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Andrew W.K.
Background information
Birth name	Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier
Born	May 9, 1979 (1979-05-09) (age 28)
Origin	Stanford, California (born) Ann Arbor, Michigan (raised)
Genre(s)	Rock Glam metal Hard rock Piano rock
Occupation(s)	Musician Producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitar Bass guitar Drums Piano Keyboards
Years active	1998-present
Label(s)	Hanson, Mercury, Island, Bulb
Associated acts	Wolf Eyes, To Live and Shave in L.A.
Website	Official Site

Andrew W.K. (born Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier on May 9, 1979 in Stanford, California) is a rock musician from the United States.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early work 1.2 I Get Wet 1.3 The Wolf 1.4 Who Knows? 1.5 Close Calls with Brick Walls 1.6 Other work 2 TV and film appearances 3 "Steev Mike" 3.1 Multiple Andrews? 4 Record producer 5 Discography 5.1 Albums 5.2 Singles/EPs 5.3 Promo singles 5.4 DVDs 5.5 Film and television soundtracks 5.6 Compilation appearances 5.7 Production credits 5.8 Other musical appearances 6 External links 7 References

Andrew W.K. was born in Stanford, California, and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

At age 4, he began learning classical piano at The University of Michigan School of Music. He attended the private college preparatory Greenhills School for middle school before attending the alternative Community High School from 1993-1997, where he studied jazz keyboards. His father is Professor James Krier, a well-known legal scholar at the University of Michigan Law School and co-author of the widely used Dukeminier & Krier Property casebook.

Andrew got his start in music in the year 1993, when he was 13. In between 1993 and 1998, the year his first solo album under his own name came out, he was in many different bands in Michigan the most famous of which was Lab Lobotomy with Jaime Morales, Allan Hazlett, and Michael Alex Goldman, and even had a solo project titled "Ancient Art of Boar", or "AAB", that he started when he was 14, in 1994, and ended in 1998. Andrew's first release under the name "Andrew W.K." was in 2000, on the now-defunct Michigan record label Bulb Records, run by Jim Magas (Now known only as "Magas"), and friend since his teen years, Peter Larson. Andrew released two EPs on that label, and a full length album was planned, but never released. Andrew's big break came in 2001, when he was signed to Island Def Jam / Mercury Records, part of the Universal Music Group.

Andrew's first ever track released on anything officially was titled "Mr. Surprise". It was on a compilation of music done by young artists (Andrew made the song at 13), and was released on the Westside Audio Laboratories label out of Ypsilanti, Michigan (now known as Ypsilanti Records). From there on, Andrew was in a plethora of other bands, most of them with the same rotation of friends. The first was LabLobotomy, who recorded and performed in Ann Arbor during 1994 and 1995. At the same time Andrew started making recordings as Ancient Art of Boar (AAB). Other bands Andrew has been in include The Pterodactyls, Music Band, Mr. Velocity Hopkins, Kathode, The Portly Boys, Kangoo, The Beast People, Stormy Rodent and the Malt Lickers, Isis and Werewolves, and Sucking Coeds.

His first official solo release (under his own name) was on Hanson Records, a record label out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was released in 1998, titled Room To Breathe. The release was cassette-only and only 35 copies were made. Another tape, titled "You Are What You Eat" was supposed to be released shortly after, but the masters went missing for years. However, a single copy of "You Are What You Eat" was recently - and quite miraculously - found by a fan who had purchased a used copy of "Room To Breathe" and found that the tape "You Are What You Eat" was also dubbed onto the tape. The fan sent a copy of the music to Andrew's management. Andrew confirmed the recording as "You Are What You Eat", and vowed to rerelease them in the future. That same year, he appeared on the Hanson Records compilation Labyrinths & Jokes. The track appearing on the compilation was a portion of the soundtrack Andrew made for the movie made by Aaron Dilloway and himself, titled "Poltergeist". The whole soundtrack also went missing for over 10 years, but has recently re-surfaced. Andrew has vowed to release this album as well.

