Posted by  Patrick in on September 2, 2007 at 7:25 PM
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Band of Asians was formed in 2004 at City College Music. Band of Asians were evolving from their high school garage band of musicians from Wallenberg School of Arts called Samurai Sorcerers. Singer/guitarist/DJ Patrick Lew and drummer Dave Arceo started playing music together in art school before going to college (or music academy). When they both graduated from Wallenberg School of Arts, with Patrick getting his high school diploma in 2004 and Dave in 2005, they went to City College, as schoolmates from Wallenberg Eddie Blackburn (guitar) and Shawn Blacharski (bass guitar) left the band Sorcerers. At City College Music, Augusto Hernandez and Zack Huang joined Band of Asians. Although Zack is still considered an "official" band member in the Band of Asians' roster, he remains on hiatus due to family reasons.
They played many shows around the Daly City and San Francisco villages in their late teens. They also participated in contests for teenage local bands, but never won the "Battle of the Bands." The band's local music media breakthrough came in mid-2005 when, as Sorcerers, they won a "Sexy Asian Musicians" contest with their demo on an Internet local music webpage, in which the winner got their band & music published for two weeks on the musicians' webpage.
When publishing and licensing disputes from former band members of Samurai Sorcerers came to haunt Patrick, Dave and Augusto in the Band in the Box, they had to quickly change their bandname. Dave at first suggested "Asians" in the bandname because all three musicians in the Sorcerers were Asian American. Patrick was Taiwanese, Dave was Filipino and Augusto was ethnically mixed with Chinese and Filipino. When Patrick spoken to Zack about shopping for a new guitar and computer at the Guitar Hut, he suggested download a pirated copy of "Band in the Box" program. Patrick liked the name of the computer music software, so with him and Dave's idea they changed their name to Band of Asians in February 2006. With a canceled Bank of America credit card Patrick got from the Bank of America, they went into a friend's recording studio in San Francisco to record their debut album "Revenge" using rock musical instruments and a computer. Later that year, the Band of Asians signed a Digital Distribution Licensing record contract with CDBaby.
Revenge:
Band of Asians' debut album, "Revenge," was recorded from May 2005 to September 2006 in a friend's home recording studio. At the time of the album being published on CDBaby and through various Band of Asians music webpages on the Internet, they were rapidly approaching 20 years of age or passed it (Patrick turned 21 in November of 2006). Originally, the concept of "Revenge" was based on the music & band Sorcerers mainly because the Sorcerers were musicians who just played instrumental rock music. None of the songs on "Revenge" had vocals, it was reminiscent of a Garage Band playing music without vocals or songwriting. It was however, a concept album which they came up with during their career in their high school band Samurai Sorcerers.
Although they didn't tour to support the album, they did however play a taped concert at the Vibo Music Center on May 8, 2006 which was a band practice or "live in a music store" jam session. The Band of Asians had DIY their band & music and their Garage Band demo "Revenge" locally while fulfilling college education commitments at City College back home in San Francisco.
Buy Product and Upcoming Studio Album:
The trio of musicians in a local Asian grunge band from City College and the local music scene also found time to build a home recording studio at Patrick's house with Zack using computer programs and a variety of electric guitars, drum machines, keyboards and sequencers. This was done in order to prevent using a credit card to pay for studio time to play music in an actual recording studio as Patrick got into troubles with his family on News Year Eve 2007 for his excessive Bank of America credit card bills.
Although Patrick was estranged from his family afterwards and was still going through many personal hardships, he began to somewhat develop as a songwriter in the Band of Asians. During this new phase in his band & music with Band of Asians and at City College, he grew his hair longer and wore glasses. He started to dress more Grunge and "officially" got rid of his Asian pop star image (which was his appeal during his Samurai Sorcerers days). Also Dave began spiking his hair and wearing Oakland Athletics merchandise and sported a more Nu Metal image in the Band of Asians.
They spent the last months of 2006 and first six months of 2007 recording songs for their follow-up studio album to "Revenge." The Band of Asians had mounted their first local concert tour by playing 3 shows at City College Music and as the opening act with other local bands Elevator Love Letters and Tinkture at the Glen Park Recreational Center on April 14, 2007. Their second album "Buy Product" in its demo version was published on SnoCap and SoundClick.com in mid-2007. This was also the first time Band of Asians had made music with vocals and songwriting in their band & music. Some electronic music and computer instruments was still noticeable on "Buy Product" but the album shows more of Patrick Lew's songwriting talents which the songs focus on the backlash and anger that personal hardships and failed romances brought upon the band.
However, during the time Patrick began publishing his music for a music critic's review on SoundClick.com and various local music webpages, "Buy Product" was met with mixed reviews unlike "Revenge" which barely got notice but was a counterculture favorite amongst the local music community. Not intimidated, the Band of Asians played at the Bazaar Cafe on August 10th, and the following day. They performed at the PromiseLand Church's "Summer of Love" festival at Golden Gate Park.
While fulfilling college education in their careers other than music, Patrick and Dave also joined their good friends Cory Gaitan and Kyle G's local Metal band Power Trip from City College in early 2007. They are currently working on their demo which they recorded at 16th and Mission's Bank Studios in San Francisco with their tour van and musical instruments armed with flyers of both Power Trip and Band of Asians in their gig bag.
Band of Asians is currently at work on touring and recording their third studio album "2046" at Patrick's home recording studio. They are currently debating if they should use computer music software or real musical instruments to record music for the album or do both. One song from these sessions, "Blind Disease" was already published on various Band of Asians band & music webpages.
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