Drewboy
Musician, entrepreneur, philanthropist – these are just some of the hats that Drew Bauer wears in his everyday life. More commonly known as Drewboy from his band Drewboy and the Sax Addicts, he’s just summed up a successful year of touring, supporting well known artists like Pete Murray, Shannon Noll, Peking Duck and British India, and received rave reviews from The Grass is Greener music festival.
Most people would be tempted to have a holiday after such a huge year, but not Drew. After winning the 2017 CHCCAG Volunteer of the Year, he’s about to launch his own suicide prevention charity KICK ON, aimed at building peer-to-peer support networks for high risk groups including FIFO workers and Indigenous youth. We took five minutes from Drew’s hectic schedule to talk charity, Manhunt model comps, new music and his plans for 2018.
How did Drewboy and the Sax Addicts come about?
I have always written my own songs since my school days, but it wasn’t until I quit my FIFO job as a high voltage electrician to become a professional musician that I started to put the band together. I met Matty (our first sax player) at a party, I was blown away by his sax skills and we just clicked. Then we added Gus (former long-haired Gold Coast rock god), we pulled him out of his drumming retirement before deciding the band really needed something nice to look at, so we added the lovely Tanya on bass to top it all off.
In October last year you performed at The Grass is Greener in Cairns and Mackay – what was your favourite part of the festival?
Ah, yes there was a bit of an incident with Peking Duck and a Grey Goose bottle actually… but I won’t say any more about that! Everybody we met was amazing and it was really cool to hang with musicians from all over. Our favourite part was definitely our time on stage and the new show we put together specifically for the festival crowds!
If you could perform anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Wow, that’s a hard one. Can I say all the major festivals everywhere in the world? Townsville’s Groovin The Moo is next on my list to play at; I am hoping we can make that happen this year with our busy schedule. So Townsville, get in the promoter’s ear!
What’s your favourite song produced by the band so far?
I like the heavier, entrancing sound of Fingers on the crown off our album Growing Down.
King Social recently listed Drewboy and the Sax Addicts as a band to watch out for in 2018 – what are your plans?
We have a massive year ahead. I’m recording some very cool EDM (Electronic Dance Music) stuff with Brisbane producer Stuart Stuart in the next few weeks, then going down to Byron to record with Jeff Martin as a band in March. Drewboy and the Sax Addicts will pull back a little and just play the bigger shows and focus on putting on an amazing show.
Tell us about your charity KICK ON.
KICK ON is a Suicide Prevention Charity supported by a clothing label that’s focused on building peer-to-peer support networks for high risk groups including FIFO workers and Indigenous youth, and reconnecting the community by providing the tools and inspiration needed to support their peers during tough times. It’s about encouraging people to reconnect on the ground level and support each other by linking existing services to create a chain reaction in the community and eventually across Australia.
There are already major unique projects ready to roll out throughout Cairns and the rest of Australia, and we will be starting a multitiered marketing campaign on television, radio and social media shortly.
