Patrick Hayashi
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Patrick Hayashi

San Francisco, California, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2001 | SELF

San Francisco, California, United States | SELF
Established on Jan, 2001
Solo Rock J-pop

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"Album Review: Cold Sirens | Patrick Lew Band"

This Months Review

We are very happy to bring to you our Afton artist album review of Cold Sirens by the Patrick Lew Band. We recommend this album to anyone that is looking for some great garage rock music!

Patrick Lew Band

I am Japanese and Taiwanese. Born in 1985. San Francisco native.
Musician, actor, artist and TV lover. I play hard rock in a local
garage band. My music is Patrick Lew Band/The Steel Lions/Crazy Loser in a Box and right now you are viewing my story on social-media.

Please to meet all of you!
PATRICK LEW BAND (PLB)

FORMED: 2001 in San Francisco, CA
DISBANDED: 2019

YEARS ACTIVE: 2000s, 2010s

GENRES: Hard Rock, Grunge, Brit Rock/Britpop, Pop/Rock, Punk Rock, Heavy Metal

BAND LINE-UP:
Patrick Lew (劉冠達): Guitar, Compositions, Lead Vocals
Madeline Lew (劉凛和): Representation

RELATED BANDS: TheVerse, Crazy Loser in a Box, The Steel Lions,
Pleasure Gallows, The Tortured, Lewnatic

Cold Sirens

This album starts off strong with the track “unfabulous’ which is actually quite fabulous and starts the album off with some interesting progressions. The second track dives in with some great leading Synths and is quickly followed by some groovy Guitar sounds through out the rest of the track.

The third track on the album “If You Don’t Love Me” starts of with the first vocals on the album: “I’ve got no love for you B***h” and quickly picks up the tempo of the album with some awesome Guitar riffs. The fourth track “A Fire Inside” changes the layout of the previous songs and sticks to a more vocal heavy track and it works! The 5th track on the record is a short intermission into the second half of the album and has some fun vocals on it.

The second half of the album starts off with “The Good Lady, Pt 2. Which seems to be a sequel to a song on the bands previous album titled ‘Oakland’. ‘Pain and Glory’ is the next track on the record that brings back the vocals on the album in a great way. It would also be a really fun live track to see them perform!

The 9th Track on the album ‘Sweet Emotion’ uses some great samples and starts off with an awesome vocoder effect. The track is very strong through out and ends with an epic Guitar solo. It is my personal favorite on the album as well. The closing track on the album ‘Blonde Haired Jane’ is the perfect closer to an album. It gradually picks up the tempo through out and ads some more awesome vocal affects. The album comes to an end with the final words “That’s it, yep yep.”

Album Review: Cold Sirens

Thanks for sticking around for our album review of Cold Sirens. After giving this album a listen I will definitely go back through some of their other albums and give them a spin. Awesome work! - My Afton Shows


"Indie Rock Albums You’ve Gotta Hear from The Quality of Mercury, Patrick Lew, and Herman Martinez"

Indie Rock Albums You’ve Gotta Hear from The Quality of Mercury, Patrick Lew, and Herman Martinez
We are still rounding up 2017 music that you’ve gotta hear before it gets too far into 2018. To that end, here are three DIY indie albums and artists you’ve gotta hear. Enjoy.

Featured Artists:

The Quality of Mercury – Nazareth, Pennsylvania
Patrick Lew – San Francisco, California
Herman Martinez – Lawrenceville, Georgia



The Quality of Mercury – Transmission
Pennsylvania songwriter, musician and producer Jeremiah Rouse is the one-man band behind the musical moniker The Quality Of Mercury, or aka, his sci-fi and rock-loving alter ego.

TQOM’s debut album, Transmission, recently re-released on vinyl with bonus tracks (available via Bandcamp), is an epic sci-fi space rock journey with big, flourishing orchestrations of synths and ringing, distorted guitars kicking out lush, lo-fi melodies with sweeping, uplifting hooks; reverb-oozing vocals; unusual rhythms and beats, crashing cymbals and regular chord changes; a cornucopia of sound effects, periods of drifting in outer space daydreaming; introspective, intelligent lyrics.

The album opener, “Deep Space,” is a thickly textured, psychedelic rock-influenced track with soaring vocals and orchestration that sets the tone for the rest of the album. The following track, “Deprivation Sickness,” is ironically warm and dreamlike, slower than the other tracks and full of plenty of fuzz.

