My music is Patrick Lew Band/The Steel Lions/TheVerse and right now you are viewing my story on social-media.
Please to meet all of you!
BAND LINE-UP:
Patrick Lew (劉冠達): Guitars, Lead Vocals (2001-2012; 2015-Present); Bass Guitar, Synthesizers, Piano (2015-Present)
Madeline Lew: Mascot, Live Backing Tracks, "Ghost" DJ (2015-Present)
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.
Patrick Lew Band (stylized as PLB) is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 2001. The band currently consists of Patrick Lew who is the band’s only constant member. In addition to currently being the band’s only constant member, Lew plays most of the instruments on the recordings and performs live as PLB using backing tracks from a laptop alongside his guitar and voice.
The Patrick Lew Band initially was formed in 2001 from three high school friends: Patrick Lew (guitar/vocals), Eddie Blackburn (lead guitar) and Tommy Loi (drums). Several lineup changes took place in the band’s history in indie music, with drummer David Arceo being the longest-tenured member of the band between 2005 to 2016. The band initially started their career playing lo-fi punk rock but eventually branched out to recording and playing many different styles of rock music, ranging from post-grunge to melodic hard rock to chiptunes to power ballads.
The band was originally recording and performing locally under the names Famiglia and Samurai Sorcerers. On Patrick Lew Band’s blog on August 2008, the band was officially rechristened as Patrick Lew Band.
HISTORY
The Patrick Lew Band story is an age old rock and roll tale that some people can probably relate to. It’s an age old tale of a 15 year old boy coming from a dysfunctional and troubled childhood finding out that rock and roll music was cooler than what was going on at the time. Picking up the guitar. Working on his craft and honing it. And doing whatever it took to get somewhere with a lifelong passion and dream in life during hard times and facing opposition to get there.
Patrick Lew (born November 15, 1985 in San Francisco, CA) was just another face in the crowd struggling to find his own voice and niche. He is a second generation Asian-American of Japanese and Chinese-Taiwanese descent raised in a loving yet somewhat dysfunctional family and home. Growing up, Patrick Lew was very close to his mother and paternal grandfather during his first few years of his life. His father was predominantly absentee throughout his childhood. Although Patrick and his father maintained contact and cordial relations recently, his past tensions with his father remain unresolved.
His life tragically was altered forever when his paternal grandfather passed away when Patrick was only four. He spent most of his childhood battling a mental disability only further strained when he was bullied in school and getting into trouble and misadventure with his peers and elders. To escape the trauma he faced early on in life, Patrick turned to rock music, WWE and cable TV as a source of comfort. He would read about the success stories of his favorite rock bands growing up and listened to CDs from bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Metallica, Guns N Roses, Oasis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Green Day, U2 and many others. He began frequenting punk shows in his early teens and found a hobby in skateboarding and playing sports. Injuries however, cut his dreams to one day become a professional athlete short.
One day. Patrick began playing guitar while in 8th grade when his maternal cousin Andrew was living with his family one Summer and would play Jimi Hendrix songs on an old Fender guitar and amp that Patrick’s older brother Ricky left sitting dusty in the living room. Shortly thereafter, Patrick Lew began playing guitar and immediately fell in love with it. Largely a self-taught musician and singer/songwriter, he quickly began writing his own songs and tape recording them on an old boombox live and loud.
When Patrick Lew began attending Wallenberg High School. He was desperate and very insistent to start a punk band with people to play music in. His classmate Joey Fitzgerald (now a journalist for the San Francisco Examiner) overheard his requests and quickly afterwards, Patrick became acquainted with his classmate’s best friend’s younger brother Eddie. Eddie was 12 at the time but was quite the guitar prodigy at his age. Patrick’s close friend from Chinese class named Tommy Loi was convinced to become the drummer, and all three Wallenberg High School alumnus formed a Garage Punk band known as the Samurai Sorcerers.
Around May 2001. With the blessings of being tech-saavy and introduced to a new world of indie music through the World Wide Web. Patrick Lew began uploading some home demos of his band Samurai Sorcerers online. Thus beginning the story and headbanger’s journey known as the Patrick Lew Band.
