AUDIO RAGE - THE NEW PATRICK LEW BAND

Audio’s Music and Band in the Box…School of Audio! Long Live Musician and Artist, Audio AKA Patrick Lew!

A trip to the music store was what Audio did to get his musical instruments and computer applications created the musical group. formerly known as Samurai Sorcerers now called Audio Rage.

BACK IN TIME on May 8, 2004, Audios band of high school musicians Samurai Sorcerers were the most infamous band in the Bay Area as they played music for gigs across the CITY. Tens of few had stayed at the playground or school talent show to cash in on Audio and Eddie Blackburns Samurai Sorcerers play that show in support of their album Psychotic Love which was due out around Christmas. The album Psychotic Love finally was available through the Samurai Sorcerers and Audios website. The one that started it all! But by the summer of 2005 their fortunes and careers had changed. After 3 years of drug addiction, musical controversies, onstage tantrums and occasional drama, their members began to drift away fast, their co-leader Audio had become bogged down in personal hardships, and The Blizzard of Sound, a collection of rock n roll songs recorded in Eddies house, had been released to mixed reviews and disappointing sales.

The members of Audios band of Samurai Sorcerers what was left of it emerged at Eddies house to begin the band practice. A room with a pool table and two video game consoles, they began to prepare for their next album, which the group expected to release some time the next year. But what was once music and rock ensemble magic quickly began suffering from an illness that has proved fatal to bands from time onwards immemorial: BOREDOM.

Mr. Patrick Lew himself tried to hire new musicians by placing ads in the local newspaper, and that proved to be a disaster with bad results.

Mr. Patrick Lew (Audio) had appointed himself the leader of the project along with Eddie as well, but Audio didnt seem to know where to lead. As Eddie Blackburn, the bands longtime session/onstage guitarist, thought the starving artists songwriting style along with the procrastinations at band practice fatiguing.

Audio also enrolled at City College of San Francisco studying music and media/electronic arts, there was the school where Patrick Lew studied music and electronic arts, and made a concerted most unsuccessful effort to fit in socially with other students. Working a part-time job at a comic book store, he barely had enough money to survive in purchasing new instruments at the local guitar store. He tried his hand going to Skyline College, but got supsended for a FIGHT he had with another kid.

An electronica mix called Battle Royale, released on Samurai Sorcerers website, would be the last addition to the original ROCK BANDs catalog. Eddie and bassist Shawn quit the band on August 2005, and so did the Asian girls who played the instruments for the Samurai Sorcerers anime show. Of the founding members and survivors, Audio was just left. But rather dwell on the past he created the de facto Samurai Sorcerers project: Audio Rage. He did it all with the computer, instruments he got from Guitar Center and sometimes (but rarely) studio musicians hired from a paper ad.

He had a few musicians hired for studio time for a short-term job to make Audio Rage and the music come alive, guitarist Mark Hawkins only played a job for ONE DAY in the studio with Audio and the revised band. Audio and a good friend Zack Huang then assembled Audio Rages home and workshop which was the studio became a rockers playground: Two video game consoles, home entertainment system, a huge DVD and record library, state-of-the-art computer applications and equipment and as many as 10 instruments lying around. But Audio wasnt just there for fun and games. Zack stepped in to produce some song ideas in the studio near the end of 2005, and visited the bedroom workshop when Audio and him began talking about the project and music, and insisted his friend Patrick Lew (or Audio) can focus more on composing and playing.

At band practice on Dec 22, 2005, Zack and Audio managed to study Audio Rages musical ideas on a notebook and called the first shot the song Asian Woman Blues which became the new revised bands first original song (Mr. Lew fussed over the song so much that, he, Zack and other studio technicians and engineers stayed up until 5am adjusting the music to the one-man bands standards). But it was panned by some critics, while delighted by many others. Another song from the NEW BAND, The Final Hour earned poor reviews and became very quickly forgotten. Band practice was fun, but more work followed. Soon afterwards, Audio AKA Patrick Lew created more musical showcase Audio Rage websites via internet or revised the Samurai Sorcerers ones into Audio Rage.

Audio burned as many as six CDs on his computer with various mixes of different songs, which he studied. Audio Rages archive of recorded works in his library swelled into include more than 350 digital audio tapes and other media, all ideas of music recorded for Audio Rages upcoming album [we will get to that later] of Audios new music and to label the progress of the songs. The tapes remain in the bedroom's closet. He did pass out the flyers to his one-man band by going to KINKOS to make copies of his websites.