Another standout track, “Breathe In Stereo,” is an intense melodic mix of crackly space rock signatures, synth pop fusions with crunchy guitar riffs, progressive percussions, crashing cymbals, spacey sound effects, radio outtakes, and reverb layered vocals and choruses.

“The song tells the story of a man,” Rouse says about ‘Breathe in Stereo,’ “who is traversing the vastness of space, chasing down mixed signals from an unrequited love while both knowing that their eventual union will culminate into an everlasting symbiotic union.”

As the LP progresses, the fuzzy dream-pop nature of “Deprivation Sickness,” and the soothing quality of Rouse’s vocals eases into the countdown of the slow-burning, “The Orion Ascension,” with its intricate percussion shifts and guitar work. Not surprisingly, Rouse’s influences range from Failure and Hum to Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, and his musical beginnings actually date back a decade as the member of a number of punk and emo indie bands.


“Breathe In Stereo”
Transmission
THE QUALITY OF MERCURY
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1. “Breathe In Stereo” — THE QUALITY OF MERCURY
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Another promising track from Transmission, “Her Eyes Are The Stars” – which has been getting some love recently on Soundcloud, lifts off spontaneously with an out-of-the-gates blast of distorted and shimmering guitars, soaring atmospheric keys and vocals, and intricate melody changes to create a sensory overload, wall of sound, out-of-this-world blazer.

Clocking in at almost nine minutes, however, means it may not be a bit long for radio rotation and playlists as some would like. Rouse has hinted at the possibility of a radio edit in the future.

Closing out the album are a pair tracks with intricate arrangements – the dreamy, post-rock-like ballad, “Andromeda,” and the remarkable, hook-filled, “Terminal Velocity,” which may also be one of the most accessible tracks on the LP. The latter track could even be spun off as a single as a radio edit.

Via Bandcamp: “Terminal Velocity” – The Quality Of Mercury from Transmission

There are definitely two ways to look at the radio edit question: there’s the sentiment of don’t mess with the original work, and artists who feel that way. Or there’s those who would encourage a radio edit because it will be heard by, and more likely shared by, more listeners (who also have the option of course to listen to the original).

After all, artists constantly make different versions – or allow other artists to make other versions or covers of – their music. In fact, there are more radio edits, mixes, remixes, remasters, covers, etc. of songs nowadays than ever before.

Throughout Transmission, the songs are full of layers and layers of fuzzy, distorted guitars, experimental synth sounds, warm melodies, crashing cymbals and booming percussions; one can imagine it as a soundtrack to a modern indie sci-fi film. And most impressive, especially for a first outing: Rouse did everything on his own.

The Quality of Mercury on Facebook

patricklewcover

Patrick Lew – History, Part One
Based out of San Francisco, the Bay Area lo-fi songwriter and musician Patrick Lew recently released an overwhelming 47-song compilation – titled History, Part One – of demos, outtakes, instrumental jams and original tracks, covering years of his home recordings spanning from 2001 through 2016.

While we appreciate the fact that this album is a compilation covering 15 years of music, it could have been made much more digestible by leaving out some of the rough demos, especially in the beginning of the compendium.

But, then again, that’s also the wonderful thing about DIY – he didn’t have to, and so he didn’t. So, on that count, kudos on the anti-commercial packaging.

“I recorded most the tracks [on History] in my home studio to put out something that I was most inspired by – which is 1980’s and early 90’s hard rock blended with punk,” Lew told IRC.

Despite the lo-tech, lo-fi quality of many tracks on this compilation, there is still a lot to pick from here; altogether, it’s quite an offering from an ambitious and long-time underground, DIY-to-the-core songwriter, singer and musician.

To the latter point, Lew has some impressive guitar jamming skills as tracks like the riveting “The Free World” and “Surfing With The Alien,” among others, demonstrate.

And while it’s true that of all of the 47 tracks, there are only a handful that may be accessible to the general music-loving population (esp. if mixed and mastered), like the jangly eccentricity of, “Don’t Give Up On Me Girl” or the uniformity of “Two Princes,” not to mention a pretty good full band instrumental cover of The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends.”