Most of the time on the weekends especially on Saturdays. The Samurai Sorcerers would practice, jam and rock out either at Eddie’s basement at his house in the Marina District in San Francisco or they would play at Patrick’s bedroom on the other side of San Francisco in the Outer Mission. Tape recording everything that coming out of the ruckus they were playing.
School life was not easy for Patrick Lew however. He was still experiencing a lot of disposition from his peers for his mixed East Asian heritage and other personal reasons. And he was also feeling desperate to find a supportive girlfriend like some kids his age. Patrick also came down a severe bout of chicken pox two months prior to graduating from high school, nearly succumbing to the virus. Also, he did not have enough credits to graduate and came close to dropping out. Until his coach from the high school baseball team and Economics teacher Mr. Fanderl gave him a second chance to make up for it.
Patrick Lew eventually graduated from Wallenberg High School in June 2004. Whilst he was supposed to graduate a year earlier, he was held back one grade because of some personal issues with his education. He quickly enrolled at City College of San Francisco but quickly at first realized college life wasn’t for him and he was still struggling to find that niche.
One day while browsing the Internet, the Samurai Sorcerers was offered a record deal from Statue Records in late 2004. At the tender young age of 19, Patrick Lew released his first indie-level debut album with the Samurai Sorcerers: Tokyo Pop Star (Watashi No Ongaku). However, the band would later part ways from their label.
Eventually, Samurai Sorcerers became a sporadic on-and-off project and mostly intermittent while Patrick Lew was attending junior college. He met his former friend Zack Huang (currently works at an ARCO gas station) and quickly began jamming with him at his house playing and attempting to compose some Metal/Punk music. That eventually became the brainchild of the short-lived San Francisco based post-hardcore group Band of Asians. Which was joined by fellow classmates from City College of San Francisco. With a huge debt piled onto Patrick’s credit card and other weight on their shoulders, the Band of Asians booked time in a local recording studio. Which became the only LP that the Band of Asians ever self-released online: Revenge (2006).
Patrick Lew knew that the only way in that era to put himself out there as an amateur-not-yet-so-indie level musician was through the Internet. He quickly began putting himself out there on the World Wide Web and largely self-taught himself how to get better at playing the guitar, writing songs, social-media marketing and home recording!
There’s one man responsible for early PLB shows coming into existence we all have to thank for: Bay Area living legend Diamond Dave. He was responsible for booking all of PLB’s early live performances on campus at Patrick’s alma mater City College of San Francisco throughout 2007. Patrick Lew would also participate on Soundclick.com’s 10th Anniversary Songwriters Contest and was a Quarter Finalist before getting eliminated. That same year, defunct website DMusic.com handpicked Patrick Lew as the Rising Artist of the Year.
While Patrick was enjoying his time playing live and loud onstage on campus, he wanted his then-band Band of Asians to go somewhere further. However, nothing came out of the masterplan and eventually Band of Asians amicably split in April 2008 mainly because of creative differences and everyone in the band having different long-term plans ahead.
Depressed, unsure of himself and defeated by the opposition and hardships. Patrick Lew laid low for a short period. He quickly found an outlet for rearranging Chiptunes music on FL Studio on his old laptop for a short while. He was also experiencing a lot of polarizing and lukewarm reactions on social-media for his music for mainly “invalid” reasons. But he was not going down without a fight and was willing to do whatever it takes! Even if he was trying to figure out life while in his early 20s. He left the city he was born and raised and re-located to Antioch, CA in the East Bay with his mother.
Patrick Lew decided the only way to go as a creative outlet for his solo compositions and ideas was to start something new and fresh. He was still performing and recording under the Samurai Sorcerers name all over the Internet. Even after Tommy and Eddie have moved onto other things in life. Patrick really thought the band name Samurai Sorcerers was very tacky, possibly ethnocentric and that nobody would take his band seriously with that kind of name. One morning after grabbing a cup of Strawberry Boba, Patrick Lew decided to rechristen the Samurai Sorcerers officially as the Patrick Lew Band on a MySpace blog. He also began home recording and doing everything himself. Until he reacquainted with someone from his past to become the Patrick Lew Band’s drummer and while attending CSU East Bay, a few of his rather uncool and unsupportive classmates.
