Andrew WK: a hyperactive workaholic

There’s usually a reason why it takes somebody seven years to make their new album, common ones being laziness, chronic writer’s block, serious addiction issues or wanting to get back to leading a relatively normal life. None of those apply to Andrew WK, a hyperactive workaholic with a proudly abnormal approach to living his curiously straight-edged nonstop partying life.

“I kept on being offered these embarrassingly fantastic things like Sharon Osbourne ringing up and asking, ‘Do you want to do the opening heavy metal DJ spot for the Black Sabbath farewell tour?’” explains the Wilkes-Krier boy. “There was no way I could turn down what was clearly part of the Party Gods’ master plan and say, ‘No, I can’t do that because I’m recording an album.’ As a servant of the Party Gods, it’s incumbent on me to do their bidding.”

Sat atop a giant likeness of his own head – complete with nosebleed, natch – Andrew got to play a fast and extremely furious mix of Anthrax, Judas Priest, Dio and Slayer, while taking potshots at the crowd with his t-shirt gun.

“I’m still trying to process the magnificence of Tony Iommi’s guitar-playing,” he coos. “I’ve stood behind, in front of and to the side of some incredible musicians, but his is an otherworldy talent. In the best way I felt very out of my element.

“Another time, as I was getting ready to record, I had a TV company say, ‘We need a presenter for a kids’ show where you get to ride around in tanks and blow stuff up with dynamite.’ These are opportunities you don’t turn down.”

Andrew also said an enthusiastic “yes!” to touring with Marky’s Ramone Blitzkrieg; presenting a Saturday night “What it is to be alive – meaning, motivation, mind set and making dreams come true” radio show for the BlazeNetwork, and heading out on the Power Of Partying 50 State Speaking Tour.

This “eternal mission to defend and promote human joy, and the never-ending collective search to find truth through partying” resulted in full houses all the way from Chicago’s Revolution Brewing Tap Room to the Columbus Theater in Providence, Rhode Island.

“We started in September and November,” he recalls. “I think I’ve been to every state over the course of my partying career, but I’ve never hit them back to back like that and, to be honest, I’m still processing it. I’m still absorbing that experience – but it was a good one. The intensity of the audience and the unique characters that came out of the woodwork for these speaking events – especially in the more remote rural areas – was truly heartening.”

What does Andrew make of the Trumpian times we live in?

“There seems to be a constant thread of civilisation that gets pulled tighter and may seem more unraveled at other moments but is an integral part of people living together,” he proffers. “There’s push and pull, there’s ups and downs and there’s moments of reckoning. Often in times, you can’t know how good something is until you’re faced with something that really hurts. It’s like when you’re sick that you realise how great it is to be healthy.”

This homespun philosophy, which intersperses the tracks on his You’re Not Alone album, has struck a chord with the American Association of Suicidology who’ve made Andrew their 2018 Person of the Year.
“It’s very surprising because this is an organisation made up of experts in their field, and they were able to identify some value in my humble offerings. Really, it’s an acknowledgement of the power of music. My songs aren’t coming from a place of direct experience. They don’t express how I feel, but how I wish to feel. By focusing on those elevated feelings I have a deficit of, it enables me to experience those positive emotions. Music has always provided me with this incredible therapeutic high.”

What sounded a bit like sub-Tony Robbins mumbo jumbo a moment ago is now making perfect sense. Although he “didn’t know those two gentlemen – or anyone else whose taken their own life recently”, Andrew, like the rest of us, was deeply saddened by Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell’s recent deaths.

“I always imagine what it would be like to be in that situation. It seems to be very hard to be a full thinking and feeling person, and not explore what lies beyond this life, whether it’s taking it by your own hand or leaving this version of existing some other way. You think about both them and the people they’ve left behind.”

While not directly nailing his colours to the gun control mast, Andrew is admiring of the Parkland, Florida school kids who are taking on Trump and the NRA who’ve invested millions in his presidency.
“As they get older, every person develops new powers and therefore can take on new responsibilities,” he concludes. “Their character and spirit and attitude can’t be constrained by rules and regulations. There’s a life force purity, close to what we might even call ‘the truth’, which shines through with ever growing intensity.”

Andrew WK’s You’re Not Alone album is out now on Sony