Drax Project

Background

The members of Drax Project each grew up in different New Zealand towns: Shaan in Kapiti, Matt in Upper Hutt, Sam in New Plymouth, and Ben from Waihi Beach. Matt and Shaan met as young teens at a jazz programme for young musicians in Wellington and later played together and separately in high school jazz competitions around New Zealand. During their first year at The New Zealand School Of Music's jazz programme, Matt and Shaan began busking together.

Sam, also attending the same university music school, and Ben, studying at Whitirea University's music programme near Wellington, subsequently joined. The band name Drax Project is a portmanteau of 'drums' and 'sax', reflecting the instruments of Shaan Singh (saxophone) and Matt Beachen (drums). Initially, Drax Project performed pop song covers while busking at Courtenay Place, Wellington, and at local bars and events. Double bassist Sam Thomson joined shortly after the band's formation, and guitarist Ben O'Leary joined a year later, at which point the band began creating original material.

All members were jazz students at the New Zealand School of Music except O'Leary, who studied music at Whitireia New Zealand. In August 2014, the band released their first extended play on Bandcamp; it was produced by a friend of O'Leary's as part of his final year assignment for music school. The exposure from that EP led to bookings for summer festivals in 2014–2015. In 2016, Drax Project released their second extended play, T/W/OO, through Universal, produced by founding Shapeshifter member Devin Abrams.

The EP's first single "Cold" reached number one on Spotify's viral chart and was streamed over 160,000 times in three months. In 2017, the band opened for Lorde's Auckland concert of her Melodrama World Tour in November 2017, as well as for New Zealand band Six60. In November 2017, they released "Woke Up Late", which gained popularity on Spotify and received heavy radio play in New Zealand. In March 2018, Drax Project opened for Ed Sheeran's three Auckland performances of his ÷ Tour, then the largest-scale concert held in New Zealand as of 2018.

By April, "Woke Up Late" had been certified platinum by RIANZ. In March, the band appeared on "Light", the third single from U.S. rapper Famous Dex's 2018 album Dex Meets Dexter. In June 2018, they opened for the European leg of Camila Cabello's Never Be the Same Tour.

Did You Know?

• The single "Cold" from their 2016 EP T/W/OO reached #1 on Spotify's viral chart and was streamed over 160,000 times in three months.
• The band's debut self-titled studio album was released on 27 September 2019.