In 2000, he released his first EP, AWKGOJ on Bulb Records. He released one more EP on this label, Party Til You Puke, before moving on to Island Records and releasing his first major label album, I Get Wet.

Andrew released his first major label album, I Get Wet, in 2001 on Island Records. The album is primarily known for its recognizable cover art: a photo of Andrew W.K. with a large stream of "blood" running from his nose, down his chin and onto his throat. Andrew has stated that he attempted to create the nose bleed with a self-inflicted blow from a piece of a cinder block; however this proved unsuccessful and he created his nosebleed using a bottle of pig's blood (or some other animal) acquired from a butcher's shop. However, Andrew has recently denied that the cinder block story is true, although he has told the story himself during various interviews. The only constant fact is that there was some sort of animal blood used. It is highly suspected that the "blood" was mostly created through common movie special effects. Many music retailers that feared that the cover was too graphic to be shown in public covered the image with a black sticker which only enticed fans to look into the true meaning of the photo.

I Get Wet soon rose to the #1 position on Billboard's 'Heatseekers' list. Andrew W.K. joined Ozzy Osbourne's Ozzfest that summer. The track "Party Hard" was featured as the lead track for EA Sports video game Madden NFL 2003 as well as the lead track for the Girls Gone Wild Music Volume 1 CD.The opening track, "It's Time To Party", was featured in commercials for the video game Nascar Thunder 2004, Hotwire.com, Coors Beer, Expedia.com, and several movie and TV soundtracks. "She Is Beautiful" was used the Disney remake of Freaky Friday starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan and also in early Nintendo GameCube advertisements. His track "Don't Stop Living in the Red" is featured in a Target commercial. It was also featured during KSDK-TV's coverage of the St. Louis Cardinals in 2005. He also recorded an original song for KitKat chocolate wafers entitled "Gimme a Break". In 2002, he re-recorded his song "We Want Fun" from AWKGOJ for the soundtrack of Jackass: The Movie that also had a video made, filmed and directed by Spike Jonze.

In late 2003, W.K. released The Wolf. The album featured Andrew playing all the instruments on the recording (he had his full live band play on I Get Wet), and was a product of three years of work (some of the songs on the album Andrew had been working on since since 2000). It spawned the singles "Tear it Up" and "Never Let Down" (a phrase Andrew coined during his early days on Bulb Records) in the US (both had videos made, but only Tear It Up had a full retail single released) and the song "Long Live the Party" was a minor hit in Japan. There was a special promotion with this album. The original release of the album came with a little card with a code on it. The card instructed to go to Andrew's old site, http://awkworld.com, to register to receive a personal phone call from Andrew. 1000 people were going to be called, but not all 1000 were. A list of people called, and audio recordings of some of the calls were made available at AWKworld, but that site has since been taken offline.

"The Wolf" has many overdubbed instrument parts. It has been said that one guitar track on one song could have as many as 100 overdubbed parts on it. Andrew later used this technique, also known as "Synch Stacking" on his live DVD, "Who Knows?".

The Wolf was not as commercially successful as "I Get Wet" On tour for "The Wolf", Andrew was injured on stage and broke his foot. After the concert, he signed autographs from the ambulance. Not wanting to let his fans down, he performed the remainder of the tour in a wheelchair.

"The Wolf"'s original title was set to be "Blow Your Bone", but briefly before the album was released, unknown conflicts arose, so Andrew was forced to change the name. Although the title was to be different, the songs on the album were still going to be the same (although during the "Blow Your Bone" sessions, many songs were recorded that were never released and might be released on future albums).

Andrew W.K. released a live-concert movie entitled, "Who Knows?" and presented five screenings of the movie in New York City and Hollywood, in February and April, 2006. His father presented a screening of the movie in Ann Arbor, Michigan at the University of Michigan Law School. Although Andrew's father, law teacher James E. Krier was said to be the host of the event, Andrew was present at the screening also.

