A Popup Interview with AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers)

A Popup Interview with AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers)
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CK:
Give us a run down of your audio equipment:

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
this solo project ("virtual" garage band) i can branch out to do more kinds of music and make all kinds of art, and anything i want when i don't have to play guitar or bass in a garage band with 3 or 4 other musicians whenever we have to go argue with one another in the studio or onstage when we perform together. but that doesn't mean i won't go and play music in another garage band again. i just think whenever i play in a garage band with real musicians and real instruments, hopefully the guys or gals i jam with won't be such a pain in my side and we will be able to get along as musicians and friend basically. but with AUDIO RAGE, my solo project, it's between me with the help of a computer and guitar. everyone around me in middle school played the guitar. my best friend spencer, and also some of my family played the instrument as well. and that made me just want to learn how to play a rock instrument because i was always into music and such. i am glad i learned how to play guitar and got lessons from vibo music center, because if i didn't do that, i pretty much would have never got anywhere in terms of creativity and my anti-social life. it is a really fun instrument to play too basically. i can do songwriting and make some very romantic love songs in my music sometimes, but that doesn't mean i can't or won't sing in AUDIO RAGE or any other band. and i know i also play bass and keyboards, but i've just recently bought a bass online for $90 to use whenever i play in my friend gray eser's band. i would really love to learn how to play piano all over again. these are the instruments i have experience in musically, but i am mostly a rhythm guitarist.

CK:
What is your favorite song on your current album?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
well i have published my home-made music demos made through my PC on the internet. i have so far spread the word and promoted 2 demo/albums of mines through the internet on websites like this one. i am currently at work on making new music for a new demo as well. but for my most recent demo, it was released in 2 drastically different versions. it was called "the blizzard of sound" and it was recorded in 2 different garage band studios. my bedroom and my ex-guitarist Eddie's house in the fall of 2004. Eddie's version of the "blizzard of sound" album has mutated into his own solo album, "only to come" after a bitter battle between songwriting copyrights and musical publishing battles. so, i don't really have a favorite track on either "blizzard of sound" album because of my past differences with my former bandmate Eddie Blackburn. although i don't mean to hold a grudge against the guy, it's that the music on those two albums really kick me in the shins. i rather listen to either CD on my diskman or iPod, but the music was hard for me to re-live the experience because it didn't live up to my expectations, ya know.

CK:
Do you have a street or e-team system in place? Want one for your website?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
well, of course man, many many websites on the interent are published and made by me just for myself to get the word and gospel out on my music and art. just GOOGLE in "Samurai Sorcerers" and you're there man! but i definitely consider wanting an e-team system for my website man. it would be awesome.

CK:
Introduce the members in the band:

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
well AUDIO RAGE is considered my solo project which evolved from my high school garage band Samurai Sorcerers. so i'm Patrick Lew, the leader of the solo project which is like a "virtual" garage band. i play guitar, MIDI keyboards, bass and use software instruments. i also dabble with a bit of songwriting as well because i'd love to express my music with words since i am so outspoken d'ya know what i mean? it's great to perform a song which has a story to tell. i'll give you a second to introduce my former bandmates. my high school friends Eddie Blackburn played session guitar in the garage band. my somewhat ex-girlfriend Asuka "Mayumi" Nagase was the lyricist and the Samurai Sorcerers' original bass player before being replaced by Eddie's friend Shawn Blacharski on bass after Eddie called me while eating at a Chinese diner with the family, if ya know what i mean. there were two asian girls in the band who were session musicians which i hired from the networking website MySpace.com, the ultra hip trendy place for teenagers, Mony Ngin on drums and Janet Wang on turntables for a short online collaboration. after making a trilogy of music in the garage band studio, it was time for the high school garage band to move on and do other interests as individuals.

CK:
How did you/all learn to play, self or school?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
I chose the guitar because everyone I knew back when I was in 8th grade (friends and enemies) were playing guitar in their very own local garage bands and they were into the same music I was listening to and had the same hobbies which was music. I also chose the guitar because I was into rock & roll at an early age, mostly I wanted to learn how to play electric guitar once I heard and bought the Guns N' Roses "Appetite For Destruction" CD and played it in my stereo. The guitar sound and work from Slash and Izzy blew my fucking mind, dude! So my mom got me a cheap electric guitar and amp for my 14th birthday, and I began teaching myself through books. I would love to learn how to play MIDI keyboards better, since I got one hooked up on my digital studio. But that doesn't mean I won't sing or whatever, although I'm not a very good songwriter when playing guitar and composing my own tracks.

