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The Steel Lions / Blog

Back in the studio! Currently demoing new music...

Spent 2014 almost not playing or writing any music at all. On January 2, 2015, I picked up the guitar again and plugged it into GarageBand and started recording again! I'm working on a new song called Who Am I, which is very 80's hard rock influenced. The new record is gonna be very hair metal influenced but in a 2010s way. But I'm giving it my own spin. I am thinking of calling the next PLB album Shortcuts to Fame. Also! Be on the look out for an EP that's gonna be released soon with Heavy Sigma called Some Kind of Misfit.

One chapter closes. Another chapter begins.

I was in a 6 year on and off again relationship with my former girlfriend Faith, but I decided to part ways two weeks ago. We broke earlier in July because of irreconcilable differences. It’s a long story. It’s hard to let go, but sometimes you got to start from scratch again.

Show coming up soon!

If you're in the San Francisco area, I will be performing an open mic at Mama's Cafe on September 13th in the evening. I haven't performed onstage in almost two years, and I am delighted to play music on the stage once again. Come see me play!

How I found a free and cheap alternative to cable TV.

I wrote a long interesting and informative story about this subject. I'm one of the people who cut the cord and found a better way to enjoy watching TV and I wanted to share my story with people. You can read it here.

http://patricklewband.blogspot.com/2013/05/how-i-cut-cut-cable-and-found-cheap-and.html#comment-form

How I define success.

To define "success" is a very subjective thing. Some people would say in order to be successful, your band has to have 30,000 likes on Facebook and play a lot of shows and have a record label to back your band up. Some say success comes from always being in the spotlight with fame and fortune. But honestly, I could care less about the superficial things in order to be successful in life. I define "success" as a person who is happy with what they have in life, has thick skin and the confidence to persevere against all odds, gives their absolute best, treats others the way they should be treated, and has their life in order.

Delays. No more tours. Reclusive behavior. What's the plan?

I hate to inform everyone that I won't be playing open mic shows and busking all across downtown SF this year. I have so many priorities in my adult life, it would make it impossible to do just one show. It's not that I lost my passion for music. But I have been getting lazy when it came to playing guitar. I like being onstage, but I more so preferred creating my own music in the studio.

As far as a new album goes. Voyager will probably be the last album under the name Heavy Sigma. I plan on reviving the Patrick Lew Band for the next record. Even though there's none of my former bandmates involved with the music making process anymore in the PLB, I am sporadically writing new material every week a song at a time in my bedroom. I'm planning to go back to my raw straight-ahead bar band sound for the next album. The last few albums were showcasing what I can do with such virtuosity and attempts at broadening my sound in the studio. The dubstep megamix and my half-assed attempts at progressive rock.

I don't know when the new album will be out. But it will be delayed until probably 2014 or 2015 more likely. I come to a point in my music career where I'm unable to write 20 songs anymore in 3 months time. Coming up with ideas can be difficult, but I'm making sure quality will come out of my new songs.

Call me reclusive. But even the most reclusive musicians still make music. Thanks to the Internet and websites like Facebook. Nowadays people know what we're doing.

The Truth.

I'm a freelance rock musician who began making music in 2009 after several flops with a local band I used to be in. I'm always trying my best to get better when recording and when it comes to playing the guitar.

It was a hot Summer month when I was dabbling and wrestling with finishing college with a BA in Philosophy with a minor in Music. It was over a year since I was playing rhythm guitar in a post-hardcore band in San Francisco which ended on very bad terms. I studied home recording and the art of guitar playing on my own free time at home. I used the Internet and read books on how to do what I could do in my own home recording studio. I had 3 guitars on me, Fender Frontman 25-watt amp, Line6 TonePort DI, and armed with Mixcraft and a shitty laptop. I had a lot of ideas in my head, contemplating making the music. Because that's what I am most passionate about. Writing and recording my original pieces of music. I was listening to lots of Metal, Hard Rock, and House music on my Zune. And despite some of the issues I had with figuring out how to record my music. I still did it no matter what.

Most of my issues when it came to recording were technical difficulties with hardware and software, trying to come up with nice guitar riffs, and producing on my laptop them well enough without sounding so sloppy and lazy. I also got lazy a lot on many other days. Studying for my classes I was taking at CSU East Bay, watching countless hours of cable TV, playing Xbox 360, and getting serious with my on and off again relationship with my girlfriend Faith. I remained persistent however, giving a fuck less about the haters and the people who were saying and doing negative things to my music career and band, and let my own brand of Hard Rock and EDM come out. I was in a band before and after I graduated from college called P and G, busking a bunch of popular cover songs from bands we loved across Brentwood and Antioch in the San Francisco East Bay. My musical ideas were better suited for a solo project than being a sidemen in a band. So with the advantage of having the musical gear I had in my house to make music digitally, that's how I got my ideas on hard disk and mp3. I can be quite anal with how I want my music to be before I upload it onto my webpage. I was never good at mixing tracks, but I tried my best. I wanted to create the right sounds in the studio and make sure that my music has originality and some creativity that separates me from all those shitty metalcore bands in the Bay Area music scene. I finally did it during these last four years as a solo musician.

