Drax Project are a New Zealand pop and R&B band that formed in Te Aro, Wellington 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", which was certified triple platinum by RIANZ while the 2019 version featuring Hailee Steinfeld was certified triple platinum in Australia.
Background
Drax Project's members are all originally from different towns in New Zealand; Shaan grew up in Kapiti, Matt in Upper Hutt, Sam in New Plymouth and Ben from Waihi Beach. Matt and Shaan met at a young musician's jazz programme in Wellington as young teens and played separately and together in High School jazz competitions around New Zealand as teens. Matt and Shaan started busking together in their first year of attending University at The New Zealand School Of Music's jazz programme. Sam and Ben joined as Sam also attended the same University school of music and Ben at Whitirea University's music programme not far from Wellington. Drax Project; 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').[2][3] Drax Project mostly performed pop song covers while busking at Courtenay Place, Wellington and performing at local bars and events.[4][5]Double bassist 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.[2][5] All members were jazz students at the New Zealand School of Music, except for O'Leary who studied music at Whitireia New Zealand.[4][5]
In August 2014, the band released their first extended play to Bandcamp.[6] A friend of O'Leary's produced the extended play as a part of his final year assignment for music school.[4] The exposure from the extended play allowed Drax Project to be booked for summer festivals in 2014–2015.[4] In 2016, the group released their second extended play, T/W/OO, through Universal.[3] It was produced by founding Shapeshifter member Devin Abrams.[4] The extended play's first single "Cold" was successful on Spotify, reaching #1 on their viral chart and being streamed over 160,000 times in three months.[3] In 2017, Drax Project opened for Lorde's Auckland concert of her Melodrama World Tour in November 2017,[7] as well as New Zealand band Six60.[8]
In November 2017, the band released the song "Woke Up Late". It gained popularity over the next few months on Spotify and was widely played on New Zealand radio stations.[9] In March, Drax Project opened for Ed Sheeran's three Auckland performances of his ÷ Tour in March 2018 (currently the largest-scale concert held in New Zealand as of 2018).[10][11] By April, "Woke Up Late" had been certified Platinum by the RIANZ.[9] In March, the band were featured on "Light", the third single from U.S. rapper Famous Dex's 2018 album Dex Meets Dexter.[12] In June 2018, the group opened for the European leg of Camila Cabello's Never Be the Same Tour.[13]
^"Latch" (live), a cover of the Disclosure song of the same name featuring Sam Smith, did not enter the NZ Top 40 Singles Chart, but peaked at number 5 on the NZ Artists Heatseeker Singles Chart.[30]
^ abPeak positions for Drax Project's singles on the NZ Artist singles chart:
For "Cold", "Falling Out of Sight", "Woke Up Late", "Cry Me a River / Higher Ground (Live)", "Pony (Live)": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 2 April 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
For "Only Us": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 18 June 2018. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
For "Toto": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 19 October 2018. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
For "Prefer": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 3 May 2019. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
For "All This Time": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 21 June 2019. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
For "Catching Feelings", "I Moeroa / Woke Up Late": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 14 September 2019. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 14 September 2019.
For "Smart Love": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 5 October 2019. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
For "Relax": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 11 April 2020. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
For "Firefly": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 21 November 2020. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
For "Over It": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 27 March 2021. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
For "Ka Taria": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 10 September 2022. Archived from the original on 9 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
For "Atmosphere": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 8 May 2023. Archived from the original on 5 May 2023. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
For "Disrespect": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
For "Oh My": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 30 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
For "Luxury": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 4 December 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
For "Prefer": "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 25 March 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
For "I Moeroa / Woke Up Late": "NZ Hot Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 14 September 2019. Archived from the original on 24 September 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
For "Smart Love", "Relax", "Natural Selection", "Brain": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 5 October 2019. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
For "Hollywood": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 25 July 2022. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
For "In and Out": "NZ Singles Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 19 December 2022. Archived from the original on 16 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.