CK:
Who are your biggest influences?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
So, so many...You wouldn't believe it! I remember being like 6 or 7 years old starting to get into music and it would become a hobby of mines as a teenager, pretty much. Back then, I was learning piano at my elementary school's music program, and I was singing my mom's Cantonese Pop (HK) CDs on a karaoke box...Which we no longer have. =( But when I started listening to my mom's HK Pop CDs in the house, I just got hooked onto singing and being AZN. My first inspiration for songwriting and vocals was a Cantonese Pop singer from HK named Danny Chan. So emotional the music was, and I just got hooked onto it because of emotional content. But however, the first real rock band I was into was the Beatles. No doubt. Which was when I was about 8 or 9 or so. My auntie let me listen to her Beatles Anthology 1 & 2 CD and there I got hooked! I got into the Beatles ever since and they will remain my #1 favorite rock n' roll band of all time, I collected everything from Beatles CDs to Beatles magazines. I even saw Paul McCartney in concert once! My absolute rock n' roll idols have to be Guns N' Roses, I swear I found the "Appetite for Destruction" CD's music to inspire me to pick up an electric guitar because Slash was one of those guitar players that were like creative geniuses behind the axe. If it wasn't for GNR, I wouldn't even have had picken up an electric guitar or gotten my mother to spend $169 on a Fender Squier guitar kit at a music shop and that's what made me play guitar in the first place away from the "sort of" Asian Pop stuff. If it weren't for the Beatles and the music of the '80s and '90s like Nirvana and GNR, I wouldn't be the music freak that I am today nor would I have gotten a hold of playing a guitar and using it in bands and stuff. Other bands that I grew up listening to were stuff I got into when I was watching music programming on MTV/VH-1 and listening to FM pop/rock radio were Oasis, Poison, Enuff Z'Nuff, Tesla, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, etc. The list can go on and on. I didn't get my very own diskman or CD player until I was like maybe, 11 years old. That's when I would go to the record shop after school to buy me a CD of a band or artist I'd really like. Everything I listen to inspired me to become a musician and play instruments and make demos. Because music was a "religion" for me, I played in garage bands, met musicians and even went to the best concerts of my life as well. So so many good times you know...

CK:
How big of an impact do you think the underground, indie scene has on the current pop culture?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
it's a tough one. but the indie scene and underground music world has no impact on the current pop culture in the USA at least. i mean there's millions of undiscovered musicians and bands in America, and not all of them are probably playing the same kind of music that is on MTV and playing at Hot Topic shops or whatever. so i think the pop culture at this point is lackluster, because we have yet to see the big thing in rock & roll. like good musicians in a good rock & roll band making good music. there hasn't been a revolution like that in art, politics and music since the late '60s and early '70s so the pop music world is pretty uncreative at this point. so yeah. we definitely need another Nirvana or the Beatles to knock out that bling bling RAP CRAP and cookie-cutter pop music out of the pop music world on MTV and trendy places like the mall!

CK:
What are your plans for the future with your band?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
well i plan to play an open mic night at a coffee shop or street corner at Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco. and probably hand out a transcript of this interview and some CDs of mines to the audience. but if not that, school is going to keep me grounded. i haven't been in college since October and i am going to Skyline College in San Bruno to resume my academic studies and crap like that. i left City College of San Francisco because that place and college campus was nothing but PURE isolation for me. but if anything as a musician, i will record in the workshop and promote and showcase my music online.

CK:
Do you do any recording on your own?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
of course, what do you think? i am a musician in a solo project at this point. i am in a sort of "virtual" garage band so that can answer what you're thinking in your heads man.

CK:
So, tell me..what exactly, motivates you, the artist to write songs?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
i get my musical inspirations for movies, cartoons, comic books, politics and anything society can think of. i like to try not to stick with just writing love story out of a Hollywood teen movie song because it's been done in Samurai Sorcerers in the past whenever we go into the studio to play music and create a DAMN GOOD pop song. so i am basically taking influences and inspirations from other forms of mass media and life experiences to write down a song because i like to create a song that tells a story through either lyrics, meaning music with vocals or just music that are just 100% instrumentals. that's all. i could create a song about a true life experience and tell a story out of that.

CK:
What is important to you about the music?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
it's ART. it's ENTERTAINMENT. people all around the world look at music as their hobby, so be it. that's why it's more dominated as a person's hobby than anything else. we are musicians because of it. we like to be artistic and creative.

CK:
Do you feel that "underground" is just a marketing term like anything else?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
no. depending how you really look at it. it's not much of a big deal, but the way MTV markets the music industry and underground music is pitiful. supposedly, i assume MTV markets EMO and hXC as the music world's true "underground" and cultural scene. but i don't believe so. i mean Japan right, there's all kinds of music in their local music scene. not just anime and Asian porn movies with hot Japanese girls getting it on, or pop idols which is so heavily dominated in Asia since i am an Asian American of Chinese and Japanese ancestry, ya know. so the mainstream pop culture and scene is basically marketed by old-timer traditions and stereotypes because it's the work of the norm and establishment. it's a shame i think. but who is to blame? i am not going to fight everybody about it.

