Biography
Andrew W.K. arrived on the music landscape during the initial years of the 2000s, functioning as a party guerrilla rather than simply a party animal, through a blend of rock, metal, and pop that honored and intensified the boldest, most extravagant characteristics found in each genre. The 2002 debut album I Get Wet, featuring its contentious cover image of a bloody-nosed W.K. facing the lens directly, introduced the oversized pop-metal approach and party-affirming outlook that soon defined his identity and that he enacted nightly onstage amid nonstop, perspiration-drenched intensity. Across subsequent years W.K. expanded into a multifaceted position encompassing musical party ambassador, motivational speaker, advice columnist, and television personality. He further extended into production work alongside artists ranging from Lee "Scratch" Perry to Baby Dee, while issuing varied albums such as the 2009 solo piano collection 55 Cadillac and the Japanese anime cover endeavor Gundam Rock. Speaking engagements, lecture appearances, and management of his New York nightclub occupied much of the 2010s, although W.K. eventually resumed rock output with the 2018 release You're Not Alone and the 2021 album God Is Partying.
Born in California and brought up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, W.K.—whose initials represent notions including "White Killer," "Women Kum," and the parental surnames "Wilkes-Krier"—started classical piano instruction at age four through the University of Michigan School of Music. In his adolescent period he performed with multiple punk, metal, and noise groups throughout Southeast Michigan, and by age 17 he was capturing his own compositions. Relocating to New York City the following year led to his demos circulating among labels, among them the independent Bulb Records, which put out the debut EP Girls Own Juice in early 2000 and the Party Til You Puke EP later that autumn. The attention surrounding W.K.'s hedonistic, so-dumb-it's-smart rawk secured recording contracts with Island/Def Jam in the U.S. and Mercury in the U.K.; the initial major-label offering was the 2001 anthemic Party Hard EP.
The U.K. in particular embraced his singular visual style and sonic approach, which prompted enthusiastic notices in NME and Kerrang! along with frenzied responses at concerts; he required hospitalization after a fan delivered a head-butt during crowd-surfing at his London debut at the Highbury Garage. The full-length debut I Get Wet reached listeners in the U.K. toward the end of 2001 and appeared in the U.S. version during spring 2002, where selections from the album surfaced in advertisements, video games, and television programs before culminating in a Saturday Night Live appearance. His profile expanded via widespread touring, both independently and alongside Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest as well as within an MTV 2 package tour. The follow-up arrived in 2003 as The Wolf, an expanded and more ornate album compared with the debut and one that received varied critical responses. Subsequent to hosting the MTV 2 advice program Your Friend, Andrew W.K., he maintained an intensive touring pace and issued the concert film Who Knows? in early 2006. The third album Close Calls with Brick Walls surfaced that year in Japan and South Korea, while a U.S. vinyl-only edition emerged on Load Records in 2007. That summer he also guested on Kathy Griffin's series My Life on the D List. Extending into production, he oversaw the 2007 Lee "Scratch" Perry album Repentance and contributed numerous instrumental performances to it.
W.K.'s path grew increasingly varied as the 2000s concluded. During 2008 alone he helped establish the Manhattan nightclub Santo's Party House, toured alongside the Calder Quartet, issued a set of J-pop cover songs, and published the advice-column anthology I Will Change Your Life for the Japanese music magazine Rockin' On. He joined the group Current 93 as well, supplying bass, piano, guitar, and vocals to the 2009 album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain and appearing on the band's tour that spring. Around the same period W.K. put out Damn! The Mixtape, Vol. 1, while his Cartoon Network live-action demolition series Destroy Build Destroy debuted. Additional television appearances followed on programs including Conan O'Brien, MSNBC, Fox News, and multiple VH1 shows. In late summer 2009 the album of spontaneous solo piano improvisations 55 Cadillac emerged on the Ecstatic Peace and Skyscraper Music Maker labels, with the latter also planning a U.S. CD edition of Close Calls with Brick Walls. Concurrently W.K. released Gundam Rock in Japan, presenting his renditions of music from the classic anime Gundam in honor of the series' 30th anniversary.
Close Calls with Brick Walls finally received broad CD distribution in 2010 within a package that included a disc of rarities and previously unreleased material titled Mother of Mankind. The next year he issued the Japan-only EP Party All Goddamn Night, mixing fresh and prior tracks; in 2012 a Deluxe Edition of I Get Wet marked the tenth anniversary and added a second volume of live and unreleased songs. After authoring a weekly advice column for the Village Voice and hosting a weekly self-improvement radio program for the Blaze network, he devoted part of 2016 to an extended national speaking tour called "The Power of Partying." Sony issued You're Not Alone in March 2018, combining the expansive full-force sound of the first two albums with brief spoken-word motivational segments. W.K. and his band supported the album via a world tour extending through the close of 2019. He quickly followed with the next studio album, 2021's God Is Partying, which sustained his party outlook during a period requiring relief.
