IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Drax Project

Ever wondered what the “Drax Project” pizza would feature? Similar to their sound, it would be an eclectic mix of flavors (find out towards the end!). Drax Project is currently a 4-piece formed and based in Wellington, New Zealand that showcases the musical talents and charisma of Shaan Singh (lead vocals, saxophone, keyboard), Matt Beachen (drums, vocals), Ben O’Leary (guitar, vocals), and Sam Thomson (bass, vocals). Their beginnings rewind back to the streets of Wellington in 2013, when Shaan and Matt were busking—performing covers and gaining the attention of maybe 1 or 2 listeners to sparking an impromptu party on the street. Shortly after, they added Sam and then Ben, and continued to create covers, which gradually led to writing and releasing their own tunes. In November 2017, they landed the spot to open for Lorde in Auckland, followed by opening for Ed Sheeran at all 3 of his Auckland shows in March of this year. This summer, they traveled all over Europe supporting Camila Cabello, in addition to sharing their sound in the U.S. with various artists, including Castlecomer. They have released 3 EPs; the most recently released, Noon, features their catchy and addicting song, “Woke Up Late”, which has racked up more than 11 million streams on Spotify. Aside from opening for artists in arenas, they have performed at festivals in New Zealand, such as Auckland City Limits and New Zealand Festival.

They recently wrapped up a run on the East Coast promoting their sound and newest EP at Fashion Week events and also, radio stations. Pausing from their busy schedule, they kindly shared some time to discuss what happens seconds before they take the stage, their favorite superheroes, and mentioned above, what toppings the “Drax Project” pizza would feature.

What’s the story behind the formation of Drax Project?

SHAAN: The formation of Drax Project was in the summer just before we started our second year of university in New Zealand. Matt and I decided to go busking (I played the saxophone and Matt played the drums), and people started taking videos of us and putting them online on Youtube and Facebook. We needed a name, so we called ourselves Drax because that’s “drums” and “sax”. A couple of months later, Sam started playing bass with us, and we started busking for another 6 months and playing in more bars. A year after the busking thing, Ben joined on guitar, and we started writing original music, played a lot of gigs around New Zealand for 2 or 3 years, released a couple of EPs, and then opened for various international acts.

SAM: We all kind of met through music school or friends who were playing music. The music scene in Wellington is really small.

What was the first instrument (musical or non-musical) you started making music with?

BEN: I had piano lessons from a nun when I was 8, and absolutely hated it. My dad was like, “When you’re a bit older, you’ll probably want to do music.” He just thought it might happen randomly. Someone told him piano is the best instrument to start out on, so he was like, “I’ll get you lessons from this nun.” I was like, “Nah, music’s dumb.” until I was 11 when I started playing guitar.

SAM: When I was 2, I started doing this music for babies course thing with my mum’s friend. When I was 6 years old, I asked my mum’s friend who was a piano teacher to teach me. I learned piano until I was about 12, I was then listening to grunge and metal, and I wanted to play that. I started playing bass, but I still play little bits of piano.

MATT: I started off with the early childhood pots and pans as a baby, but I was always tapping away and hitting stuff until I got actual drum lessons when I was about 11.

SHAAN: I got percussion lessons but not like proper lessons when I was 8, and then I did a term of classical guitar; all we did was play classical etudes. My teacher didn’t teach us chords, so that was really bad and I hated it, and then 3 years later, I wanted to learn trumpet. That’s when I started reading music and then I thought the saxophone was way cooler, so my brother and I went busking to pay for saxophone lessons. I learned saxophone after that!

Which song (released or unreleased) are you most proud of?

BEN: Probably “Woke Up Late”. That’s the song and reason why we’re over here in America now. That song did quite well in New Zealand, and it was the first song of ours to do well on radio in New Zealand. We got heaps of new followers when that song came out. We owe a lot to that song. We’re proud of what that song has done for us and what it has enabled us to do.

SAM: I think we’re definitely proud of some of the stuff we’ve written that hasn’t come out yet as well. I think that we all feel like we’re all getting way better at writing as we go; each song seems to come out better.

SHAAN: I feel like it’s steadily getting better, and I actually can’t wait to get to a point when we can just keep pumping out good songs. I feel like “Woke Up Late” was the first actual song we made. We’ve definitely got a lot more where that came from. We’ve released a bunch of new music in New Zealand before, but that was the first song, like Ben said, that did well on radio, and got us attention outside. It got us an opening slot for Ed Sheeran in New Zealand, which opened up many doors. We’ve got multiple full-length records of songs, but we’re pushing the EP that came out in July called Noon.

You released an EP, Noon, on June 8, 2018. What was the process of writing, recording, and producing it?

SAM: We worked on a bunch of the songs for quite a long time; we were actually originally planning to release a longer record, but then, things developed with “Woke Up Late”. We released that as a single while we were still working on other tracks at that point, and then 300 got in touch with us. We decided we needed to release some more music before we headed over to Europe to support Camila Cabello on tour. We made the decision a week or two weeks before we were supposed to leave, and the songs were finished (the production was about 50-70% done), so it was a race to the finish line. I wouldn’t say quality suffered in any way because of that. It was just positive pressure.