The Patrick Lew Band’s peak years in the indies (maybe still amateur?) between 2009 to 2012 can be summarized in lots of detail. The PLB was primarily an online collaboration type of band where everyone involved would communicate via Facebook private messages, AOL instant messenger and etc etc. They would record each part separately in their own home studios, email each other all the files and Patrick would copy, cut and paste everything together with his own input. Patrick Lew dated his college sweetheart Samantha during Summer 2009 but eventually got into a “faux” marriage with his then-partner Faith on October 30, 2009. He was misused in the dating scene for quite a long while with names we are definitely not going to mention of course! This six year relationship was derailed by religious differences, manipulative and emotionally abusive tendencies and other controversial subject matter.
The creativity did not stop however. During the PLB’s peak years of 2009 through 2012, the band self-released three albums on the Internet: Curb Your Wild Life (2009), Let It Rise and Against (2009) and Murder Bay (2011). After a three and a half year absence from live performances and touring, Patrick Lew began occasionally playing live again. Making a comeback gig at his alma mater CSU East Bay on February 9, 2011 performing an improvised version of the song “Matchmaker.” A small-scale tour was in the works apparently for the PLB as plans were being discussed. Such as grabbing a permit to play live shows where ever they can. The PLB was actually offered to play a benefit concert at UC Berkeley some time during Fall 2010, but was cancelled when none of the bandmates could agree or co-exist to do the performance. To make up for it. PLB would busk a little in their former hometown of Antioch, CA during June 2011. These performances were taped and some of it has been uploaded on Patrick Lew’s YouTube page.
The Patrick Lew Band began receiving notice through online media outlets such as AbsolutePunk 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. Patrick wanted to further reach his goals as an artist whereas his former bandmates at the time were rather uninterested in pursuing a secular area in the music business.
Patrick responded to the implosion of the Patrick Lew Band lineup by forming The Steel Lions to get back at his disgruntled colleagues. He quickly landed a distribution deal with an upstart small label based in the Pacific Northwest and took some of his “rejected” music and demos to The Steel Lions. His relationship with his then-partner Faith looked to be on the brinks of improving and becoming solid at the time. However, that did not turn out to be the case.
Amidst the transitional period and rebuilding, Patrick Lew graduated college with a B.A. in Philosophy at CSU East Bay and passed his driving test at the Pittsburg California DMV on September 24, 2012. His relationship with his then-partner Faith declined considerably at an accelerated pace by the end of 2012. She became the apparent “Yoko Ono” of the PLB but in her own kind of way. Frustrated with his status in life and disillusioned with the politics of the music business and feeling unhappy with his role in the scene. Patrick Lew took time away from his passion for music. Focusing on adulting and working a real day job.
He wouldn’t disappear however. Because of his circle of friends clamouring for Patrick to get back onstage. His band The Steel Lions was booked to play at Mama Art Cafe on September 13, 2013 which a video recording of his performance has since been leaked all over the Internet. The next day however, his then-partner Faith and Patrick had a terrible argument over him doing the gig and feeling more discouraged. Patrick Lew decided to stay away from indie music once again. Even his acquaintance Salvador Martinez tried to coax Patrick into playing with his new band Kings of Malevolence during late 2013, it was obvious that Patrick’s heart was not into music at the time.
Thankfully, Patrick knew enough was enough. His six year “faux” marriage and relationship with his then-partner Faith ended on July 17, 2014 and Patrick has since never looked back and moved forward. He also acquired the rights to the Patrick Lew Band name and on January 2, 2015, the Patrick Lew Band (now a solo project for Patrick himself) returned to performing and recording in the indie circuit.
Continuing where he 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 new Patrick Lew Band 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 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. Patrick Lew’s crossdressing alter ego Madeline Lew (his “kayfabe” wife) joined the PLB around 2016 as well and began making a buzz on social-media in a small way too!
