Cameron Lew

**Cameron Lew** [pronounced Cam-ren] is an Asian-American independent artist who indulges in things such as editing, audio engineering, graphic designing, singing and song writing. His music commonly persists of a genre he calls "*Aggressive Elevator Soul*" which he uploads under the alias *Ginger Root* also citing inspiration as coming from groups such as Vulfpeck, Toro y Moi, White Denim, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and Feist*.* In the studio, Ginger Root consists of only Lew. On tour, Ginger Root currently includes Lew and his high school friends.

## Childhood and Early life (1996/1997-2014)

**Cameron Lew** was born on November 26th, 1995 and raised in Southern California along with his sister by his parents and grandparents. He always had a passion for music and stop motion.

## Start of Career

### Van Stock, Spotlight People and Toaster\_music (2015-2017)

Lew formed the Huntington Beach-based band Van Stock in 2015. They released a cover of Vulfpeck's "Christmas in L.A." on Christmas 2015 and an EP called "Purple Line" on July 2016, all on the band's bandcamp. Around that time, he wrote few songs that didn't fit the band's sound and he decided to make an EP out of them. The EP turned into an LP called "Spotlight People" and was teased with a music video of Brooklyn, a song off the album on December 25th, 2016, on his YouTube channel. The album release 6 days later on his bandcamp and other streaming services. In 2017, Ginger Root started a weekly series on his YouTube channel called Toaster\_music where he performs covers in The Toaster, his 2004 Honda Element. He released a compilation of the covers on his streaming services.

### Mahjong Room, Toaster\_music\_v2 and more (2017-2019)

On October 8, 2017, Ginger Root released Two Step, a single off an upcoming project. A month later, a music video for Two Step was released. More singles, Call It Home, Jeanie and Having Fun, were released with two music videos and a lyric video respectively. The album, Mahjong Room, was released with a music video of the title track and Ohio. He created a second season of Toaster\_music called Toaster\_music\_v2 and created a compilation of v2's covers exclusive to bandcamp. He released two singles, Weather and Slump on June 5th, 2019 with a music video for Weather. Later that year, he released another single called B4 which is the first out of two songs to have their music videos not uploaded on Cameron's channel, the other being Pi.

### Rikki (2020)

Ginger Root released the single Karaoke on March, 2020 for an upcoming album planned to release on June 2020. He released three more singles, Out of State, Le château and Why Try. The album's release was postponed to October, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The album, Rikki, was released on October 23, 2020, along with the compilation for Toaster\_music\_v3. On October 31, Ginger Root created the first annual Spooky Ginger Root Full Band Special Commemorative Online Album Release Show, an online concert with Cameron, Dylan Hovis and Matthew Carey.

### City Slicker and Nisemono (2021-present)

Ginger Root released a single called Neighbor in 2021 for another shorter project. He then released a single called Loretta, which gave him a cult-following fanbase. He released the final single, Juban District, in July 2021. A month later, an EP called City Slicker was released on August 21, 2021. The music videos of Fly Too, City Slicker and Entertainment were uploaded on Lew's channel. On October 2021, Ginger Root streamed the Second Annual Spooky Ginger Root Full Band Special Commemorative Online Album Release Show. 2022, Lew uploaded two fake VHS rips on his YouTube channel about Root's collaboration with fictional singer, Kimiko Takeguchi. Ginger Root released a single called Loneliness that same year. He released two more singles, Holy Hell and Over the Hill, both of which continues from Loneliness' story. On October, He streamed the the Third Annual Spooky Ginger Root Full Band Special Commemorative Online Album Release Show, the first one to be in front of a live audience. He releases the EP, Nisemono, on September 9, 2022. In 2023, he released the music video for Nisemono in 2023.

## Discography

### Albums

 *Spotlight People* | **Released:** January 1, 2017
 *Rikki* | **Released:** October 23, 2020
**Label:** Acrophase Records

### Live Albums

**Released:** February 23, 2019
**Label:** Acrophase Records

### EPs

 *Toaster\_music* | **Released:** May 8, 2017
 *Toaster\_music\_v2* | **Released:** June 29, 2018
 *Weather / Slump* | **Released:** June 5, 2019
 *Fresh Sounds of Ginger Root vol. 1* | **Released:** December 21, 2019
 *Toaster\_music\_v3* | **Released:** May 22, 2020
 *The Spooky Ginger Root Full Band Special Commeorative Online Album Release Show* | **Released:** October 3, 2020
 *City Slicker* | **Released:** August 20, 2021
 *Nisemono* | **Released:** September 9, 2022
**Label:** Acrophase Records