While on the road, what are some of your essential tour items?

SAM: 2 table tennis paddles, a table tennis ball, and a table tennis net.

MATT: Crash Bandicoot, a PlayStation game.

SHAAN: That’s been a recent addition to tour. Ben’s got a laptop that we use to connect to any TV we can get a hold of, and play Crash Team Racing competitively.

BEN: Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C.

MATT: Headphones.

SHAAN: A neck pillow.

What happens before you go onstage? Is there a Drax Project pre-show ritual?

BEN: We call up our friend and sing a song with him, and the same song every time for the last 3 or 4 years. That’s our only ritual, and as soon as we finish singing the song, we hang up immediately and don’t let him say anything else.

MATT: No matter what time it is, he picks up. It could be 5 A.M.

SHAAN: There was one time when we didn’t do it, and it was a bad gig. From that point on, it became a must/you have to do it, or else it’s a bad gig. If he doesn’t answer, we leave a message.

What are your favorite restaurants and/or spots in NYC? Any places back home in Wellington?

BEN: NY Pizza Suprema opposite Penn Station. It’s so good. We’ve been making very frequent visits. We just went to a place on Sunday in Brooklyn that was really good. It was quite funny; the woman serving us was from New Zealand, and her mom actually lives in the town I went to school in, which is the smallest and tiniest town. It’s called LuAnne’s Wild Ginger and is a vegan restaurant, and they had the best dumplings I’ve ever had. There’s a food truck near our studio called The Nautilist.

SAM: I really like this place which is a 20-minute drive from Wellington City called Makara. It’s a kind of tiny little fishing town, and there’s a really cool cliff top walk you can do there that is really epic. It makes you feel really tiny. The number one spot curry spot is a place called Curry Heaven in Newtown. The vibes are through the roof at Curry Heaven. We booked the whole restaurant out once which isn’t hard to do because it’s quite small. When we were there, and they let us put our own music on. It was a genuine party and curry spot.

SHAAN: There’s a dope café restaurant on Cuba St, which is an iconic Wellington street. There’s this place called Midnight Espresso which is a frequent for everybody in Wellington to get snacks or coffee.

MATT: Mano’s, which is about 30 minutes north of Wellington City.

SAM: There’s this other Indian place called Bawachi Khana, and they have this deal and you get rice, curry, and naan. It’s this really weird vibe because no one else goes in there when we’re in there.

If there were a pizza with the name “Drax Project”, what toppings would it feature?

MATT: It’s difficult because there are specific things that a couple of us don’t like that others really love. Ben loves mushrooms.

SHAAN: Matt likes satay sauce on like anything, which is kind of weird. If we had a pizza, it would be quarters with different toppings.

BEN: We agree on lots of things, but food isn’t one of them.

SHAAN: I’ve recently tried to eat less dairy, so a quarter of it would be vegan cheese. A quarter of it would be just mushrooms, and a quarter of it would be satay chicken.

SAM: I like a good seafood pizza.

Who is your favorite superhero character, and why?

MATT: Batman.

SAM: Batman. Why is Batman my favorite? He’s a real man who can become a superhero, and it gives me hope for the future.

MATT: He is genuinely using his skills; he’s not like Superman who has this supernatural ability to burn things. Batman’s a hardworking man, and he’s out doing it with his cool gadgets.

BEN: I like Spider-Man.

SHAAN: Spider-Man! I was going to say Spider-Man!

SAM: Spider-Man’s nerdy.

SHAAN: Spider-Man is the most epic superhero.

BEN: Spider-Man’s just a genuine guy.

SAM: Okay, you get bitten by a spider, and suddenly you have superpowers?

SHAAN: Like millions of dollars is not genuine? Spider-Man’s the coolest superhero. He swings. Spider-Man is the newest Avengers movie is sick. He’s got like these Iron Man claws coming out of the back of his suit; it’s so epic.

What’s a question you have wanted to get asked in an interview, and what’s the response to it?

SHAAN: Who’s the best at Crash Bandicoot? Who’s the best at Crash Team Racing? Definitely me.

BEN: That’s a great question, but false answer.

MATT: The hierarchy is probably Shaan, Ben, me, Sam.

SAM: What?

SHAAN: Sam beat me last night, just saying.

SAM: I definitely beat Shaan more than Shaan beats me.

SHAAN: That’s incorrect. As you might be able to tell, there’s a bit of competition in the band. It’s healthy competition, though.

SAM: If you’re putting Shaan at the top, there’s a fact that I’ve beat him 3 times in the last 2 days.

A huge thank you to Spencer, Anna, and Lily at No Big Deal PR for coordinating, and to Drax Project for the time and thought to respond to the questions!

Be sure to check out their amazing sound, and follow them on Twitter (@DraxProject) and Instagram (@draxproject), and like them on Facebook (/DraxProject)!

Check out more live shots below!