Drax Project is a New Zealand pop and R&B band that formed in

Te Aro Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in 2014. Recording a mix of jazz, R&B and pop music, the band came to prominence in 2017 with the single "

Woke Up Late "Woke Up Late" is a song by New Zealand band Drax Project, originally released in November 2017. It reached number 15 on the New Zealand Singles Chart and was included on their 2018 EP '' Noon''. Background In September 2019, Drax Project re-re ...

", which was certified triple platinum by

RIANZ Recorded Music NZ (formerly the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)) is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell recorded music in New Zealand. Membership of Recorded Mus ...

while the 2019 version featuring

Hailee Steinfeld Hailee Steinfeld (born December 11, 1996) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Hailee Steinfeld, various accolades, including a Peabody Award, and nominations for an Academy Award ...

was certified triple platinum in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Background

Most of Drax Project's members went to school together in

Porirua Porirua, ( mi, Pari-ā-Rua) a city in the Wellington Region of the North Island of New Zealand, is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. The name 'Porirua' is a corruption of 'Pari-rua', meaning "the tide swee ...

and began as

buskers Street performance or busking is the act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are generally in the form of money but other gratuities such as food, drink or gifts may be given. Street performance is pra ...

in Central Wellington in 2013, composed of Shaan Singh on saxophone and Matt Beachen on drums (the origin of the band's name is a portmanteau of 'drums' and 'sax'). Drax Project mostly performed pop song covers while busking at

Courtenay Place, Wellington Courtenay Place is the main street of the Courtenay Quarter in the Wellington inner-city district of Te Aro. Courtenay Place is known for its entertainment and nightlife. Many restaurants are open late and most of the bars stay open until dawn. ...

and performing at local bars and events.

Double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

ist Sam Thomson joined shortly after, and guitarist Ben O'Leary joined the band a year after, when the band made the switch to creating original material. All members were jazz students at the

New Zealand School of Music The New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī, at Victoria University of Wellington (NZSM), is located in Wellington, New Zealand. NZSM provides a tertiary teaching faculty with programmes in Classical Performance, Jazz Performance, Music Studies, C ...

, except for O'Leary who studied music at

Whitireia New Zealand Whitireia New Zealand, previously called Whitireia Community Polytechnic and Parumoana Community College (Māori: Te Kura Matatini o Whitireia), is a government-owned and funded tertiary education institute in New Zealand. It was established ...

. In August 2014, the band released their first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

. A friend of O'Leary's produced the extended play as a part of his final year assignment for music school. The exposure from the extended play allowed Drax Project to be booked for summer festivals in 2014–2015. In 2016, the group released their second extended play, ''T/W/OO'', through

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

. It was produced by founding

Shapeshifter In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

member Devin Abrams. The extended play's first single "Cold" was successful on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, reaching #1 on their viral chart and being streamed over 160,000 times in three months. In 2017, Drax Project opened for

Lorde Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (born 7 November 1996), known professionally as Lorde ( ), is a New Zealand singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from aristocracy for her stage name, she is known for her unconventional musical styles and i ...

's Auckland concert of her

Melodrama World Tour The Melodrama World Tour was the second concert tour by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, undertaken in support of her second studio album, ''Melodrama'' (2017). Lorde headlined several music festivals before commencing the tour, and went on ...

in November 2017, as well as New Zealand band

Six60 Six60 are a New Zealand pop rock band formed in Dunedin, Otago in 2008. The band consists of Matiu Walters (lead vocals, guitar), Ji Fraser (lead guitar), Chris Mac (bass guitar), Marlon Gerbes (synthesiser), Hoani Matenga (bass guitar) and E ...

. In November 2017, the band released the song "

". It gained popularity over the next few months on

and was widely played on New Zealand radio stations. In March, Drax Project opened for

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

's three Auckland performances of his

÷ Tour The ÷ Tour (pronounced "Divide Tour") was the third world concert tour by English singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran, in support of his third studio album, '' ÷'' (2017) (pronounced "divide"). Comprising 260 shows, it officially began on 16 March ...

in March 2018 (currently the largest-scale concert held in New Zealand as of 2018). By April, "Woke Up Late" had been certified Platinum by the

. In March, the band were featured on "Light", the third single from U.S. rapper

Famous Dex Dexter Tiewon Gore Jr. (born September 6, 1993), better known by his stage name Famous Dex, is an American rapper and singer. His 2018 debut album ''Dex Meets Dexter'' peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' 200, while its singles " Pick It Up ...

's 2018 album ''

Dex Meets Dexter ''Dex Meets Dexter'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Famous Dex. It was released on April 6, 2018, by 300 Entertainment and Rich Forever Music. The album features guest appearances from Diplo, ASAP Rocky, Wiz Khalifa, and Drax Proj ...

''. In June 2018, the group opened for the European leg of Camila Cabello's Never Be the Same Tour. In January 2019, a new version of "Woke Up Late" was released, featuring American singer

. In June 2019, they released the single " All This Time". The group opened for

Christina Aguilera Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...

during her 2019 European concert tour. In September 2019, the group released the single " Catching Feelings" with

. Their debut, self-titled studio album was released on 27 September 2019. They released the single "

Firefly The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

" featuring

Fetty Wap Willie Junior Maxwell II (born June 7, 1991), better known by his stage names Fetty Wap or Harlem Fetty, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. He rose to prominence after his debut single "Trap Queen" reached number two on the U.S. ''B ...

and AACACIA in October 2020.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Other charted songs

Tours

;Supporting *

(for Lorde) (2017) *

(for Ed Sheeran) (2018) *Never Be the Same Tour (for Camila Cabello) (2018) * The X Tour (for Christina Aguilera) (2019)

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Musical groups established in 2013 Musical groups from Wellington New Zealand pop music groups New Zealand contemporary R&B musical groups 2013 establishments in New Zealand Māori-language singers