biography ::

Born in Springfield, Missouri, Drew Boles began classical piano study at the age of seven. Soon after moving to Tampa, Florida in 1993, Drew took up the acoustic guitar and began composing. He spent the following six years as a singer/songwriter/folksinger in pursuit of a recording and touring career; this pursuit culminated with his first album, Freak O’ Nature, which he co-produced and later released on his own record label, Scheisspie Records.

From 1998 - 2002, Drew attended Emory University in Atlanta, GA. There, he helped create the honors program in composition, and was the first student to graduate with Honors (summa cum laude) in Music Composition. At Emory, Drew studied theory, composition, electronic music, orchestration, conducting and counterpoint. He also performed with the Emory University Chorus, Emory Concert Choir and the Emory Javanese Gamelan Ensemble. Other performance credits include a piano master class with Ursula Oppens as well as a number of solo folk appearances at Dooley’s Den (where he opened for Atlanta favorite Michelle Malone), Eddie’s Attic, both Atlanta and Tampa Gay Pride Festivals, and the Tampa Gay & Lesbian Film Fest.

From 2003 - 2005, Drew attended the University of California, San Diego, where he completed his master's degree in music composition. There, he studied composition, electronic music, musical theatre, and critical theory (primarily post-colonial and gender studies). He also taught a variety of classes at the undergraduate level, and worked as an ArtsBridge scholar, teaching music in several public schools throughout the San Diego area where the arts have been sufifciently, if not entirely, stripped. As a member of Teknika Radica, Drew helped organize the Powering Up, Powering Down festival at UCSD in January 2004. Later that year, he formed the Meehoos, a pop-folk-electronic fusion band, with fellow students Lauren Wooley, Kariann Goldschmitt, and Andre Elias, and went on tour with them in the summer of 2004. The Meehoos have since disbanded, and Drew has begun working with Lauren as the Mercurial Gay Beings.

In the fall of 2005, Drew moved to San Francisco where he now teaches music, composes, and performs. Since then, he has been involved in a wide array of projects. In April of 2006, Drew reprised of his role of Jenny Diver inthe Nonesense Company's production of The Threepenny Opera. Having originally performed in May of 2005 at UCSD's Che Cafe, the actors reconvened at Chicago's National Pasttime Theatre and Olympia's Evergreen College to critical acclaim. A month later, Drew joined forces with Bay Area video artist Tobias Tovera and experimental dance troupe Nature Theatre of Oklahoma (led by Hsui-Iu Chua) to create Raw Egg, a multimedia dance piece dealing with issues of identity and autonomy. Crossing into a new medium, Drew provided dance and movement in addition to experimental vocals and live electronic processing. The group also collaborated for a smaller performance as part of the annual APAture festival at San Francisco's Counterpulse.

Drew has since returned to the studio to focus on his many recording projects. In 2006, he engineered and mixed Reverend Markus Hawkins' experimental electronic album Nightshade and completed two film scores: the first for the short film "Dear Beverly," written and directed by longtime friend Melanie Mascioli; the second for "The Plunge," written and directed by fellow UCSD-alum Jocelyn Jacobs. He also began intense work on a new solo record; a collection of experimental/electronic/pop fusion songs with sounds derived exclusively from the voice and a cruncy upright piano, the project is tentatively titled The Dust and the Bloodlets.

In 2007, the Mercurial Gay Beings began hosting a concert series out of their San Francisco apartment, dubbed "Shotwell Shack: an Art-House Fantasy Theatrical Revue." Since then, will begin work on another film, Mascioli's short "Without a Net," and will gradually unveil his new record via www.drewboles.com. He also plans to be busy on the performance circuit: the Mercurial Gay Beings' are slated to premiere BaMeThi, a multimedia sound art performance piece, sometime in the spring, and there are floating possibilities of performances co-billed by The Nonsense Company, The Raw Egg Collective, and Dyspecific.

Education

Honors, Awards, & Residencies

(2003) Gluck Composition Fellowship Recipient
(2003) Bang on a Can Summer Institute, resident student composer
(2002) Katherine Blumenthal Grant recipient
(2001) Emory University Friends of Music Grant recipient
(2001) Atlanta Chamber Players Annual Student Composers Competition, first place, Algal Bloom (2001) string quartet

Teaching Experience

(2002 - present) private instruction: piano, guitar, composition, improvisation

(Fall 2003) MUS 1A (Introduction to Music), UCSD, teaching assistant
(Winter 2004) MUS 1B (Introduction to Music), UCSD, teaching assistant
(Spring 2004) MUS 11 (Klezmer Music), UCSD, teaching assistant
(Fall 2004) MUS 15 (Bob Marley & Reggae), UCSD, teaching assistant
(Winter 2005) MUS 15 (Voice in Popular Music), UCSD, teaching assistant
(Spring 2005) MUS 15 (Music in Film), UCSD, teaching assistant

(Winter 2005) "Experimental Voice," Birney Elementary, 3rd grade, UCSD ArtsBridge scholar/teacher
(Spring 2005) "Experimental Voice and Gerald McDermott's Creation," Freese Elementary, 4th and 6th grade, UCSD ArtsBridge scholar/teacher

(Fall 2005 - present) GRE & SAT prep, Kaplan Test Prep, teacher
(Winter 2006 - Winter 2007) "Musical Imagination," Sunset Learning Center, after-school teacher
(Winter 2006 - Winter 2007) "Voice," Sunset Learning Center, after-school teacher
(Summer 2006 - present) "Chorus" & "Songwriting," SF Arts Education Project, teacher

Private Study

Affiliations