PLB

 Well,  I  was  always  into  music  since  a  very  early  age.  I  grew  up  listening  to  The  Beatles,  The Rolling  Stones,  Jimi Hendrix,  and  a  lot  of  60’s  and  70’s  classic  rock  bands  from  my  mother’s generation  through  the  vinyl  records and turntable. I  didn’t  have  much  stability  growing  up,  but  I  wouldn’t  say  that  my  childhood  was  super  tragic though!  I  mean, I  didn’t  have  many  friends  in  school  and  there  was  a  lot  of  things  from  my upbringing  that  wasn’t  always  on point.  But  going  on  family  vacations,  professional  wrestling, video  games  and  cable  TV  programming  were  what kept  me  out  of  trouble.  By  the  time  I  got  a little  older  as  a  pre-teen  during  the  mid-90’s,  I  was  already  listening to  bands  like  Nirvana, Oasis,  Guns  N’  Roses,  Metallica,  Green  Day, and  I  was  also  listening  to  J-Pop  from  my mother’s  culture  and  a  lot  of  punk  rock  and  metal. When  my cousin Andy  was  living  with  me  from Asia  as  a  foreign  exchange  student  at  a  local community  college here  in  San  Francisco,  he  would  always  be  playing  guitar  that  my  brother  left sitting  in  the  closet.  Originally,  my older  brother  Rick  used  to  play  electric  guitar  but  computers, sports  cars  and  video  games  was  more  his  thing. My  Sino-Japanese  cousin Andy  would  play Hendrix,  Black  Sabbath  and  Deep  Purple  songs  on  that  Fender  guitar and  amp  pretty  much  on our  days  off  school!  That’s  when  I  knew,  I  found  my  true  calling  card  in  life! I  began  playing  guitar  at  the  young  age  of  13  all  those  years  ago  back  in  the  Summer  of  1999. Took  a  few guitar  lessons  here  and  there,  but  mostly  self-taught. In  2001  at  the  age  of  15,  I  started  my  first  band  which  would  eventually  become  PLB  (Patrick Lew  Band)  with some  friends  of  mines  in  high  school.  At  the  time,  the  Internet  and  indie “unsigned”  and  “DIY”  music  because  of the  Internet  was  still  a  relatively  new  thing!  I  just  jumped right  on  it! In  my  21  year  indie  music  career  semi-professionally,  I’ve  been  through  some  highs  and  some lowest  of  lows. Like  a  typical  episode  of  VH1  Behind  the  Music  about  a  band  you  liked  as  a  kid. I  played  in  many  local bands  in  the  Bay  Area  outside  of  PLB  which  includes  Pleasure Gallows,  TheVerse,  Benigneglect,  The  Steel  Lions and  Crazy  Loser  in  a  Box!   When  I  was  in  college  back  in  the  late  2000s,  I  decided  to  take  PLB  (Patrick  Lew  Band)  very seriously  in  the music  scene  and  the  indie  music  circuit  for  sure!  After  several  years  of  turmoil, lineup  changes  and  other  stuff, my  on-and-off  girlfriend  (cross-dressing  alter-ego)  Madeline  Lew officially  joined  PLB  as  the  bassist  and  occasional lead  vocalist  on  Halloween  2015.  Suddenly,  we  began  our  first  serious  run  as  a  legit  Sino-Japanese  rock  and roll project  from  San Francisco!  The  press  was  better,  we  began  getting  more  stans  on  social-media  and  all  our music spread  to  at  least  38  countries  worldwide  on  iTunes/Apple  Music  to  thousands  of listeners!  That’s  when my purpose  with  making  music  was  reassured  and  getting  those  attention and  good  things  made  me  happier  and want  to  keep  doing  music  and  putting  myself  out  there for  sure!

Oh yeah, and Madeline’s  good  friend  Madoku  Raye  just  recently  joined  the  band  PLB last  month  in October!