QUICK EVOLUTION OF PATRICK LEW FROM 2001-2020
Jump, rattle and roll to our rock and roll freak show.
PLB (Patrick Lew Band) is a Sino-Japanese rock band based in San Francisco. With influences ranging from punk and garage. And also rock and pop! Predominantly, the solo project of Asian-American YouTuber and aspiring music composer Patrick Lew Hayashi. Fans refer to Patrick as "the Kamikaze Guitarist."
Patrick attended Raoul Wallenberg High School and graduated in 2003. He would later attend City College of San Francisco, before transferring to CSU East Bay. Graduating with a B.A. in Philosophy in 2011. Patrick joined his first band Samurai Sorcerers in 2001. Since then he has been working with different bands as well as an individual artist.
Mainly a solo project for Patrick himself. However, the band also includes contributions from his sister Madeline Lew. And also his long-time collaborator and childhood friend David Arceo.
PLB is a music project with roots in San Francisco, Japan, and Taiwan. Inspired by artists as diverse as The Beatles, Nirvana, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones, Patrick managed to come up with a melodic, yet energetic songwriting style that feels absolutely one-of-a-kind. From brit pop, to garage and punk, but also some dreamier textures, the possibilities are truly endless! Patrick has a diverse approach as a songwriter, and his trusty band is there to help him make his vision come true, one song at a time!
PLB is one of the most interesting, eccentric and critically successful yet polarizing bands within the annals of Asian-American music history. The group's principal members were all born and raised in San Francisco, California. Singer, composer, guitarist and bandleader Patrick Lew Hayashi started making music and putting himself and his band on the Internet since high school.
His younger "fictitious" sister Madeline later joined the band on bass. They began making strides in the scene in 2016 by accumulating a series of bragging rights, patents and titles under their name.
Between 2016 and present day, PLB achieved stellar regional and independent success accumulated from their credentials in the underground rock music scene, alongside Patrick and Madeline's moderately influential public personas on social-media. The band is also very active on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook and their music also can be easily accessed on the Internet.
Patrick Lew Hayashi is also a 40 Under 40 Hall of Fame Class of 2019 inductee at his alma mater California State University, East Bay, being the first Japanese-American male and second Taiwanese-American male to achieve that honor for his respective services and contributions to Bay Area's music scene and the Asian-American community with PLB.
Born in San Francisco CA on November 15, 1985, Patrick Lew is a second generation Asian-American of Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese descent. Whether by fate or coincidence, the eclecticism of Lew’s heritage is mirrored by the path his music has taken. Sometimes it’s credited to his Patrick Lew Band, and other times to his musical pseudonym, The Steel Lions, but the music is always a raw and loose mix of garage punk, grunge, and no nonsense rock and roll. Lew has been spending well over a decade practicing his craft, perfecting his sound, building an internet fan base, and putting himself into a position to take the music community by storm. Flash forward through the years of friends, start-up bands, school, life in general, and eventually Lew found himself playing full-time with his group, TheVerse.
Once he enrolled in California State University, going for his B.A. in Philosophy and Music. his musical talent still flourished in his writing and self-recording, especially partway through college in 2009. It was around this point that he began investing time into the Patrick Lew Band. While primarily a rhythm guitar player, Lew’s been able to self-record much of his own music with a larger band sound by picking up the bass and programming some drum tracks to accompany him. Through the magic of the internet and home recording equipment, Lew’s also been able to collaborate with a lot of different musicians, each of them contributing to the library of songs in Lew’s arsenal.
Don’t miss out on their most recent releases, including an full-length album and a handful of EP, detailing their journey through music and creativity!