"Who Knows?" was released on DVD on February 7, 2006. It features 16 live performances and some behind-the-scenes moments with W.K. and his band.

Andrew WK's album Close Calls with Brick Walls was released in Japan and South Korea in July 2006. During an interview on Japanese radio, Andrew explained that the title related both to his life and music as he narrowly avoided hitting a dead end and instead sought new horizons in his work. The album contains 18 tracks (the Korean version includes an additional 4 bonus tracks, while the special edition Japanese version contains a bonus DVD with footage found nowhere else) .

Andrew was also involved in filming the Japanese promotional video for "Not Going To Bed" in a Pennsylvania hotel;^{[citation needed]}

The album was to be released on June 19, 2007 in the U.S. on vinyl-only on Load Records, but that release was postponed to August 28, 2007 for reasons unknown.

In March 2006, during an episode of Sex Pistols' guitarist Steve Jones' radio show, "Jonsie's Jukebox", Andrew W.K. debuted the song "Vagabond", which did not appear on Close Calls. It is said to be appearing on his next planned album, "Young Lord", as for other tracks, such as "We're Not Going To Get Old".

Outside of his solo work, Andrew W.K. also performs with and produces music for the avant-garde ensemble To Live and Shave in L.A.. He first appeared on the band's 2004 release "God and Country Rally!". W.K. co-produced their 2006 studio album Noon and Eternity, and appears on the group's other 2006 release, the "chronological remix" project Horoscopo: Sanatorio de Moliere. He will accompany TLASILA to Canada and throughout the United States on promotional tours for both albums.

In mid-2006, soon after Close Calls was released, Andrew posted on his website the coming of new things. He stated that 2 new albums are in the works, as well as two new websites and a new TV show. The new albums are going to come out in 2007 and 2008.

In late 2006, Andrew re-worked his song "Fun Night" into a theme song for the Sundogs, an Arizona hockey team. The song was titled "Sundogs (It Just Got Hotter)", and is available to download at Andrew's site at http://andrewwk.com/content/Sun_Dogs_Theme.mp3. The song also appeared in the film Old School during one of the party scenes.

Recently, Andrew has been added to the live line-up of Current 93, and has been playing electric bass for them during their concerts.

Andrew has stated in various interviews that he is planning to release a solo piano album sometime in the future, and he has even said that he will be releasing an EP in the UK.

In August 2007, Andrew released his third album Close Calls With Brick Walls in the U.S. for the first time, on vinyl only, with bonus tracks. It was released on Load Records.

In May 2007, Andrew announced on his official site that he will be release another album (along with his 2 new albums, and a solo piano album) titled "Eberwhite". Nothing is known about the album at this time.

In September 2007 the prodigious piano style of Andrew W.K. was featured on a jazz fusion CD release "électricité" with Mike Pachelli on guitar, Rich Russo on drums, and Dennis Harding on bass for Los Angeles based Fullblast Recordings (2007). The CD is receiving fantastic revues and available in the discography section of http://mikepachelli.com/

Throughout 2007, Andrew performed a series of unpredictable happenings as part of his "One Man Show" tour. Each event began with Andrew improvising on the piano alone on a stage before actively involving the crowd in order to seamlessly blur the boundary between performer and audience. While each show was unique, they frequently evolved into giant parties, with most of the audience dancing on stage with Andrew, themselves playing the piano and singing the lyrics.

In 2004, Andrew had a television show on MTV2 titled Your Friend, Andrew W.K.. In the series, fans would write letters to Andrew, asking for his help, and Andrew would pick certain letters and go help out the fan who sent the letter asking for help. The series only lasted 1 season, and had 9 episodes. The actual episodes were actually only about 9 or 10 minutes in length, because MTV wanted to play music videos in between the segments of the show. Andrew himself could not pick the videos, and was not happy about it. During the filming of the show, Andrew was in a car crash but sustained no serious injuries. The show is no longer shown on television.