Born in California and brought up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, W.K.—whose initials represent notions including "White Killer," "Women Kum," and the parental surnames "Wilkes-Krier"—started classical piano instruction at age four through the University of Michigan School of Music. In his adolescent period he performed with multiple punk, metal, and noise groups throughout Southeast Michigan, and by age 17 he was capturing his own compositions. Relocating to New York City the following year led to his demos circulating among labels, among them the independent Bulb Records, which put out the debut EP Girls Own Juice in early 2000 and the Party Til You Puke EP later that autumn. The attention surrounding W.K.'s hedonistic, so-dumb-it's-smart rawk secured recording contracts with Island/Def Jam in the U.S. and Mercury in the U.K.; the initial major-label offering was the 2001 anthemic Party Hard EP.
The U.K. in particular embraced his singular visual style and sonic approach, which prompted enthusiastic notices in NME and Kerrang! along with frenzied responses at concerts; he required hospitalization after a fan delivered a head-butt during crowd-surfing at his London debut at the Highbury Garage. The full-length debut I Get Wet reached listeners in the U.K. toward the end of 2001 and appeared in the U.S. version during spring 2002, where selections from the album surfaced in advertisements, video games, and television programs before culminating in a Saturday Night Live appearance. His profile expanded via widespread touring, both independently and alongside Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest as well as within an MTV 2 package tour. The follow-up arrived in 2003 as The Wolf, an expanded and more ornate album compared with the debut and one that received varied critical responses. Subsequent to hosting the MTV 2 advice program Your Friend, Andrew W.K., he maintained an intensive touring pace and issued the concert film Who Knows? in early 2006. The third album Close Calls with Brick Walls surfaced that year in Japan and South Korea, while a U.S. vinyl-only edition emerged on Load Records in 2007. That summer he also guested on Kathy Griffin's series My Life on the D List. Extending into production, he oversaw the 2007 Lee "Scratch" Perry album Repentance and contributed numerous instrumental performances to it.
W.K.'s path grew increasingly varied as the 2000s concluded. During 2008 alone he helped establish the Manhattan nightclub Santo's Party House, toured alongside the Calder Quartet, issued a set of J-pop cover songs, and published the advice-column anthology I Will Change Your Life for the Japanese music magazine Rockin' On. He joined the group Current 93 as well, supplying bass, piano, guitar, and vocals to the 2009 album Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain and appearing on the band's tour that spring. Around the same period W.K. put out Damn! The Mixtape, Vol. 1, while his Cartoon Network live-action demolition series Destroy Build Destroy debuted. Additional television appearances followed on programs including Conan O'Brien, MSNBC, Fox News, and multiple VH1 shows. In late summer 2009 the album of spontaneous solo piano improvisations 55 Cadillac emerged on the Ecstatic Peace and Skyscraper Music Maker labels, with the latter also planning a U.S. CD edition of Close Calls with Brick Walls. Concurrently W.K. released Gundam Rock in Japan, presenting his renditions of music from the classic anime Gundam in honor of the series' 30th anniversary.
Close Calls with Brick Walls finally received broad CD distribution in 2010 within a package that included a disc of rarities and previously unreleased material titled Mother of Mankind. The next year he issued the Japan-only EP Party All Goddamn Night, mixing fresh and prior tracks; in 2012 a Deluxe Edition of I Get Wet marked the tenth anniversary and added a second volume of live and unreleased songs. After authoring a weekly advice column for the Village Voice and hosting a weekly self-improvement radio program for the Blaze network, he devoted part of 2016 to an extended national speaking tour called "The Power of Partying." Sony issued You're Not Alone in March 2018, combining the expansive full-force sound of the first two albums with brief spoken-word motivational segments. W.K. and his band supported the album via a world tour extending through the close of 2019. He quickly followed with the next studio album, 2021's God Is Partying, which sustained his party outlook during a period requiring relief.
Albums
God is Partying
2021
You're Not Alone
2018
Mother Of Mankind
2012
Close Calls With Brick Walls / Mother of Mankind
2010
55 Cadillac
2009
Close Calls With Brick Walls
2006
The Wolf
2003
I Get Wet
2001
Singles
