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Andrew W.K. has done the rock 'n' roll math and it all adds up.
Despite the hype in the UK, where he's been described by the fawning
British music press as an amalgam of Diamond Dave Roth, Eddie Van
Halen, Slade and GBV, his debut, I Get Wet (Island/Def Jam),
sounds more like a cross between Slade and the Anti Nowhere
League (but with more synthesizers).
Don't get me wrong, this CD does rock. But if you think it sounds
anything like the once mighty VH, you've obviously been listening
to Robbie Williams and Travis for too long.
Knocks on the obscenely hype-driven British press aside, this is
a pretty cool album. It takes about five seconds before you feel
like popping open a beer, rolling up a big doob and throwing your
TV out the front window. And it should only take about two weeks
from the time this album is released (March 26) until it's blasting
out of every alterna bar & grill from Tampa to Tacoma.
 So
much the better, I say, because this album kicks ass! I don't even
know why. It's not particularly tuneful or original, and it's kinda
repetitive, but it's so simple and full of "Fuck Yeah!" energy, that
it's irresistible.
Maybe it's because it's one of the first things anybody's heard in
a while that actually resembles rock 'n' roll. (No wonder the Brits
are all in tizzy.)
Of course, in their defence, look at how ga-ga everybody went over
the Strokes and the White Stripes. Well, whatever. That was last
year. This year it's Andrew W.K.-at least until May or June, anyway.
In the meantime, we should all enjoy it.
Regurgitation and Spiritual Debt
"I work really, really hard not to throw up," states Andrew W.K.,
from his tour bus somewhere outside of Stockholm, "because then all
the food that I've worked so hard to eat that day is gone. And it's
possible that I could eat the puke, but it's not good to do that
because the acid is so hard on your throat."
This from a guy who constantly exhorts his listeners to party until
they hurl. Apparently, what's good for the goose isn't
good for the gander. But the 23-year old performer has
his reasons.
For one, he doesn't want anything to interfere with
his ability to deliver the most intense, balls-to-the-wall
performance he can imagine.
"I try to reach failure by the end of every show," he
explains. "If I leave the stage and I don't collapse,
then I haven't done my job."
Second, he feels he owes it to everybody anyway.
"As far as I can see, over hundreds of years people
have dedicated their lives so that I can talk to you
on a cell phone right now about what I do all day long.
"There's been a lot of sacrifice so that I can live
this life. Even to this day there are people who don't
have all these things. I really want to make the most
of it. I owe it to them."
Nevertheless, even though he's in the midst of a world
tour, that doesn't mean he's acting like some self-absorbed
ponce who mistakes his recent success for super global
stardom. On the contrary, he says he's working harder
than ever to get your attention.
"I won't stop, I'll tell you that," vows W.K. "The only
way I'll stop is if I die. This is heaven on earth and
I intend to take advantage of it."
Deep.
But his tireless work ethic has been in place for years.
Prior to leaving his home state of Michigan at 17 in
search of a music career in the Big Apple, W.K. worked
it by playing drums in a bunch of Detroit-area punk
and metal bands.
Once in New York, he managed to circulate a few early
demos among record labels and then promptly went on
a tour of the East Coast where he assailed audiences
with nothing more than a CD player, a keyboard and a
microphone.
Even his self-inflicted wounds, born of the unbridled
zeal he demonstrates while performing, serve to prove
that he is no third-rate slouch hoping he's in the right
place at the right time, but rather a talented fucking
nut with confidence to spare. The question is, are we
ready for him.
"I want to make music that's instantly gratifying and
easy," says W.K., trying to assuage our fears. "This
music is freedom, it's unafraid. It's unashamed. Not
guilty, not worried. It's simple."
And it is party music, after all. This isn't the next
Rage Against The Machine album. In fact, a quarter of
the songs on I Get Wet have the word party in the title.
Of course, Andrew W.K.'s definition of the word is a
bit broader than most. Yet, maybe he knows something
we don't.
"The word party is the biggest word I know that means
celebrating and including everybody," elucidates W.K.
"The word party is nothing but freedom. Everybody understands
it and it's to the point. It means making the most of
being alive."
Despite his utterly inexhaustible drive, the former
gumball-machine salesman's path to success hasn't been
a direct one.
After spending a few months in 1999 taking his one-man
show to every Starbucks that would have him, W.K.'s
big break came when a friend of Dave Grohl's forwarded
the former Nirvana stickman a tape of the muscle bound
Michiganer.
Grohl fell instantly in love with W.K.'s glam, arena
rock anthems and straightaway offered him the chance
to open two gigs for the Foo Fighters at the Warfield
Theatre in San Francisco. (This is probably what led
to the rumour that W.K. was merely a beta-tester for
Grohl's new tunes.)
English audiences, meanwhile, received their first taste
of W.K. via his Girls Own Juice and Party Til You Puke
EPs on Bulb Records, released in 1999 and 2000, respectively.
Around the same time, Island/Def Jam signed W.K. to
a contract and he turned his attention toward putting
together a full band.
In order to create the hammer-of-the-gods sound he longed
to hear, W.K. enlisted death metal drummer, Donald "D.T."
Tardy, formerly of Obituary. To complete the line up,
he added guitarist Jimmy Coup, formerly of Coup de Grace,
bassist Gregg R. and guitarists E. Payne and Sergeant
Frank.
Hard on the heels of his first two releases, I Get Wet
was released on October 29, 2001 in the UK and the English
promptly went bananas. By year's end he would be featured
in multiple issues of Kerrang! and NME and in London's
Daily Telegraph, as well as make television appearances
on the "Big Breakfast" and "Top of the Pops."
Aught-two began with W.K. touring the UK and the European
continent, taking the show to 19 cities in all. And
as Spring 2002 dawns, W.K. finds himself headlining
a tour of the States supporting the American release
of his new album.
No longer playing to crowds at Starbucks, the wily wolverine
says he's happy to be home and playing for American
audiences.
Charming-and typical of this hometown boy with a heart
of gold and a dire need to rock out while living life
in the red zone.
Yet for anyone who's still not sold on this 6´4 bundle
of energy's credentials or on the merits of his escapist
musical stylings, the lanky man with the pearly white
teeth has this to say:
"Every human being on the face of the earth is invited
to be a part of this unconditionally. Nothing you can
do, think, say, act like or talk like is unacceptable,
because the music doesn't care."
Thanks!
see also:
coordinates
~ andrew wk interview
She Is Beautiful Streams
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Allan Kemler for Crud Magazine© 2002
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