By musical analysis of the work in Audios bedroom, the one-man band kept roughly 12 songs for the A list for the album and another 35 or so in various stages of production on the B list.

Audio Rages new album was now going to be called Revenge. The name of the record came from Audios diary of his life and career throughout the 2000s as he went through tons of personal hardships and shortcomings in his musical and school career. Some songs from the album project for Audio Rage (both A and B list musical works) have yet to include vocals/songwriting because of Mr. Lews writers block and his inability to write lyrics or storytelling poetry to sing along to because he felt he wasnt a good singer/songwriter and focused more on playing musical instruments for his group. However the electronic-made instrumentals and band without vocals were actually pretty good. Broken Hearts Become One, War! and others were some of the strongest material Audio has made ever in music.

The process was drawn out even further after Audio (Mr. Lew) hired a new musician DJ and college friend David Arceo whom had prior experience with MIDI and electronica in his musical career. Still Audio seemed to be emerging beyond his garage band dramas out of his past. In early 2006, for what would be the first time since the Psychotic Love tour ended in February 2005, he performs in public, with his community college band of friends at Serramonte Shopping Mall at Daly City.

Currently at work on his Audio Rage bands album Revenge in his studio using his musical instruments and computer programs, Audio is still an active musician on the Bay Area local scene and is also in focus of finishing community college.

Audio Rage, the computer band project was brought together by Patrick Lew long after his circle of friends (Samurai Sorcerers) at Wallenberg High left him on his own. Now he was doing all the work himself. Other musicians were brought in for touring and live performing purposes through an online ad on Craigslist.org or getting other talents from elsewhere.

Patrick and Mayumi of the Samurai Sorcerers band camp watched Nami Tamaki in concert at Amoeba Records. It inspired the band to pen the hit song, “Tokyo Pop Princess.” Patrick Lew then graduated from Wallenberg High and begun college life at City College of San Francisco, a community college which he felt he didn't belong as a person.

While continuing to battle the local music and art scene, Mayumi left the band on August 24th to go back to school. Patrick and Eddie remained the sole leaders of the Samurai Sorcerers, and brought along their good friend Shanti Blacharski to replace Mayumi on bass guitar. Heading back into the studio, things were starting to fizzle out for the Samurai Sorcerers. Despite the changes, the threesome managed to play rock & roll in the studio together during the remaining months of 2004. Two other backup musicians joined the gang, Mony Ngin and Janet Wang were hired abroad from the popular networking website MySpace.com, but were briefly in the Samurai Sorcerers to add extra layers of instruments for the “Psychotic Love” album.

But unfortunately, Eddie and Shawn were indefinitely “on leave” from the Samurai Sorcerers to play in Logic’s Enemy’s tour on November 9th. Wallenberg High's clique of musicians called Samurai Sorcerers had now split into different musical groups/factions: Samurai Sorcerers (Patrick Lew) and Logic's Enemy (Eddie and Shawn). Patrick handled the changes and went on as a lone survivor for the Psychotic Love Tour.

Meanwhile, during the Psychotic Love Tour, it proved to be a grueling test for Patrick Lew of the Samurai Sorcerers. On November 19th, he previewed his album “Psychotic Love” at the Talent Quest 2004. However on December 11th at the Ori-Wave festival, he was ejected from the concert for disturbing the peace. Controversially, he was supposedly working the concert as a front door man but felt taken advantage of by the concert’s staff. In doing so, he handed out flyers to his band to promote Samurai Sorcerers but was escorted out of the theater. The Samurai Sorcerers would play their last gig at Balboa High on February 13, 2005, with little fanfare.

But some good news came along the way. The Samurai Sorcerers estate announced that Patrick, Eddie and Shawn will reunite the band for a new studio album and hopefully a live tour. In May 2005, the group went into the studio to jam for a little bit. Adding new member Zack Huang on keyboards in the band, it seemed as if Samurai Sorcerers were back on the road to rock & roll. But unfortunately it did not turn out that way. Samurai Sorcerers continued to play music together in May-June 2005, linked in storylines with Patrick and Eddie making an appearance (along with Mayumi) at the Wallenberg High c/o 2005 graduation. However on August 8, 2005, Samurai Sorcerers was officially broken up. While the band’s website is still available for fans, the band was no more. At the time, Eddie and Shawn were more interested in their musical career with Logic’s Enemy. And Patrick was more interested in computers and college. Patrick would continue to go through challenges in life (which included his college and music career), until he founded a new local garage band Audio Rage with a roster of different musicians (from online ads to Skyline College) in October 2005.