MP3: “Don’t Give Up On Me Girl“ – Patrick Lew from History, Part One (2001-2016)

In addition to the mentioned cover, there are plenty of kick-ass guitar instrumentals like like the frenetic and fuzzy “Crime of Passion,” or the keyboard and guitar funk-inspired, “Revenge,” and the metal-leaning, “Friend Zoned.” Let’s not forget the extra-bizarre, such as “Crippled” and “Fuck You.”

“I grew admiring 80’s and 90’s rock music but mostly my roots are in punk music,” Lew says, who also tours with the band TheVerse. “My goal was to blend everything I was most inspired by and use it to speak to others.”

There are also strangely appealing tracks like the hissing demo, “Sleep Forever”; surprising cuts like the experimental, electro-driven, “The Lesser Evil”; inspiring tracks like the raw, punk/blues of “#FollowMe”; strangely emotional songs like the vocal-busted, Daniel Johnston-channeling, “Heartbreak Lullaby”; unexpected and uplifting moments on tracks like “Everywhere You Look,” or the 70’s-influenced instrumental, “Kick Back…And Do It For The Gram,” and the more chaotic, per “Don’t Give Me Your Shit.”


“The Lesser Evil”
History, Part One 2001-2016
PATRICK LEW
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Some die-hard, lo-fi, and patient, indie fans will very likely find moments on this extensive compendium they enjoy, and may be drawn fully into the strange world of Lew’s exhaustive collection of home recordings.

Patrick Lew on Bandcamp

herman-martinez

Herman Martinez – Secret Doors Hidden Stairs
Multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Herman Martinez relocated from New Jersey to rural Georgia a couple of years ago to live a more bucolic life in the town of Lawrenceville.

After settling into his new home in the deep south, Martinez recruited the help of drummer Hank Yaghooti and producer Ahmed Mahmoud to work on his sophomore album, Secret Doors Hidden Stairs – “a labor of love one year in the making,” he says.

The songs on the album – including standouts like the opening melodies of “Season Premiere”; the chilling “Secret Identity”; and the discordant instrumental, “John Travolta’s Theme,” among others – are strange and different, and wonderfully crafted and realized by a musician who obviously knows exactly what he wants to do and is not afraid to put his own personal stamp on his surreal, dream-like music in overt, and delightfully nuisance, ways.


“Season Premiere”
Secret Doors and Hidden Staircases
HERMAN MARTINEZ
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For more than 15 years, Martinez, who is also a painter and tattoo artist, performed in other bands. However, a few years ago, he was comfortable enough with his skills and his songs to record his solo debut album, Solopsi Radio.

Martinez says that he “grew up playing music with my high school friends, always had a band but also solo projects on the side.”

During the ensuing years, he learned to play various instruments, including the guitar and piano, “tinkered with programming music” and matured as a songwriter. Martinez’s biggest influences include King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, The Beatles, Smashing Pumpkins, Slayer, Tool, and Kaki King, among others. - Indie Rock Cafe


"PATRICK LEW BAND – FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS: ANTAGONISTIC ALT ROCK"

MUSIC
PATRICK LEW BAND – FATE IS IN YOUR HANDS: ANTAGONISTIC ALT ROCK
Posted on 28th July 2019

“Fate is in Your Hands” is just one of the potently emotive singles found on the standout album “Oakland” from up and coming artist Alt Patrick Lew Band. We’ve been told that Emo is making a come back for a while, and now, it’s safe to say that it has arrived under a brand-new guise of 90s inspired Fuzzy Alt Emo Rock.

The distorted guitar leads the way through the mix of caustic rhythms and sets the perfect antagonistic tone for the vocals which share similarities with bands such as Fidlar and Wavves with a raw gritty unharmonized edge. The vocals weren’t made with the intention of being soft and comforting, and while I will always be a fan of expressive aural disconcertment, the caustic energy fed into the 6-minute long mix wasn’t the easiest listening experience I’ve ever had.