Andrew has said that he is going to have a new television show. He has not stated the format of the show, but he has said that it will be very different from YFAWK. On February 3, 2007, during an interview, Andrew stated that the new show would be titled "Smokeshow" (also the name of a deleted scene on his live DVD Who Knows?). He would not state anything else about the show, but he did say that there will be a website for it at http://www.smokeshow.com. Andrew has performed on TV numerous times, performing on shows such as Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Last Call with Carson Daly, Saturday Night Live, and the Spike TV Video Game Awards. His most recent performance was with Bonnie 'Prince' Billy on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He recently had a cameo in the show Aqua Teen Hunger Force, playing himself. He had no speaking parts, just a part singing a modified version of 'Long Live The Party' and is available for download from his website at http://andrewwk.com/content/PartyPartyParty.mp3 . The song was released on Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters the Soundtrack. Andrew's only confirmed movie role is in the movie "Punk Rock Holocaust", playing himself, but he is said to have played a part in the film D-Day Remembered.

Andrew was also featured on the finale of the third season of Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List as Kathy's date in New York. The two attended one of Andrew's performance art shows.

Rumors claim that "Andrew W.K." is an actor, a "front man" hired to play the role and perform the A.W.K. music and that before there was an "Andrew W.K.," the press was holding interviews with a "Steev Mike," whose image and sound are the same as "Andrew W.K."

The first appearance of "Steev Mike" was inside the pages of the UK magazine "Dazed & Confused." An issue from early 2000 allegedly featured a full-page story on "Steev Mike," but it's nearly impossible to find this back issue, although it's been confirmed that the magazine and article do exist.

Steev Mike was later listed as "Executive Producer" on Andrew's album "I Get Wet". Steev's name was not listed, however, on Andrew's second album, "The Wolf". Three years later, Steev Mike was listed again on Andrew's DVD "Who Knows", and on Andrew's third album, "Close Calls With Brick Walls", as "Executive Producer".

Andrew himself has said little about the matter, urging his fans at times to simply "ignore lies". He has not claimed that he is Steev Mike, but he has not claimed that Steev Mike is another person. He did however confirm that "Steev Mike is a real person".

In 2005, Web sites directly linked with Andrew W.K. appeared to have been hacked, containing strange pictures and lines of code related to Steev Mike. These pages are now all off-line, but archived versions can be found at http://www.awk.dudeguy.com. Analysis of the code (and other information regarding Steev Mike) can be found at the fansite http://awilkeskrier.homestead.com/.

Many people have been said to be Steev Mike, most people accusing Andrew himself as being part of a conspiracy to make people think he's fake, but also James "Twig" Harper of the group Nautical Almanac, Chicago musician Little Howlin' Wolf, and even Andrew W.K.'s father, James E. Krier have also been suspects.

In March 2006, an alleged 1992 Bulb Records 7" 45 recorded under the name Steev Mike was discovered. The record was spotted on eBay, and the auction stated the records (the seller had 25) were found at a garage sale in Ann Arbor (Where Bulb Records was founded). The auction was for only one, but the buyer had the option to buy more. Several weeks later, a UK record shop, Volcanic Tongue, was selling copies of the record in their online store. The catalog did not have a lot of copies in stock, and soon after the page was found, the site was out of the records, and the page was later taken down. The tracks on the record were found to be the same as Bulb band Couch's first EP, except for the last track, which was Couch's track Old Man instead of the track (Is This) Time Travel Man, the track which was listed. This could be a possible mistake by bootleggers. On the back of the Steev Mike record, Andrew W.K.'s father, James E. Krier, is listed. When recently asked about this record, it has been supposedly noted as a "bootleg" or "phony" by Couch founding member James Marlon Magas. In one letter to a fan, he was quoted as saying "I guess people wanna sell records!". It is unknown at this point in time who is behind the record, but there are suspects.

