# Drax Project

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'). Drax Project mostly performed pop song covers while busking at Courtenay Place, Wellington and performing at local bars and events. 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. All members were jazz students at the New Zealand School of Music, except for O'Leary who studied music at Whitireia New Zealand.
In August 2014, the band released their first extended play to 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. It was produced by founding Shapeshifter member Devin Abrams. 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. In 2017, Drax Project opened for Lorde's Auckland concert of her Melodrama World Tour in November 2017, as well as New Zealand band Six60.
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. 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). By April, "Woke Up Late" had been certified Platinum by the RIANZ. In March, the band were featured on "Light", the third single from U.S. rapper Famous Dex's 2018 album Dex Meets Dexter. 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 Hailee Steinfeld. In June 2019, they released the single "All This Time". The group opened for Christina Aguilera during her 2019 European concert tour. In September 2019, the group released the single "Catching Feelings" with Six60. Their debut, self-titled studio album was released on 27 September 2019. They released the single "Firefly" featuring Fetty Wap and AACACIA in October 2020.

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
| Title | Album details | NZ | Certifications |
| Drax Project | Released: 27 September 2019 Label: Drax Project, Universal Format: CD, digital download, streaming | 2 | RMNZ: 2× Platinum |
| Upside | Released: 24 November 2023 Label: Drax Project, Universal Format: LP, digital download, streaming | 33 | |

### Extended plays

| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications |
| Title | Album details | NZ | Certifications |
| Drax Project EP | Released: 3 August 2014 (2014-8-3) Label: Drax Project Limited Format: Digital download, streaming | — | |
| T/W/OO | Released: 1 April 2016 (2016-4-1) Label: Drax Project Limited, Universal Format: Digital download, streaming | 18 | |
| Covers (Live) | Released: 26 May 2017 (2017-5-26) Label: Drax Project Limited, Universal Format: Digital download, streaming | 40 | |
| Noon | Released: 8 June 2018 (2018-6-8) Label: Drax Project Limited, Universal Format: Digital download, streaming | 10 | RMNZ: Gold |
| Noon (Acoustic) | Released: 26 April 2019 (2019-4-26) Label: Drax Project Limited, Universal Format: Digital download, streaming | — | |
| Diamond | Released: 8 July 2022 (2022-7-8) Label: Drax Project Limited, Universal Format: Digital download, streaming | — | |
| Blind Beat | Released: 9 December 2022 (2022-12-9) Label: Drax Project Limited Format: Digital download, streaming | — | |
| "—" denotes an extended play that did not chart. ||||

### Singles
#### As lead artist

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album |
| Title | Year | NZ | NZ Artist | AUS | US Pop | Certifications | Album |
| "Cold" | 2016 | — | 15 | — | — | | T/W/OO |
| "Came to Me" | 2016 | — | — | — | — | | T/W/OO |
| "Falling Out of Sight" | 2016 | — | 14 | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "So Lost" | 2016 | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Woke Up Late" | 2017 | 15 | 1 | — | — | RMNZ: 6× Platinum | Noon |
| "Toto" | 2018 | — | 3 | — | — | RMNZ: 2× Platinum | Noon |
| "Woke Up Late" (featuring Hailee Steinfeld) | 2019 | 35 | 1 | 18 | 29 | ARIA: 5× Platinum | Drax Project |
| "All This Time" | 2019 | 21 | 1 | — | — | RMNZ: 2× Platinum | Drax Project |
| "Catching Feelings" (featuring Six60) | 2019 | 3 | 1 | 43 | — | RMNZ: 8× Platinum ARIA: 2× Platinum | Drax Project |
| "Relax" | 2020 | — | 14 | — | — | RMNZ: Gold | Drax Project |
| "Firefly" (Drax Project & Fetty Wap featuring Aacacia) | 2020 | 27 | 10 | — | — | RMNZ: Platinum | Non-album singles |
| "Tukituki Te Manawa" | 2020 | — | — | — | — | | Non-album singles |
| "Over It" | 2021 | — | 15 | — | — | RMNZ: Gold | Non-album singles |
| "Crazy" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | | Diamond |
| "Mad at You" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | | Diamond |
| "Fashion Sense" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | | Diamond |
| "Ka Taria" (Rob Ruha and Drax Project) | 2022 | — | 20 | — | — | | Non-album single |
| "Gameboy Color" | 2022 | — | — | — | — | | Blind Beat |
| "Atmosphere" | 2023 | — | 11 | — | — | | Upside |
| "Disrespect" (featuring Charley) | 2023 | — | 13 | — | — | | Upside |
| "Oh My" | 2023 | — | 20 | — | — | | Upside |
| "Luxury" | 2023 | — | 16 | — | — | | Upside |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. ||||||||

#### As featured artist

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | NZ Hot | NZ Artist Heat. | Album |
| "Light" (Famous Dex featuring Drax Project) | 2018 | — | 2 | Dex Meets Dexter |
| "Solace" (Imugi 이무기 featuring Drax Project) | 2022 | 20 | — | Non-album single |
| "Castaway" (Spencer Coyle featuring Drax Project) | 2023 | 38 | — | Non-album single |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. |||||

### Other charted songs

| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album |
| Title | Year | NZ Hot | NZ Artist | Certifications | Album |
| "Cry Me a River / Higher Ground" (live) | 2017 | — | 18 | | Covers (Live) |
| "Pony" (live) | 2017 | — | 19 | | Covers (Live) |
| "Latch" (live) | 2017 | — | — | | Covers (Live) |
| "Only Us" | 2018 | 38 | 10 | RMNZ: Platinum | Noon |
| "Prefer" | 2018 | 8 | 8 | RMNZ: Platinum | Noon |
| "Sidebit" | 2018 | — | — | | Noon |
| "I Moeroa / Woke Up Late" | 2019 | 9 | 6 | | Waiata / Anthems |
| "Smart Love" | 2019 | 3 | 6 | RMNZ: Gold | Drax Project |
| "Natural Selection" | 2019 | 10 | — | | Drax Project |
| "Brain" | 2019 | 5 | — | | Drax Project |
| "Hollywood" | 2022 | 4 | — | | Diamond |
| "In and Out" | 2022 | 24 | — | | Blind Beat |
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart. ||||||

## Tours
### Supporting

* Melodrama World Tour (for Lorde) (2017)
* ÷ Tour (for Ed Sheeran) (2018)
* Never Be the Same Tour (for Camila Cabello) (2018)
* The X Tour (for Christina Aguilera) (2019)
Notes
* The band opened for Lorde's Auckland, New Zealand show on 12 November.
* The band opened for Ed Sheeran's Auckland, New Zealand shows on 24–26 March.
* The band was the opening act for the European leg of the Never Be the Same Tour.
* The band opened for Christina Aguilera on select dates on Europe.