Inductee: Patrick Lew (guitar, vocals; born November 15, 1985)

Lew was the most prolific yet overlooked of the erstwhile Silent Minister bandmates and seemed to enjoyed greater success as a solo artist and leader of Samurai Sorcerers. Enjoying a great measure of indie succes between his work with Samurai Sorcerers; Lew never attained much respect and appreciation as a solo artist or leader in Samurai. Since the Silent Minister amicably split in August of 2005, Lew was quite prolific yet dwindled on self-doubt as he relied and craved others for self-approval musically and personally. Other than that, Patrick's post-Minister works was fairly eclectic; not recording just pop and rock, but also dabbling with Chinese orchestras and techno/trance as well. Beyond his short comings with Silent Minister, Patrick's achievements in Samurai Sorcerers' proved to be seminally celebrated yet at the same time noteworthy for a purposeful way in which Patrick Lew himself demystified and adversed himself as a musician in the wake of the Minister's sudden demise. While risk-taking and edgy in feeble attempts to make music, Patrick Lew rarely became a favorite for the conventional crowd. However his body of work, while some dismissed as "too eccentric for pop music" carries some artistic mystique to it and transcended non-conformist pleasures to fans and friends alike. Having been buried with bare bones guitar parts in Silent Minister, it is somewhat amazing that a rhythm guitarist who've been called worthless and mediocre by his ex-bandmates can possess great artistic and instrumental skills. Yet not fully appreciated for what his talent has come by.

After an infamous recording session at Eddie's home studio in October to create a mini-sampler of "untagged" guitar beats, Patrick Lew and his anime-ish show Samurai Sorcerers bellied the turmoil that attended the simultaneous break up of the Silent Minister Experience. Recorded on digital audio software, Samurai Sorcerers' and their collection of atonal rock songs and unfinished fragments found Patrick Lew playing guitar, keyboards, bass and crediting his former Asian girlfriends with the help of the Samurai Sorcerers. An Patrick Lew and his Samurai anime show added up to the evocation of "life, society and the world." Samurai Sorcerers anticipated the Minister-less AZN bubblegum idol Patrick that filled the void after the clamor and chaos of Minister. Patrick and his Samurai Sorcerers' appeared in December 2004, just five months after the Silent Minister jammed and broke up. A year passed, and Patrick developed "Asian woman" syndrome as heard in his Samurai Sorcerers' body of musical work. Ever since being trashed oh so terribly when playing on a live stage, Samurai Sorcerers' didn't want to be a live performing band doing Anime Con shows but most of the time, focusing of studio recording. Much of this also led Samurai Sorcerers' refraining from public apperances and performing, and everything would be meshed in the studio.

For the rest of 2004 and much of 2005; save the chances of jamming in another band, Lew devoted his creative energies to Samurai Sorcerers. Under the banner Samurai Sorcerers, Lew hired the cream of the crop of session dudes and chicks to play with the Samurai in the studio. And to mention a fairly stable and fickle leader as Lew being the key musician. Samurai was an entity longer than Silent Minister, and Patrick worked on the Samurai years prior to Minister breaking it off like an Asian woman dumping her ex-ricer boyfriend. Though there several personnel changes between their establishing from 2002(?) through today. Lew definitely wanted Samurai Sorcerers to be perceived as a J-Rock band with the "real" Asian sound. It might have been a strange start for a new band and sound, but Lew had the grandiose vision to make Samurai Sorcerers relevant to American media by adding elements of anime, an ecletic body musical work and Asian pride in to the whole spectrum. While not many conventional types buys Patrick Lew and his Samurai band's work of art or understands anything having to do with Samurai Sorcerers' due to their eccentric sound and style, the Samurai remains a stepping stone for Patrick Lew in terms of artistic success with different people.

Patrick assured to the fans that there will be more to come with Samurai Sorcerers once he's not playing in any other project at this point. But a Minister reunion doesn't seem to be Lew's cup of tea or idea. Don't expect a Silent Minister reunion anytime soon peoples!

Hobbies:
I enjoy playing music. Be it a electric guitar, bass, keyboards or just using FL Studio 5 on my computer to make J-Pop and anime music. But if I were to listen to music, I would just collect a bunch of used CDs at the shop and listen to it on my CD player or put it into mp3 clips from my computer on my iPod. I am very good with computers by the way, dude. So other than music, I like watching anime and good movies. I don't care what kind of Japanese anime or film it is, as long as I love it! But other than that, I like riding motorcycles and going out with my friends, band or my girlfriend/wife. Hehe. And not to mention, using the computer and going online to meet new pals and chat with my friends and band on AIM.