With a new musical project into his life, Patrick Lew wasted no time as he begun a journey across Asia for Audio Rage’s first venture to promote Audio Rage through flyers and coinciding a performance at a sushi diner in Hong Kong on his twentieth birthday on November 15, 2005. Patrick and Audio Rage began a segment on their MySpace Music social-networking profile in which every weekend, Patrick would give fans an opportunity to chat with him online through MySpace. With his free time chatting with fans on their website and non-stop romance woes, he was preparing for his return to being in a rock & roll group. When he was back in Audio Rage in January 2006, once Audio Rage lost its guitarist candidate Mark, Patrick found new musicians from Skyline College to fill the void. They were now billed as "School of Audio Rage." This would be Skyline College's version of Audio Rage.

As of February 27, 2006, Audio Rage has been a local performing act at Skyline. Although they haven't released much new music because Patrick's school schedule placed heavy demands on his social and academic life. On February 16, 2006, Audio Rage played a short gig at Serramonte Mall. Seemingly, the main intentions currently for Patrick Lew and his friends participating in the Audio Rage project are keeping themselves "indie rock" and underground. Most recently, Audio Rage was doing gigs and playing shows in the cafeteria at Skyline College. Most likely, a new band was about to be founded with Asian American musicians from the school Patrick Lew used to go to.

Around February 2006, Patrick Lew of his own project Audio Rage has made headlines across the internet and college campus with his street corner gigs at Skyline and his somehow outgoing personality, which hasn't been displayed in Patrick Lew's character and personality during his musician days in Samurai Sorcerers. Although no music has been put out by Audio Rage just yet, Patrick seems too busy putting together his own rock ensemble with his friends at Skyline College. But unfortunately, Patrick was expelled from Skyline College after a fight in the school cafeteria he had with another student at Skyline. His expulsion from Skyline on March 10, 2006 marked the beginning of the end for School of Audio Rage. His friends in Audio Rage from Skyline has not kept in contact with Patrick since he left the college.

Audio Rage however remained as an active musical group. Patrick Lew took 100% control of the musical project known as Audio Rage and continues the group as his own one-man band. He returned to City College of San Francisco and making new music with his now "one-man band" Audio Rage in his studio. March 2006 saw plenty of musical activity with Patrick Lew and his group Audio Rage as he created 7 new songs in the studio and showcased it online.

Most recently in April 2006, Patrick Lew of Audio Rage teamed up with his Skyline College friend David "Knuckles" Arceo to play music in the electronica/rap-metal musical collaboration (or side project) Fatal Fury.


What band is Audio Rage?
Audio Rage is a "virtual" garage band done with computers programs (software instruments) and mostly real musical instruments like guitars, vocals and MIDI keyboards. This is basically a one-man "virtual" garage band in which Patrick Lew performs music in his bedroom in his house all alone, without any session musicians or anyone else involved with this solo project. Patrick didn't want to be involved in a garage band that plays in the studio or onstage with 3 or 4 other musicians because of egos and committment problems, meaning he doesn't like the fact musicians don't show up for jam sessions or call him back through e-mail or cell. With the help of a computer program called "Band in the Box 2005" and other FREE programs, like Audacity. This is how the Audio Rage project came to be. Pretty much a "virtual" garage band experience where the music is played by one guy electronically.

Does Audio Rage play live?
Patrick has played a music recital in Hong Kong's Mong Kok district back on his 20th birthday and it was for a birthday party on November 15, 2005. Other than that, Patrick spends more time playing music and practicing at home rather than the stage because he wants to "take his musicianship and guitar playing skills" to the next level at least. Most of the time, Audio Rage will occasionally chat with fans worldwide on their MySpace.com profile.

