With Wilmington trying to establish itself as a hub of musical culture, the headlines have been covered with news of new band venues, especially the new World Cafe Live, and forgetting the true culture, the music bands themselves! Tonight's Radio 104.5 4th Birthday Show is showcasing one of Delaware's up-and-coming bands, My Name is Drew, and unfortunately knowledge about this achievement is little know to Delawareans. Thus, I decided to pen this article to reveal the band's big-break, and also describe their incredible, and short, journey to the top.
Ironically, no one in the titular band is actually named Drew. According to their MySpace.com bio, Zachary Schroeder and Rob Graves started playing together for fun and never really took themselves or their music too seriously. That is until one day, the day in most people's lives when they need a kick in the ass to ever make something of themselves, the bandmates started to realize that they had some serious talent and developed goals for themselves and their music. Shortly thereafter, Zach introduced Rob to his friend from school, Ethan Freeman, and it was decided that his sweet, sultry vocals would be a crucial edition to the band's identity. Lastly, Curtis Jackson joined the team with his hard-hitting guitar riffs, and all the puzzle pieces were put together. However, one thing that hindered the band from running the music scene was the lack of a band name. This was shortly solved, as the band recalls, when "Curtis' brother walked into the room and proudly announced, "My Name is Drew!". And there you have it.
However, the fascinating part about this band is not its formation or its name, but how quickly they rose to the top of the Delaware music scene. In only one year together, the band did more than most do in over 5-10 years in the business; they wrote, recorded, and released a full-length album all on their own! They also have fully established themselves on all music blogs/websites and are interacting in all areas of social media. When I did a Google search for the band, the whole first page was filled with videos and interactive sites for fans. Thus, the band is not only producing music for their fans, but also interacting with them to encourage public awareness and support, which is crucial in the "everyone has a say/ opinion" digital age. And according to the band's Twitter page, they are starting to get bigger gigs in surrounding cities such as Baltimore, and more notably in Philadelphia this Friday when they open for the indie -favorite Weezer!
That's right, tonight the band will get its biggest break thus far and open the Radio 104.5 4th Birthday Show for none other than legendary band, Weezer. According to the radio station, the competition for this crucial spot began several months ago when the station decided to let fans pick a local band to play the show. My Name is Drew uploaded one of their songs to the page and received enough votes to play the "battle of the bands" at the local bar, McFadden's, to decide the winner. To much surprise, it was announced early the next day, April 30th, that the Newark, Delaware natives would be playing their hearts out in front of a packed crowd at Festival Pier! This gig will be a great first step in increasing their band's recognition because not only is Weezer making a comeback, but previously separated band, Panic at the Disco, will be performing one of their first shows since reuniting!
All this great success and attention for a band who only started playing together for sh*ts?!!! Not only do their accomplishments amaze me, but the fact that no one has published a single article detailing their rise, until now, is even more astounding. Attention Delaware journalists!, I expect to hear rave reviews about My Name is Drew's performance tonight after their show!
Comments