Battleme

Battleme
Battleme @ The Echo (LA, CA)
Background information
Also known as	Matt Vondy
Origin	Austin, Texas U.S.
Genres	Folk rock
Years active	2009–present
Labels	El Camino Media, Sony Records, Trashy Moped Recordings, Get Loud
Associated acts	Lions
Website	Battleme official website
Members	Matt Drenik

Battleme is the stage name and band of Lions singer Matt Drenik, an American musician. It was started as a creative outlet to other projects Drenik was involved in during 2009.

Battleme first appeared in the season 2 finale of Sons of Anarchy on FX Network with the song, "Burn This Town." It was a departure from the guitar heavy band Lions that Drenik fronted. These spurts of lo-fi acoustic folk produced numerous songs that began to see Drenik breaking away from the heavy psychedelic outfits he'd previously played in, one of which "No Time For Blood" was featured on NPR's KUT "Song of the Day."

In the summer of 2010, Drenik relocated to Portland, Oregon to solely focus on the project. He built a studio in the basement of his house and began recording the demos of what would become Battleme’s self-titled debut full length. After tracking over 40 songs, the record was narrowed down to 10 and sent out. Thomas Turner of Ghostland Observatory responded and signed Drenik to his Trashy Moped Recordings label. The two began working on the final version of the record in the fall of 2010 with Turner producing. In conjunction to working on the full-length record, Drenik released a quieter solo EP, Big Score, on his own imprint Get Loud. The record consisted of six previously recorded concrete folk numbers.

Several Battleme songs appeared in Sons of Anarchy season 3, including a cover version of Neil Young’s "Hey Hey, My My," which has received over 16 million YouTube views and an assortment of remixes by the likes of Stefan Biniak and others.

On March 8, 2012, the video for Battleme single "Touch" made its premiere on MTV Buzzworthy. That same year, the band also appeared at Music Fest NW (Portland, OR), Capitol Hill Block Party (Seattle, WA), SXSW (Austin, Texas) and Lobster Fest (LA, CA) in 2012.