What do you like most about 'The Godmothers'?
That it is unique and I got one of my best friends from high school in this punk rock ensemble/duo to play music with on a boring weekend, since I don't have a social life at all. I played in many different short-lived local Bay Area bands before starting the Godmothers as a more harder-edged and politically charged sounding rock n' roll garage band. Most of my former garage bands I played in, we mostly played music together and collaborate in my bedroom or a cheap rehearsal/recording studio for bands and musicians. But after those bands lost like a drummer or lead guitarist, me or the other guy in the band would put an ad in the paper looking for someone to join our rock n' roll band but it never happens. Music was always a big part of me, and playing guitar and making music with my own artisitic thoughts and ideas was always a challenge and good thing for me. So when I started talking to my high school friend Nadia again when I started going to City College of San Francisco, we had similar political ideologies (we are basically left-wing Marxist Liberals) and musical backgrounds (mainly into listening to punk and classic rock). So we exchanged phone #'s and began talking a lot on the cell about music, life and politics. I guess that inspired me and her to become founders of a punk rock and gothic garage band of amateur musicians doing this politically charged and hard rock n' roll music with electric guitars and screaming RIOT GURL vocals. So we founded the Godmothers out of the ashes of my former band the Samurai Sorcerers, and we are currently looking for musicians such as a drummer, bassist and lead guitarist to join our ensemble of punk rockers!

Why did you choose the Guitar / MIDI Keyboards / Vocals / Virtual Instruments?
I've been playing guitar for about 5-6 years already, and I haven't gotten close to becoming a professional guitarist or musician at this point because I'm still pretty much an amateur musician and still working on digital audio production/editing with Cubase SX 3. But I've been playing guitar with friends (the more talented musicians! And the other "cool" Asian rockers! OH MY GOD!) at their house or studio, and my former bandmates in the Sorcerers in the studio or onstage for years. I have been playing guitar since I was 14 and I taught myself using a Hal Leonard chord book and most recently, I've been using Guitar Pro v4.0 which I got at Best Buy to produce and compose shit, like a rock & roll song without having to use a real instrument to do all the work. The worst part about using a real guitar is having to record your parts through the cheapest gear and rig ever, which I carry in my studio and it sucks because the gear I have is very primitive. But using VST is what I've been trying to teach myself lately. It's a painful thing to do because it's hard to use, but I do it now and then. But playing guitar has always been my tool in garage bands, and I might be a primitive guitar player, but I use it in playing rock n' roll music in bands. But I sing my songs because I have a story to tell to my audience.

How would you describe yourself?
I am me. The Silent Minister. Your No.1 Asian rock star. And I do mean, your Asian rocker in a garage band with a #1 hit. Uhm, "Tokyo Pop Princess" is the song?

Your favorite artists?
Same as Nadia's! Basically anything ROCK N' ROLL that sounds good to our ears and mind...

Favorite quote:
"A twist of fate can give you a glimpse of what's to come tomorrow..."

Do you play live?
Not yet. I think most of this side project will be done inside my bedroom, this 8-track home studio where guitarists, girlfriends, keyboardists and other cool and artistic people come in here to make music or have a fun time. But yeah, it's hard to do a live show with just one guitar and a singer's voice onstage. Not to mention playing the guitar through a cheap ass Marshall rack amp and using the cheapest band rig possible like playing live at Haight-Ashbury or some place cooler like SIN CITY. I guess we need more musicians, like a drummer, lead guitarist and bassist to complete the lineup if the Godmothers were going to play a concert or something. Since the internet you can meet musicians, friends and lovers through networking communities, might as well hire the best session guys and girls I can find from one of them...Which leads to why I think the internet and mp3 clips change the music industry and the music world...

Latest News:
Well the latest news is I am going to Hong Kong to visit my family and to celebrate my 20th birthday as I am taking a break from school. And I am attending Skyline College to get a BA major in music, along with playing guitar in two different post-Sorcerers' projects TORM and me and Nadia's punk rock duo/ensemble of the Godmothers. Right now, the Godmothers consists of me and Nadia and we are pretty much thinking of playing music together just to get the stress and pressure out during the weekends and to have a social life, ya know.


How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
For a long time, it's been a dream for unsigned and struggling bands, musicians and artists to promote their music and get themselves and their music exposed through a large audience without having to sign a record deal with a label. That's been going on since rock n' roll started, and musicians could have only promoted their music by handing demo tapes at local shows which couldn't possibly gauranteed success. Now, technologies have become more advanced. I remember when I first started playing music and in my first band Famiglia, there weren't very many ways to promote music but with the rise of the internet...This was a great way to make your music in the 8-track home studio and put it online through websites to get heard. Because with the rise of internet, the idea is you can DIY your own work of art through the internet and since many people use it nowadays, you can get at least hundreds or thousands of people to listen and download your music on websites. It's a great social experience and music promoting/marketing tool, and with websites like Soundclick and MP3.com...Simply, now you can put your music online after you're doing making it whether at home, onstage or in a real studio and many people who use the internet can go onto that website and listen to your free clips. I like that idea because of internet and free clips, people can hear these unsigned talents and don't get ripped off from their creations from major labels. Plus, you get feedback from a lot of listeners on these websites too. It's amazing.

Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
Not until I get my BA degree in my major in college and find the woman of my dreams. But I doubt it will happen anytime soon.

Favorite spot?
I don't know about that one. I would love to go to places like Europe and Japan, but I like being a resident and musician living in the great city of San Francisco. Although the music scene is "sort of" lackluster compared to the '60s when jam band music took over the SF scene while it's NOW electronica and hip-hop. But I have so many favorite cities across the world. Too many to write down and too many I've never even visited.

Equipment used:
In terms of production I use: Casio CTK-551 MIDI Keyboards, Steinburg's Cubase SX3, Magix Music Maker SE (for the techno beats), GuitarPro v4.0 (virtual guitar for making MIDI), Guitar/Keyboard USB Cable, $7 Walmart Microphone, Two Guitars (Epiphone and Fender), One Bass (Yamaha).


= = = > Biography:

Hello musicians and starving artists, we are a local SF garage band consisting of musically ambitious and trained teenagers (around the ages of 15-19) called "The Original Rock Musicians," otherwise known by our acronym TORM. We all live in San Francisco and our hobbies is definitely about rock & roll and playing music together. Our band leaders are Patrick Lew (ex-Samurai Sorcerers) and Gray Eser. Together we are looking to make an ensemble of what we really call a band of "original rock musicians" like our bandname says. We'll get more into the details of our band as we speak by telling our achievements and goals as a garage band in the SF teenage rock scene.

How the band TORM (The Original Rock Musicians) came to be started back in March 2005, when the band's artistic and eccentric frontman Gray Eser got the idea to form a truly eclectic and musically diverse Rock Ensemble 101 of unique musicians with different personalities and style. Patrick Lew was already playing in a side project called Samurai Sorcerers before joining the band as the rhythm guitarist. After Gray Eser and Patrick Lew reestablished a connection musically and personally on the website MySpace.com, they've e-mailed each other and there they got the IDEA and concept to found and establish a Rock Band 101 of teenage musicians in the SF that can play the heck out of rock & roll and explore all styles of rock music (blues, punk, thrash, psychedelic, grunge, etc). Most recent jam sessions TORM done were in local music stores and at Gray's house.

Patrick Lew became official member of TORM on July 31, 2005, when Patrick and Gray chatted on MySpace e-mails and they decided to assemble the band TORM as its main leaders and musicians, and they also went to set out on finding other artists and musicians not playing in any bands to join TORM as a part-time garage band that does studio recording and prepares to play music doing gigs around the Bay Area. The band only then consisted of Patrick and Gray playing rock & roll music under the name TORM and in the lineup. So on August 4, 2005, the TORM duo of Patrick Lew and Gray Eser spent the day talking about jamming some place like a rehearsal studio to play some rock & roll and hopefully record a demo together.

Gray was the man in charge of the band, and the two were at a local music store talking about the whole thing and playing the guitars inside. So this was the first initial meeting with Patrick and Gray not as the high school friends in drama class but as musicians playing in a real amateur "rock & roll" band. Then suddenly, TORM dissapeared from the headlines as Gray Eser was looking to find more musicians to cement the TORM lineup and Patrick Lew focused on personal issues such as a breakup with an ex-girlfriend and suicidal depression.

TORM's last jam session in the garage happened on September 3, 2005 when Patrick and Gray banged out some rock & roll stuff on electric guitars shades of Wyld Stallyns from Bill & Ted. After jamming together, they realized two guys wasn't enough to play adventurous, artistic, elaborate and ambitious rock & roll music together. One guitar and singer was good but wasn't enough to have an Ensemble of original rock musicians playing great "rock & roll" music. So the band dissapeared from the headlines and went below the radar, and spent September and part of October in seclusion. The band TORM was Gray's idea and he had to look for new musicians to join the up-and-coming SF garage band.

Some candidates for lead guitar (already filled, sorry!), bass, and drum roles was Eddie Blackburn from Patrick's side project Samurai Sorcerers but didn't work out musically. Matt Parupa was intended to be the drummer of the band, but was more focused on playing guitar in his own band. By October, Gray Eser's younger brother Victor Eser joined the band as lead guitarist. Recently, the band TORM was invited to play a gig at an East Bay club but first off, the band needs a bassist and drummer to cement the lineup as a part-time ensemble of garage band musicians playing rock onstage or in the studio.