What other bands was Patrick Lew in and how many instruments can he play?
Mr. Lew has been in at least 3 or 4 different garage bands prior to Audio Rage being his 21st century electronic musical experience. He's been playing guitar as a teenage boy and contributed ideas and guitar work to mostly his friend Gray Eser's band TORM, which he is officially a member of...Although they never played rock & roll together yet. Some of Patrick's bands prior to Audio Rage (or TORM for that matter) includes Famiglia (Punk Boiz 182), Samurai Sorcerers, Silent Minister's Experience. Mostly prior to TORM, he's been a rhythm guitarist....But due to criticism, he now plays bass. But his musical expertise is guitars, bass, MIDI keyboards and contributes his own brand of weird songwriting.

Who are his musical influences?
Patrick was most definitely inspired by John Lennon from the Beatles. Claiming Lennon as his biggest musical inspiration other than Guns N' Roses. He was hooked onto Beatles music as a child, thanks to one of his family members. Guns N' Roses perhaps were one of the musicians or bands that made Patrick want to pick up a six-string axe in the first place. Other musical influences include Oasis, Nirvana, Poison, Motley Crue, Prince, U2, The Clash, Robert Johnson, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Steve Vai (thanks to his former bandmate Eddie!), Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, The Eagles, Enuff Z'Nuff, etc.

What equipment does Patrick use?
Epiphone SG Les Paul, Fender Squier guitar kit, Rogue LB200 bass guitar, Marshall MG10 GuitarAmp (same for playing his Rogue bass), Squier SG15 GuitarAmp, Casio CTK-551 MIDI Keyboards + M-Audio MIDI-to-USB cable, DELL Dimension computers w/ "Band in the Box 2005" "Audacity" and "Pro Tools LE 7." For guitar strings, he uses thick .011 Ernie Ball super slinky. Rarely plays guitar with picks. But he uses a KORG GA-20 Guitar/Bass tuner for getting the sound he wants.

Fun Facts About the Audio Rage CEO!!!


- Patrick is 5' 11'' but looks much shorter than he actually is due to a slender built bodyshape. Most people would think he is short, and is around 5' 7!'' Typical height for an Asian male.

- He normally shops at Thrift Stores, Guitar Center, Borders and Amoeba Records.

- The farthest he ever got with an Asian woman was at a massage parlor in China!

- He believes in horoscopes, astrology and psychics. Making him his own psychic and black magic man.

- Patrick is a former drug user. But has since stopped.

- He has manic depression.

- Was of Chinese, Japanese and Taiwanese ancestry. But due to his mixed race and fashion image, some would mistaken him or look at him as a Eurasian due to his somewhat Australian accent when he speaks English! Maybe it's the Beatles haircut? He sure looks pretty White for an Asian!

- He wears glasses.

- Patrick hates the taste of beer. But loves to mix in alcohol with soda or juice.

- He is Asian American, but has a sort of Australian accent in his tone when he speaks English! No joke!

- Patrick has a fetish for White, Hispanic and Japanese women.

- And if you're single, holla like the big poppa would say! THANKS AGAIN FOR KNOWING YOUR 4-1-1 ON AUDIO RAGE AND PATRICK LEW!

AUDIO RAGE - THE NEW PATRICK LEW BAND
What do you like most about 'Audio Rage'?
Being a “virtual” garage band in a computer is a great tool. It’s fun to create music on a computer that has all the musical equipment built in the program. It’s also great because you can play all the instruments on your own with the help of an e-Book and you’re the leader. You can do the music anyway you want it basically. This is a great idea because I am good with computers, and I can do a lot of shit to get out there when promoting my music through a website or burning it on lots of blank discs and sending them to friends. This is what AUDIO RAGE is about in the studio. This is also perfect for a musician who is going on the road or whatever because I can use my dad’s DELL laptop and use whatever program I like to practice, record for a little while and make an idea come alive. I could be sitting in the hotel room bored out of mind because nothing is on TV, and I’ll spend 30 minutes using my dad’s laptop to get the music down. Or I can be at a Starbucks drinking an iced mocha and people in there will be thinking I am sending e-mails or chatting with my buddies on AIM, but actually! I am making music in a “virtual” garage band! How amazing is that, dude! Who needs a garage band with 3 or 4 other guys playing in the studio giving you a hard time when you can do-it-yourself with the help of a computer and the software?

