As is evident with countless seasoned musicians, time can often reshape a copycat amateur into an artist. After weaving in and out of bands for over a decade, Drew Grow’s three-year-old solo project has proven his sound, style and approach are fully cooked.
“I’ve played music for a long time. I’ve tried on a lot of hats,” Grow said. “I was trolling around to try to figure out what kind of music I could play. I don’t think it really came home until I started working on this stuff. I’m 35 years old, and I finally figured out who I am.”
A fusion project as moody and interesting as the city it soundtracks, Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives took shape after Grow relocated to Portland from Seattle. He was taken with the “anything goes” mentality of the city, and with that signature affinity for all things imaginative.
“It has a great creative spark,” Grow said. “It doesn’t have the oppressive, cool-club factor where you feel like you have to participate in a particular scene to be acknowledged. People here are doing so much crazy art. It’s better for that. The town has this humility to it.”
Even with Portland’s nurturing community and indie mentality, it can be difficult for newcomers to truly stand on their own two feet. With countless bands’ images and sounds seeping into your subconscious, any weakness of self-identity can be quickly replaced by pressure to conform. Difference is accidentally seen as the enemy, isolating those who know they have something new to offer, but aren’t yet ready to set it free.
“When you’re young, and you don’t have any identity, you’re just so pressured to be a certain thing,” Grow said. “I definitely felt that coming up. I’ve just never been cool. I couldn’t be cool. I felt like I was on the outside the whole time.”
Finally, after years of playing a wide variety of music, Grow felt his priorities shift. He focused on putting together a familial roster, rather than a checklist of instrumental needs.
“In the past [bands] have often been formed around the musicians and instruments we wanted to play with. This time around we connect so much as people first. It really has helped. You can’t miss that onstage. If [musicians] connect so much that the songs they’re playing are not just the story of the songwriter—it’s the story of everybody—then everyone feels that extra push.”
The band structure is not the only thing that has changed to reflect a personal growth. The actual process of songwriting has reshaped as well, allowing Grow to express a piece of himself lost in the formulaic approaches of his past.
“It’s therapy. It’s taking time to really consider where I am and where I’m going. I think I used to write a lot more intellectually from the perspective of having something to write about. Now I do a lot more letting my subconscious talk and figure out what it’s about later.”
Grow has gained an appreciation for the impact the arts has on those who create it. The upcoming show will benefit a local organization, p:ear, which works to bring creative mentorship to homeless youth.
Drew Grow and the Pastors’ Wives most recent album, Next Lips, is the musical representation of a man in touch with his own sense of self. It is sophisticated, dense and complex, yet entirely comfortable, with a confidence that draws you in. Each song has its own personality for listeners to interact with. Healthy doses of haunting lyrics and melodies are threaded with optimism, giving it a subtle, emotional feel as eclectic as the stream of consciousness it stems from. Infused with poignancy and sharp-edged vocals, Grow’s grown-up sound swallows you whole.