Meet Austin Lawrence of Lawttery in South Phoenix

Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Lawrence.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Austin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I began my musical journey at the age of 16, when I got my first guitar and fell head over heels for the world of music. I practiced and learned song after song and was in and out of several bands for years throughout my twenties and into my early thirties. I eventually would take a two-year hiatus from music altogether, only to have a light turn back on inside and a musical fire burn hotter than ever before. I dug out my guitar, amp and all the old gear left behind and started getting the rust off learning all the old songs I had written.

I then knew it was time to get a fresh, new band together. I wanted to learn from past mistakes and put together a band that I knew would go all the way to the top and have the right people and energies present to make it successful. The first two members to join Lawttery were drummer Angel Salazar and Vocalist Rey Santana. Angel brought many years of metal drumming experience to the table and right away enhanced every song with his speed and the pure aggression in his drumming and playing. Rey brought a brutally heavy vocal attack that furthered the heaviness of the band even further and added a new dynamic to the vocal mix.

Bassist Jake Holiday, a member from a former band, joined next, already having a head start from learning the material in a previous band. He brought a classic rock and blues feel to the band’s rock attack and made it that much heavier overall. Three months later, guitarist Rob Quarters joined the band, bringing amazing energy for stage presence and live performance, along with a metal style that truly complimented the group as a whole. Jake Holiday would leave the band a year later, just before the filming of the band’s 2nd music video, CrossFire.

During the filming of CrossFire, one of the scenes was to be filmed at a local bar in Casa Grande, the Airport Tavern. It was a very fateful night as that night, soon to be new Bassist and Acoustic singer Justin Schmidt happened to enter the bar, walking in on the band filming one of its bar scenes from the video. He immediately became friends with the band and a great friendship was made, one that would eventually lead to him becoming the final piece of the puzzle that has surged Lawttery forward to where it is today, ready to complete and release its newest music video, Hollow Man!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road Lawttery has taken been a truly blessed and amazing one, but one that has not been shy of challenges, obstacles and struggles along the way. One of the first challenges that shook up the band and created adversity was the loss of its initial Bass player, Jake Holiday. Jake amicably parted ways with the band in December of 2019, only weeks before the filming of the CrossFire music video was scheduled. Along with losing Holiday, the band also lost its practice room, leaving it without a place to practice and to work on new material. The challenges initially were difficult on the band, but after coming together to make a plan, all five members buckled down and pooled together resources to get up enough money to then rent out their first very own practice room. This allowed new members, bassist Justin Schmidt, to get fully up to speed by practicing consistently with the band and getting to gel and develop a strong bond and friendship with each member.

In February, the band got together to film its next release, its single “Hollow Man”. As the band prepared to wrap up and release its newest video, it then encountered its biggest and most current challenge yet, the Corona Virus and its major spread through the United States. The virus has caused all bands to have to change its way of thinking and ways of promotion and has changed the essence of being in a band altogether. One of the ways Lawttery has worked to overcome the challenges of the Coronavirus is to stay productive and communicate constantly over Facebook and talking individually to stay productive and keep ideas coming while the world battles the horrible pandemic. The band has taken the downtime to polish up any remaining material and create lots of new ideas to prepare to reenter the music scene once the dust settles on the new age that will be after the Coronavirus.

Lawttery – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Lawttery is a hard rock/metal band that produces head-splitting heavy music designed to get every fan in the crowd out of their seat and flying across the concert floor! Lawttery is known for its combination of aggressive drums, wild guitar leads and catchy choruses/vocal harmonies. The thing that sets Lawttery apart is its unique sound and blend of metal guitars, death metal drums and brutal vocals. Lawttery is also very involved with all of its fans and aims to reach the masses and provide great and consistent music and content for the fans to always be able to rely upon. One of the things Lawttery is most proud of is the fact that it’s made it in the Casa Grande Dispatch Newspaper 5 different times overall since it first became an official band. It hopes to make it in many magazines and newspapers in time and one of its biggest goals is to perform an original song on Saturday Night Live for all the world to see!

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
This is definitely a tough question, as there were luckily lots of great memories from it that could take the favorite spot overall. The one that might truly take the cake though would have to be seeing the first Jurassic Park in theaters during the first week that it came out! The hype was huge and everyone was talking about it, and when I got word that a movie ticket was purchased and I would be seeing it, I jumped for joy and couldn’t wait to see it. The movie turned out to be just as good as I hoped for and is still one of my favorites to this day.

Pricing:

• Lawttery T-Shirts: $15
• Lawttery Bumper Stickers: $3
• Lawttery “CrossFire” Song Download: $0.99

Contact Info:

• Website: www.facebook.com/lawtterymusic
• Email: Lawtteryproductions@gmail.com
• Instagram: lawtterymusic
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/lawtterymusic
• Twitter: @lawttery
• Other: https://www.reverbnation.com/lawttery

Image Credit:
Dan Miller and Michael Salazar

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