CK:
How experienced are you or the band on the stage?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
not at all. *laughs hard* seriously! i am an amateur musician only and as an artist or musician who is an amateur, it's horrible to be on the stage! i mean, i am not well-prepared usually and i am dyslexic so i cannot put on a good show for the audience to see because of that, man! i mean i have the cheapest musical equipment possible from a small-town guitar shop and i mostly play music on the stage outgunned by boys and girls who don't really look at my band's music as anything special. it's hard, but i mostly like to play music at home/studio or on the stage with a good audience who would just sit the heck down and have fun and listen. but i am really the one to blame because when i was in my garage band, we played shows at places where our music would normally not be played on the stage. i dunno, but we played at church halls, school assemblies and City College of San Francisco, which were not up to par with our garage band work. as a concert or touring band, we had bad timing because none of us were on the stage as everyone else was in the line-up, so basically our timing was a little off to do a music recitial or concert. which no one is to blame because my friend Eddie was busy with other side projects and school work at the time as well a social life. but i still managed to let the show go on despite the fact it did not go so well.

CK:
If your band could open for a headlining act, who would it be and why?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
GUNS N' ROSES, GUNS N' ROSES, GUNS N' ROSES!!! I would of loved to meet John Lennon or play music with my other rock idols at their place or in a music workshop or etc. but definitely, i would do a concert tour with GNR because they are one of the rock & roll bands that inspired me to pick up a guitar from a shop in the first place! i would love to do it as an opportunity.

CK:
Are there any established artists with whom you would like to collaborate?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
i would of loved to meet John Lennon and play music with the guy. since he inspired me more than anyone else as a songwriter. but for someone alive, i'd love to meet Axl Rose just out of curiosity and talk to the guy. maybe if Slash was there? it would have been great too, but as a singer/songwriter i would love to meet Axl Rose to not just get his autograph but maybe get to meet the guy one-on-one. but i would collaborate with any musician or garage or touring band i meet on the internet on websites like MySpace.com or at a local "Battle of the Bands" if they feel pleasured to do so. i feel all musicians should do a big gathering as a whole even if we hate or love their music or art or not.

CK:
If you could put on a show anywhere were would it be?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
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. I wouldn't mind going anywhere in life. As long as it's FUN and I can enjoy a social life with myself or friends going there, you know. As long as I have an electric guitar by my hands, an iPod Nano with my favorite music put in from ripped CDs into MP3 files, and going to places like a rock concert. I do however, want to go to England primarily because they have such a great musical history and the best rock n' roll bands come from that country.

CK:
What do you like most about being an INDE artist?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
many things. but what i said in this long long in-depth interview on this website sums it up pretty much. =)

CK:
Can you name a few of you favorite places on the web for band promotions?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
well I will list them out by website, does that sound okay? i mostly promote and showcase my music online through these websites: www.soundclick.com www.myspace.com www.purevolume.com www.muzie.co.jp (in Japanese) www.musicsceneonline.com www.independentartistscompany.com www.audiostreet.net those are some of the cool music resources i can hand out. so if you're an undiscovered or struggling musician or garage band, i suggest you check those websites out to promote yourselves.

CK:
Who is your favorite unsigned Band?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
well since i receive dozens of friend requests on MySpace.com on my personal social-networking profile on that trendy website, i'd say all te unsigned bands i get added as a friend on there will be my favorite. i appreciate people who add people to get support from the website's audience and returning the favor. i am a really nice guy when it comes to music being promoted online and i can relate to someone like a musician or band who is trying to get their music out there to a wide audience. if any band has added me as a friend on MySpace.com, than their automatically my favorite unsigned band because basically i like to supoort local music scenes and its artists away from the "sort of" cookie-cutter and cut throat mainstream and pop culture scene.

CK:
How long does it take for an average song to go from a musical idea to a recordable song?

AUDIO RAGE (formerly Samurai Sorcerers):
long time usually. i am pretty methodical when taking musical ideas and mushing it into a recordable music product. maybe it's because i am dyslexic and a lazy person at making music sometimes because of my procrastinating personality or it's the cheap musical and studio equipment i got from Guitar Center or downloaded online on a website for free? maybe i'll try my best not to procrastinate anymore and put my music on the websites and hopefully play a damn show anywhere and entertain the audience. that will remain a big goal of mines. if y'know what I mean. =)

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