The loss of his mother and a scabies scare took a toll on Lew temporarily and for brief period, 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 some of his friends from the scene. 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!
After several years of heartbreak, divorce and taking a sabbatical from the dating scene. In mid 2018, Lew began dating his recent former girlfriend and current friend Sigyn and joined her esoteric and experimental garage band based in San Jose, CA known as Crazy Loser in a Box. He also lent his voice as an actor for her cult YouTube animated series Deceiver of Fools, playing the eccentric Japanese-American comedic role of Tokiomi. Aside from being very musically active with three totally different bands: PLB, TheVerse and Crazy Loser in a Box. Lew also began contributing as a voice actor for a few friends' creative projects and recently has been potentially casted as an Extra for an upcoming Amazon Prime TV series The Man in the High Castle.
After a brief Summer tour across San Francisco with his band TheVerse, Patrick and Sigyn quietly ended their relationship for private reasons but remain friends. On September 7, 2018, Patrick drove his car to the TV studio in San Francisco to film a cameo appearance for the Emmy Award winning Amazon TV series Man in the High Castle. TheVerse took another off season from touring and playing music together to pursue solo projects and some adulting to do.
During TheVerse's short break from each other, Patrick Lew decided to record and work on more new ideas for songs in his home studio, deciding to return to his Punk Rock roots as a solo artist. A flurry of singles were leaked and released on Spotify and Apple Music, including a cover of the late great Japanese Pop/Rock singer Yutaka Ozaki's song "I LOVE YOU" and a Taiwanese Mandarin sung version of "Everyone Loves Ashley." Patrick knew he wanted something fun and productive to do and that's why he kept making music and putting himself out there.
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.
Always believe in yourself during the face of adversity and disposition. Always do you. Be you. And set out to work hard and make your dreams come true.
PATRICK LEW DISCOGRAPHY
PATRICK LEW BAND
Psychotic Love (2003) - Vocals, Guitar
Watashi No Ongaku: Tokyo Pop Star (2004) - Vocals, Guitar
Curb Your Wild Life (2009) - Vocals, Guitar, Electronics
Let It Rise And Against (2009) - Vocals, Guitar, Electronics
Murder Bay (2011) - Vocals, Guitar, Electronics, Sampler on "Let This Change Ignite"
To The Promised Land (2015) - Vocals, Guitar, Electronics, Sampler, Bass on "Reloaded"
Bubblegum Babylon (2015) - Guitar, Electronics, Sampler, Synthesizer
Oakland (2017) - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Electronics, Synthesizer, Sampler, Virtual Drummer
Cold Sirens (2017) - Guitar, Bass, Vocals, Electronics, Sampler, Synthesizer, Virtual Drummer, Piano on "Try A Little Harder", "The Good Lady, Pt. 2" and "Antioch"
THE STEEL LIONS
Taiwanese Rebel: The Fall and Rise of an Anti-Hero (2012) - Vocals, Guitar, Electronics, Synthesizer, Sampler
Voyager (2013) - Vocals, Guitar, Electronics, Synthesizer
Unfinished Relics (2016) - Vocals, Guitar, Piano on "Rejects of America"
THEVERSE
TheVerse (EP) (2018) - Guitar
BAND OF ASIANS
Revenge (2006) - Guitar, Keyboards, Slide Guitar on "When the Movie's Over"
Band of Asians, Live (2007) - Guitar, Electronics, Sampler, Keyboards
PATRICK LEW FILMOGRAPHY
The Man in the High Castle (2019) - Acolyte
TheVerse: Live at El Rio SF (2018) - Madeline Lew/Himself
Deceiver of Fools (2018) - Tokiomi Sakuya Hearth (Voice)
Patrick Lew Band: Live at Brick & Mortar Music Hall (2017) - Himself
Patrick Lew Band: Live! Tonight! Not Really Sold Out...LMFAO! (2016) - Himself
Patrick Lew Band EPK (2008) - Himself
Outlaws (2007) - Horace