The computer and just one musician is an amazing tool for a one-man “virtual” garage band. It’s easy for me not to deal with playing in a local band with at least 3 or 4 other guys or girls in the studio having to deal with egos and different interests when it comes to making music in a band. Well the problem with playing in a band with 3 or 4 other musicians is that there is going to be egos involved and even worse, if you guys get famous and become rock & roll superstars, do you really need to put up with a band who you might get tired playing music with because of these egos? The egocentric guys in the band who think they can play good and all that keeps me uninterested. That’s why I stuck to my guns and formed AUDIO RAGE as a one-man band. With the help with just a computer and me, I can do whatever the heck I want by using a computer program to practice, record a bit and make a demo without having to put up with 3 or 4 of my bandmates’ egos.

Why did you choose the Bass / MIDI Keyboards / Vocals?
I would usually hang out with my friend from my old school CCSF Bruce to places across the SF. Like shop at electronics stores looking for items which would go well on our computers, Bruce mostly gets movie making stuff while I look for electronic devices or anything adequate to play music with through a computer or my guitar. I still don’t have the shielded MIDI cable for my Casio keyboards, I don’t know why. Ever since mines got thrown out by my parents when they bought me my first MIDI keyboard set from Costco, they had no idea what musicianship or anything related to it was so they could have possibly thrown out my MIDI cable for my Casio keyboards. And I thought to myself as a damn shame pretty much. Because I got primitive state-of-the-art technology to make music with which is digital, and I am very inadequate when it comes to using Cubase SX on a PC computer which I use pretty much, and not having the MIDI cable to plug into my keyboards so I can play a string of sounds like I was actually playing a solo on guitar. I play MIDI keyboards like I was the DJ mixing and scratching a turntable at a club. Except I have to keep playing rock n’ roll on it in tact, just to make my MIDI keyboard playing skills to sound proper.

I chose to put down the guitar and begun playing bass with digital sound FX processed through my computer music software in the studio. That way I can get a better sound and much more rock n’ roll coming out of a four-string bass guitar plugged into my computer through a USB cable than when playing guitar doing all the work. I always thought of my guitar playing as very choppy and I realized when I was playing in bands when I was younger as a rhythm guitarist, my guitar playing skills and musicianship was outgunned by my buddies in the band because I can’t play very well. I would plug my guitar in a cheap little rack amp from Marshall and it would sound very dull and sloppy and I sometimes would break the E string on the guitar and my bandmates would get pissed off, man! The thing about playing guitar for me is, I have no patience and I have too much amateur B- musicianship when it comes to playing this god damn six-string instrument. I had a bass for years and I began picking the axe up and strapped it on, and I started playing the bass like I was actually replicating what I could do musically and creatively on guitar. That was much better I think, especially with sound FX put on the bass instrumental’s textures and etc. It sounds hypnotic but it reminds you of a bass if it sounded like a guitar. Like funk music. Usually because I play bass like I play guitar except I know more scales, notes and basics properly on the bass than I do on guitar.

I can say this for sure about Audio Rage’s music. It will feature primarily bass, drum machine and keyboards. No guitar, as I mentioned a little while ago. Read the last paragraph on this musical resume of Audio Rage to find out more on why I won’t use a guitar in the music. I will try and make things sound EPIC and ambitious and theatrical as rock n’ roll can possibly be when it’s a concept album. Imagine if you can pick out of a dozen of CDs in your record collection to put in a blender with your own vision and idea of what to make. That’s what you will get for the sound and image of Audio Rage. Everything here in this side project’s music is as personal as it is in terms of songwriting. I won’t do as much as I can say, compare my side project’s music to other bands and artists because I rather create my own image and sound. But I can pretty much say it’s going to be arranged in primitive prog-rock fashion. Six-to-eight minute epic songs with a bass sounding like a guitar, drum machine added to it with a few punches into a MIDI keyboard. All the tracks will have lyrical content expressing pain, angst and frustration. A little more emotional and a little more harder-edged than my old band which you pretty much know who they are already. I don’t know when Audio Rage will hit the big time, maybe mid 2006? I don’t know. I’m in a sort of creative lull at this point and the time consumed in the studio making a cohesive record shows that. I can’t make any promises or speak on behalf of others but, I will try my best not to disappoint anyone although I apologize if I do.

What a great soundclick advertisement.

yeah really, who ok'd this?

Yo, Patrick, WTF.....

If you google your name, which music site comes up first, brainiac?

http://www.soundclick.com/samuraisorcerers

http://www.myspace.com/samuraisorcerers

< == Go here. Sorry if I didn't answer prior to this. My websites are scattered everywhere online. So sorry for confusing all of ya.