Madeline Lew & Lewnatic – Artist Biography

Madeline Lew & Lewnatic is the long-running creative universe of Patrick Lew Hayashi, a San Francisco-born musician, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and digital artist whose work spans garage-band beginnings, internet-based rock projects, virtual identities, and deeply personal reinvention.

Born in November 1985 in San Francisco, California, Patrick Lew Hayashi was raised in a multicultural Asian-American household by his Chinese father, Winson, and Sino-Japanese mother, Winnie. His upbringing balanced traditional family values with the realities of modern urban life in San Francisco. One of the defining moments of his childhood was the death of his grandfather when Patrick was four years old, a loss that deeply shaped his emotional world and later creative expression.

Throughout his school years, Patrick often struggled socially, experiencing alienation, rejection, and difficulty forming relationships. These experiences were compounded by an undiagnosed disability and autism spectrum condition that would not be identified until his 30s. To cope, he immersed himself in rock music, video games, television, and 1990s cable culture, especially MTV and Nickelodeon. Family trips to destinations such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Canada, Hawaii, and Hong Kong broadened his perspective and became formative parts of his upbringing.

Patrick attended Raoul Wallenberg Traditional High School in San Francisco while also studying at Soko Gakuen Japanese School on Saturdays, strengthening his cultural connection to Japan. He later attended California State University, East Bay, studying philosophy and graduating in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, an education that influenced the introspective and analytical themes found throughout his music.

Patrick’s musical awakening came during the summer of 1999 when his cousin Andy stayed with the family while studying at City College of San Francisco. Watching Andy play spontaneous guitar riffs inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple on the family Fender guitar became the defining moment that transformed Patrick’s relationship with music. Though he briefly took formal lessons in Daly City, he largely taught himself through experimentation, guitar tabs, and online resources.

His influences ranged across grunge, classic rock, blues, hip-hop, rap, chiptune music, K-Pop, J-Rock, and Visual Kei, with artists such as Nirvana, X Japan, Pearl Jam, Miyavi, Hatsune Miku, Guns N’ Roses, Green Day, Gorillaz, Motley Crue, The Rolling Stones, BTS, and Rage Against The Machine shaping his evolving sound.

At age 15, Patrick formed his first band while attending Wallenberg High School, rehearsing in his family garage around 2001–2002. This became the beginning of the Patrick Lew Band (PLB), a project that remained active on and off from 2001 until July 2025, with Patrick as the sole constant member throughout its many lineup changes and creative eras.

The early lineup included Eddie Blackburn on lead guitar and Tommy Loi on drums, while drummer David Arceo later became one of the band’s longest-running contributors from 2006 through 2016. Across its lifespan, the Patrick Lew Band evolved through multiple creative phases shaped by Patrick’s restless experimentation and personal growth.

A major turning point came in 2015 during a difficult personal period involving heartbreak, social-media backlash, and emotional burnout. During this time, Patrick introduced his male-to-female cross-dressing alter ego, Madeline Lew, into the project’s narrative and performances. Though initially controversial, Madeline ultimately revitalized the Patrick Lew Band, transformed its public identity, and became one of the project’s most recognizable and distinctive elements.

Madeline later evolved into a virtual avatar and digital band member, coinciding with growing media attention and critical coverage during the late 2010s and early 2020s. Between 2018 and 2022, Patrick also performed lead guitar in the Silicon Valley-based post-rock band Crazy Loser in a Box alongside then-partner Madoku Raye, who occasionally contributed vocals to the Patrick Lew Band.

In 2017, Patrick experienced another major personal loss with the passing of his mother. The tragedy led him to place the Patrick Lew Band on hold for nearly three years while working full-time at Pier 39 in San Francisco and continuing to perform with local Bay Area bands.

Seeking a creative reset, Patrick co-founded Lewnatic with friend Ahmed in July 2019. The project quickly gained momentum through monthly performances at DNA Lounge in San Francisco and appearances in Japan later that year. The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted those plans but also pushed Patrick toward a new creative direction. By mid-2020, the Patrick Lew Band returned with Madeline fully integrated into the project, ushering in a period of increased validation, press attention, and creative stability.

In 2022, Patrick officially redefined Lewnatic as a touring, live-streaming, and digital offshoot connected to—but separate from—the Patrick Lew Band. On July 17, 2022, he signed with Bentley Records after joining the label’s roster.

Under the Lewnatic name, Patrick embraced life as a bedroom producer, guitarist, livestreamer, and online content creator. He consciously distanced himself from the traditional touring-band model, choosing instead to create independently and privately in a way that better reflected his introverted personality and desire for autonomy.

Lewnatic releases include the albums:

• Starrcade (2024)
• Persona//Overflow (2025)
• My World, My Rules (2026)

EP releases include:

• Rapid Fire (2022)
• Get Your Mood On Right (2023)
• The Lost Souls (2023)
• I Feel Like Playing! (2025)
• Defy All Odds (2025)
• Overture (2025)
• Fate is In Our Hands (2026)

In 2023, the Patrick Lew Band was inducted into the Akademia Music Awards Hall of Fame, a milestone that brought Patrick a sense of closure and personal fulfilment.

Outside of music, Patrick is deeply immersed in gaming culture, anime, professional wrestling, sports, and nostalgic television programming. He collects gaming consoles and computer hardware and spends much of his personal time building a home-theater setup around his Xbox Series S and 4K television. He is also passionate about Asian-American and Japanese culture, music magazines, live events, and food, with favorites including sushi, Korean BBQ, Mexican food, and pizza.

Patrick’s relationship with Amanda Lew (Manda Kay) ended in annulment on June 27, 2025, bringing an end to their joint creative projects and YouTube collaborations. He is currently dating Karina, a former Christian rock musician born in New York in 1979.

With more than two decades of continuous artistic output, Patrick Lew Hayashi has built a career rooted in persistence, vulnerability, and self-determination. Through Madeline Lew, Lewnatic, and the Patrick Lew Band, he continues to represent a uniquely modern form of independent artistry shaped by reinvention, digital creativity, and personal survival.

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