Andrew participated as drummer 57 the Boredoms 77 Boadrum performance which occurred on July 7th, 2007 at the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park in Brooklyn, New York. His look was drastically different, as he cut his hair short, had no facial hair, and wore very different clothing from his usual attire. [1] However, pictures from Andrew's official site conflict with the fan pictures, as the pictures from Andrew's official site show him with medium, shoulder-length hair. It is suspected that the fan pictures have been edited or doctored to remove some of Andrew's hair. [2]

In 2005, The Fader magazine featured a full-page article on Andrew W.K. which showed a radically different looking individual, with close cropped hair and different clothing, claiming to be Andrew W.K. This set off a subsequent wave of rumors that there were multiple individuals going under the "Andrew W.K." name. [3] The paranoia culminated during Andrew's "High-Way Party Cruiser Tour", during which many audience members were enraged when they claimed "someone else" was posing as Andrew W.K. and playing shows in his place. [4] It was never confirmed whether there were A.W.K. doppelgangers, or whether it was a case of "double mistaken identity". Andrew has used the words "self impersonation" in recent interviews, causing more speculation. Some fans have even believed that there was a "switch" in 2005, and a "new actor" began playing the role of Andrew W.K. A wave of online photo comparisons only caused further confusion. Andrew himself has not confirmed nor denied any of the related rumors.

On July 28, 2007, Andrew played a solo piano concert in Lansing, Michigan. At the concert, he had short hair covered with a baseball cap. Also, he wore orange sunglasses throughout the entire set.

On August 4, 2007, Andrew performed at Highline ballroom in New York City. He was in his normal attire, and had his full length hair, causing some to wonder whether Andrew does really have short hair, or if he's been wearing some kind of wig or hairpiece.

At All Tomorrow's Parties ATP vs the Fans in May 2007, Andrew W. K. appeared as the bass player for Current 93. The discovery provoked a petition to plea for a solo performance from Andrew, but sadly, no such event transpired. He was seen in typical apparel, with a full head of long, flowing hair.

Andrew, having produced the new Sightings album "Through The Panama", performed a keyboard set at their album release party at NYC's Cake Shop on November 9, 2007. ^[1][2] His hair was long and appeared natural.

Despite all of the claims that Andrew has "flowing" and "natural" long hair, a person appearing as "Andrew" claimed in a 2007 interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette that he has worn a wig. This interview can be found at http://playlist.citr.ca/podcasting/audio/20070406-153435-to-20070406-164433.mp3

In addition to producing his own music on the albums I Get Wet, The Wolf and Close Calls with Brick Walls, as well as other Andrew W.K. music, in 2006 Andrew decided to expand his musical output to include producing and mixing music for other artists.

"I avoided working with other people for many years, partly out of paranoia, and parly out of an earnest desire to stand on my own. After a while, I got tired of thinking that way, and it just seemed natural to do the opposite of what I had done before. I like making music with other people. I can still make music by myself too."

Andrew's earliest production work for music other than his own was with the group Wolf Eyes, on their now out-of-print 12" EP "Fortune Dove". Since then, he's chosen to work on only a select and seemingly random set of projects, most recently completing production and mixing on the album, "Through The Panama", by Brooklyn, NY based three-piece psychadelic rock band, SIGHTINGS. The album was released on October 28th, 2007 by Load Records and Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label.

In 2007, Andrew put his own music recording on hold again in order to accept an invitation to work on a new album for legendary reggae pioneer, Lee "Scratch" Perry. The two had met when Andrew interviewed Perry for television, including for Andrew's own upcoming, "Smokeshow" program. Soon after, Andrew was invited to record and mix "Repentance" with Perry in California and New York City. The album is slated for release in 2008.^[3]

• I Get Wet (2001, Island Records) #84 (US Billboard 2002) #1 (Heatseekers 2002); UK #71
• The Wolf (2003, Island Records) #61 (US Billboard 2003); UK #152
• Close Calls With Brick Walls (2006, Japanese Import / S. Korean Import)
• Young Lord (2008 or 2009)
• The Carrier (2008 or 2009)
• Untitled UK EP (2008 or 2009)
• Eberwhite (2008 or 2009)
• Untitled Solo Piano Album (2008, 2009, or 2010)

