandiser and also held odd jobs such as an Uber driver and a weekend computer sales associate at Best Buy. Usually on his days off work, he would tinker in his home studio attempting to compose music and if everything was up to his liking, he would upload new tracks whenever and anywhere online.
Having learned the hardship and frustration of getting his music out there in various platforms in the “commercial” and traditional music industry. Lew created his own indie label and named his home recording studio The Promised Land Recordings which foresees the releases of Patrick Lew Band related material through different platforms such as digital downloads, CDs and etc etc.
Despite some of the hardships and negativity that Lew has encountered during 2015 and some of 2016, the Patrick Lew Band maintained consistency and was experiencing a very creative period in their indie music career. Lew began demoing, recording and composing more songs and instrumentals And posting them on social-media. By July 2016, the Patrick Lew Band won an award for Best Experimental Rock Song with the Akademia Music Awards. Lew also pursued side-projects and worked with other local musicians and buddies while continuing his music in Patrick Lew Band.
Lew also began uploading funny and provocative vlogs on his YouTube and self-released a few EPs with the Patrick Lew Band through Bandcamp and other sites. Having enough music to release a full-length album regardless of what people thought of him in the past or present day, Lew released his debut solo album under the PATRICK LEW BAND name aptly titled Oakland on February 14, 2017. The loss of his beloved mother and a scabies scare prevented Lew from touring and promoting his new album temporarily.
But with the blessings of positive outlooks and putting himself out there. Lew began working with promoters Afton to handle the booking for live Patrick Lew Band shows locally. The Patrick Lew Band was booked to perform at the Brick & Mortar in San Francisco, California on August 6, 2017 originally. Even local hard rock radio station 107.7 THE BONE marketed the show. Low ticket sales however pushed the show to October 8th that year, which Lew performed a stunning and blistering five-song set at the venue. A recap video of the show can be found on Lew’s YouTube channel.'
With the recent release of Patrick Lew Band’s latest music Cold Sirens through CDBaby, Spotify, Apple Music and other platforms. And now a steady full-time job at Pier 39 in San Francisco. Lew plans to accomplish more with what he is set out to do with his music and build his own niche in the independent music scene. He likes everybody to “jump, rattle and roll with his rock and roll freak show.” And do what he does best and go out in a blaze of pain, guts and glory. Expect more great things to come with this one-man rock and roll band and this bewilderingly brilliant and charismatic Asian-American actor and rocker Patrick Lew!
Written By: Madeline Lew
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