With 40 tracks completed of my one man band's original music as of April 2013. I continue to make awesome music without caring so much about popularity, fame and fortune, and all the negative people and obstacles from destroying my passion for being a sporadic freelance musician. I go online to get my music out there on websites like this. And even with things that prevent me from recording such as settling down with my girlfriend Faith, my part-time job as a merchandiser for American Greetings, and among other things. I persevere. And I create some awesome rocktronic music.

I got a temp job at a Warehouse.

Temp agency CORESTAFF called me in to go to work tomorrow morning. I'll be at Apria Healthcare. Looks as if I will be making some money.

New Band Bio. March 2013. Part 2.

2012 saw new beginnings for Patrick Lew. After most of his college friends were busy with their own priorities and devoting their attention to music in other projects, Patrick changed the name of the Patrick Lew Band to Heavy Sigma as a reflection of these changes. Now Patrick without the assistance of others in his music, plays all the instruments in the studio when making records, handles the creative direction, and is essentially now a one man band that does everything himself. Whether it's making the music, getting gigs, marketing his music online or in the Bay Area, and coming up with the right ideas in the studio to get this rock and roll solo project alive and kicking. Around that same time since he began taking music seriously while still a student studying Philosophy at CSU East Bay, he has received some recognition from the press online, and achieved success by just being true to himself and for the sake of making music. Being the best person he possibly can be. He signed a distribution deal with Seattle based indie label Anti Nonsense Networking when rapper and talent scout Christopher Wearstler discovered Heavy Sigma on the website ReverbNation. He has since self-released and promoted three albums under the moniker Heavy Sigma musically speaking.

While life has been a struggle and a blessing for this 27 year old Taiwanese American classic rocker, he has maintained his persistence in everything he does whether it be his music or just life in general. He is most passionate about making music for those open-minded people who will listen to what he's creating, and can care less about those haters and negative people who come his way. He's doing Heavy Sigma for the sake of making music and for the love of playing guitar and making records in the studio. Fame, fortune, and popularity isn't a priority for Patrick as his music he is making is most important to him. Nowadays, he's taking his time when he's making music. Making sure his priorities such as his job at American Greetings and among other things, won't distract him from creating awesome music solo. Whether he's playing guitar onstage or recording his latest underrated masterpiece in his home studio, one thing is for sure. Patrick Lew is an amazing musician with great potential and has firmly established himself as a regionally successful solo artist making music in the Bay Area. Don't forget that he's also an amazing person.

New Band Bio. March 2013. Part 1.

Patrick Lew's amateur music career in the local San Francisco scene spans two decades and has had its fair share of ups and downs, but he remains a regionally successful person and has made a niche and cult audience for himself independently as an Asian American rock musician. Combining the best of his classic rock and modern punk influences in his music, with great persistence and unique interesting form of making music and living the life, he certainly has had an amazing experience as a local rock musician in his very own one man band.

From his turbulent yet promising upbringing in the Bay Area, Patrick made his way through countless struggles and blessings and decided to begin playing guitar and writing his own songs at the ripe old age of 13 near the end of the 1990s. In 2001, he began uploading his music online.

He performed sporadically with a couple of short-lived garage bands with friends and acquaintances from high school and college miming the metal and hard rock they've always appreciated in Patrick's basement. They had performed a few gigs locally but were vaguely recognized in history, along with musical limitations preventing them from being able to play music better and to potentially grow. Realizing the many shortcomings of his time playing in his former bands, he soon realized that his music was better suited as a solo artist rather than being a sidemen for others without potential to grow and expand. He formed the Patrick Lew Band in 2008 after many years struggling to get somewhere in local bands he was a part of that wasn't getting anywhere.

Patrick recruited some college friends from CSU East Bay as studio musicians to accompany him when recording original music in his own home recording studio. The occasional gig eluded Patrick and he still had it in him to play music onstage sporadically despite the limitations and just being on that stage by himself. Just Patrick with his guitar and his portable Marshall amp. Between 2009 to 2011 yielded many opportunities to be heard and appreciated by a certain audience in the local music scene, which also resulted in some of Patrick Lew's best music. His first proper solo album "Let It Rise And Against" became his first breakthrough success regionally, with its fusion of 70's arena rock, modern punk, and Seattle grunge and its introspective lyrics about heartbreak and triumph, struck an impact on close friends and followers of Patrick Lew online: Soundclick, Soundcloud, ReverbNation, etc.

While many people normally associate Patrick Lew based on his music or the good and bad things he had experienced and done in his life, Patrick also tried his talent acting in local plays in high school and college. He's been complimented by others several times for his various comedy videos on his YouTube page. Aside from music, despite his struggle with fame and some of the negative people who had some impact on his life, Patrick is a very kind and genuine down-to-earth person who is compassionate and enjoys being with friends and family, and is a type of person any friend can have as a positive impact on their lives. Some of Patrick's hobbies include making music (obviously!), watching TV and movies, fine dining, playing video games, and education. It doesn't have to be school, but Patrick can learn new things through the experiences he has with people around him or researching some articles on the Internet to learn something very interesting. Patrick converted to Christianity at the age of 25 and currently attends young adult Christian fellowship services every other Tuesday at Golden Hills Church in Brentwood, California. He is most happy however with his 6 year romantic relationship with his girlfriend Faith Marie. She also handles some of the musical entrepreneurship with her boyfriend Patrick's music in his one man band.