Independent Releases

• Room To Breathe (Under his full name, Andrew Wilkes-Krier) (1998, Hanson Records)
• You Are What You Eat (Unreleased) (Under his full name, Andrew Wilkes-Krier) (1998, Hanson Records)
• AWKGOJ "Girls Own Juice" (EP) (2000, Bulb Records)
• Party Til You Puke (EP) (2000, Bulb Records)

Major Studio Releases

• "Party Hard" (October 2001) #19 (UK Top 40 Chart)
• "She Is Beautiful" (February 2002) #26 (UK Top 40 Chart)
• "We Want Fun (Jackass the Movie Soundtrack)" (December 2002)
• "Tear It Up" (July 2003)

• "Party Hard" (October 2001)
• "She Is Beautiful" (February 2002)
• "Fun Night" (2002)
• "We Want Fun (Jackass the Movie Soundtrack)" (December 2002)
• "Specialty Radio Sampler (August 2003) (The songs 3 main tracks, Tear it Up, Your Rules, and Never Let Down were on this disc)
• "Never Let Down" (September 2003)
• "Long Live the Party" (2003, Japan Only)

• "Tear It Up" DVD (2003) - Includes A.W.K. music videos and concert footage

• "The Wolf" Bonus DVD (2003) - Japanese import version, includes exclusive behind-the-scenes footage

• "Who Knows?" (2006) - Feature length live concert movie

• "Close Calls With Brick Walls" Bonus DVD (2006) - Japanese import version, includes exclusive A.W.K. footage

• Out Cold She Is Beautiful
• Jackass: The Movie We Want Fun
• Stealing Harvard Party Hard
• Old School Fun Night
• Freaky Friday She Is Beautiful
• Masters of Horror Soundtrack You Will Remember Tonight
• American Pie Presents: Band Camp She Is Beautiful
• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters Colon the Soundtrack Party Party Party

• "Labyrinths & Jokes" (Hanson Records Release HN050) Song: Andrew Wilkes-Krier (Andrew also appeared on the Isis and Werewolves track and The Beast People track).
• "Ozzfest 2002 Live Album" Song: She Is Beautiful (Live with Kelly Osbourne)
• "Take Action! Vol 4" Song: Spoken PSA Intro
• "Mosh Pit On Disney" Song: Mickey Mouse Club March
• "Maxim Rocks!" Magazine Compilation Song: She Is Beautiful
• "Girls Gone Wild Music, Vol. 1" Song: Party Hard
• "Hard to Get V1 Island Rarities" Song: We Want Fun (AWKGOJ version)
• "2003 Warped Tour Compilation" Song: Ready to Die
• "Serve 2: The Hard Rock Benefit Album" Song: This Is My World

• "Through The Panama" - by Sightings (2007) Andrew W.K. Album Producer/Mixer
• "Noon And Enternity" - by To Live And Shave In L.A. (2006) Andrew W.K. Album Producer/Mixer
• "Fortune Dove EP" - by Wolf Eyes (2000) Andrew W.K. Album Producer/Mixer

• "électricité" - by Mike Pachelli - featuring Andrew W.K. on piano (2007)
• "We Sing Of Only Blood Or Love" - by Dax Riggs - featuring Andrew W.K. remixed song "Dethbryte" (2007)
• "Safe Inside The Day" - by Baby Dee - featuring Andrew W.K. on bass guitar and drums (2008)
• Andrew W.K. is currently attending Northeastern University in Boston, MA.

• andrewwk.com - Andrew W.K.'s official site
• Andrew W.K. Interviews and Album Reviews at Synthesis.net
• 77 Boadrum Site Profile Viva Radio, Sep 2007. (Flash)

1. ^ The Reeler, February 01 2006, "Andrew W.K. and the Cryptic Movie Missive": [5]