You can check out Fate Is in Your Hands along with the rest of the album for yourselves by heading over to Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast - A&R Factory


Discography

ALBUMS

Jump! Rattle! And Roll!!! (2006)
Let It Rise And Against (2009)
Murder Bay (2011)
Bubblegum Babylon (2015)
Oakland (2017)
Cold Sirens (2017)
Immortality (2020)

EPs 

Angry Yellow - Single (2012) 

COMPILATIONS
 
HiStory Pt. 1 [2001-2016] (2018)

LISTEN HERE: 
https://open.spotify.com/artist/76q8rnKceHx3HaGlcospDA?si=RnOEwb5dRYy6BQJfTzzcaQ




Photos

Bio

In 2001, Patrick Lew-Hayashi formed a band under the banner Patrick Lew Band in his hometown of San Francisco, CA, when he was just 15 years old. Most of Hayashi’s early years in the indie music circuit was playing in a garage band. In 2005, Hayashi was attending City College of San Francisco and was briefly signed to an indie label based in La Jolla, CA. After he was dropped from his developmental contract with the label, Hayashi decided to book studio time with the help of his friends.

Most of the time, Hayashi was on the Internet putting his band’s music out there. On November 15, 2006, which was also Patrick Lew-Hayashi’s 21st birthday, the Patrick Lew Band released their debut album JUMP, RATTLE, AND ROLL on CDBaby.
Patrick Lew Band would begin to sporadically play small shows in the San Francisco area by 2007 with a frequently changing line-up. Their first single “AZN GIRLS” was posted online during late 2007, leading to a critical backlash among the band on social-media over unbeknownst reasons. Around this same period, the band’s chiptune rearranged cover of the Nirvana song Drain You was published on Nirvanaclub.com.

During 2009, Patrick Lew Band began making their strides in the regional music scene and on the Internet. Their song “Everyone Loves Ashley” brought them to notoriety and initial indie-level fame. Between 2009 to 2012, the band would write and record up to as many as 60 songs per year in their home studio.To have something to fall back on, Hayashi taught himself the fundamentals of the indie music business and being his own entrepreneur.

During this period, Patrick Lew Band had aborted plans to tour locally. However, the group would perform live in the Antioch area occasionally during some of 2011. Some of these performances can be found and since leaked on Patrick Lew- Hayashi’s official YouTube channel.

Between 2009 to 2012, the Patrick Lew Band self-released their music online: Let It Rise And Against (2009), Murder Bay (2011) and the EP Angry Yellow (2012).

On February 4, 2012, Patrick Lew Band performed at Dolores Park in San Francisco. After taking a few years away from the indies because of a failed common-law marriage and very well documented personal problems, Hayashi made his return to music with the Patrick Lew Band by the beginning of 2015. Embarking on his most profitable and memorable run in the indie music circuit. 2015 began with Hayashi being appointed the Ambassador for Antennas Direct. And conducting a televised interview with the 24 HOUR K-POP music TV channel in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Around this same period, Patrick Lew-Hayashi introduced a crossdressing M2F alter ego by the name of Madeline Lew-Hayashi into the band. Created from digital special effects, CGI and Photoshop. In a music marketing storyline, Madeline’s role in the band is described as, “the long lost younger sister of Patrick Lew-Hayashi saving the band from failure and bringing his band and his music back to prominence.”

Madeline Lew-Hayashi’s introduction into the Patrick Lew Band as a virtual band member and mascot brought Patrick Lew’s profitability back to prominence in the music scene and helped Patrick Lew Band achieve publicity and moderate indie-level success that he did not accomplish prior to 2015. The success and exposure that the Patrick Lew Band received during this period included a couple music blogs writing about the Patrick Lew Band online and being mentioned on-air on Bay Area rock FM radio station 107.7 THE BONE.

The band was mostly recording in their home studio in San Francisco. By 2016, the band launched their own label and multimedia start-up Lewnatic HQ.

 The band was often working on new music in their home recording studio between 2015 and early 2017. The Patrick Lew Band would release their album OAKLAND on Valentines Day 2017. He and his alter ego Madeline Lew would perform at Brick & Mortar Music Hall on October 8, 2017.

By the end of 2017, the Patrick Lew Band no longer was a full-time responsibility as Hayashi began working a stable full-time job at Chocolate Heaven Pier 39. He also began only sporadically making studio recording appearances with the band as he branched his talents to other outlets and playing music with local bands outside of Patrick Lew Band.On June 7, 2019. Patrick Lew-Hayashi received the 40 Under 40 award at his alma mater CSU East Bay. He would become the first major Japanese-American male to receive the high honor.

The Patrick Lew Band because of popular demand would eventually relaunch in March 2020, but for limited and sporadic one-off or once-in-a-while studio appearances and in- house performances.

Band Members