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Andrew WK (most of his songs are available for streaming on his website) Andrew Wilkes-Krier. When most people think of him, they either think of the song "Party Hard," which was somewhat popular around its release in 2002, or the cover of his first ablum, I Get Wet  IGW, released in 2002, was an album full of party rock songs. That's pretty much it. In fact, three of the songs on the album had the word "Party" in the title. Every song was full of energy, a "party/have fun/live life to the fullest" message, and, occasionally, some talented musicianship by AWK, who is quite skilled at playing the piano. It may not have been Mozart, but dammit it was catchy, fun, and all-around awesome. It also helped that he put on a great, super-energetic live show. The album achieved some success--videos were played on MTV, AWK performed on the second stage at Ozzfest, and a handful of commercials used songs from IGW. The album certainly gained notoriety on these very forums, where many a thread was posted about the awesomeness that was Andrew WK. Eventually, in true GBS  fashion, he was posted about so much that the mods were forced to put a stop to it. His next album, released late 2003, was named The Wolf, and was toned down quite a bit--66%, to be exact, since the number of songs with "Party" in the title was reduced from three to one  Songs were slower and focused less on outright partying, and more on just living/loving life and music in general. It was awesome, but it wasn't nearly as popular as IGW (which is saying quite a bit, since IGW wasn't all that big in the first place). In spite of this, AWK continued to be awesome. He had a short-lived show on MTV2 in which he answered fan mail, visited fans randomly, and just acted like an all-around nice guy. He also broke his foot on tour for the album, and rather than cancelling the tour, he rocked out the rest of the dates from a wheelchair on stage  Then, he fell off the face of the earth. He didn't release any new music or play in any concerts for a few years after he finished touring for The Wolf. He surfaced a few years later playing "solo" shows (short concerts consisting of himself, a keyboard, and a few tracks from his albums) and giving motivational speeches and various venues around the US. To date, these consist of most of his public appearances. However, he did release an album in 2006--in Japan and South Korea (with four bonus tracks!). It was called Close Calls with Brick Walls.  And it was awesome. It maintained the party/rock/life is awesome feel of his previous albums while experimenting quite a bit, both musically and lyrically. Not only is it my favorite AWK album, but it probably reaches my top 5 of all time. Due to possible record contract fuckery with Island Records (the label that released IGW and The Wolf), it never got a proper release in the US--it was released on vinyl in 2007 (with a few more bonus tracks), but that's it. So what does the future hold for Mr. WK? Well, he opened a night club in Manhattan called Santos' Party House in 2008, and most of his energy at present seems to be dedicated towards hosting events at the club. He's also still doing the speaking thing. He also has a show coming out on Cartoon Network this summer in which kids blow things up/drop cars off of cliffs/run cars over with tanks called Destroy Build Destroy Musically, he has alot going at the moment. He's produced a few albums, most recently a collection of songs by various known and unknown hip hop artists called drat! The Mixtape.  He's also making explicit use of his talents as a classically-trained pianist to release an album of solo piano compositions this September. It's called Cadillac '55, and you can find a short sample of it on AWK's myspace page.  And last but not least, Andrew updated his new twitter page a few days ago, stating that Close Calls would finally get a real US release this winter (with supposedly upwards of 30 tracks  ), and another album entitled Young Lord will be released after that.I'm really excited for Cadillac '55--I thought the sample on his myspace was great, and I can't wait to finally get a US version of Close Calls (even though I bought a Japanese import copy when it came out, that version only had 15 tracks, so how can I pass up what is more or less a new album's worth of songs?) As far as drat! goes, I haven't really listened to it yet. The samples posted on his myspace and his website weren't exactly my cup of tea, but I'd still be willing to give the whole thing a listen if I ever get the chance.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 13:58 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 17:22 |
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He also has an album where he covers Japanese pop songs.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 14:56 |
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I won't ever care how much poo poo my friends give me, Andrew changed my life. He was the soundtrack to the funnest year in college ever and I was lucky enough to meet him. He is 100% without a doubt, a supremely nice and wonderful human being and treats his fans amazingly. There are rock stars that could learn a thing or twenty from Andrew. Oh, and my favorite Andrew song is "Make Sex". 
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| # ? May 30, 2009 16:55 |
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He's done a ton of poo poo with some of the more profilic NY experimental artists, which of the most well known would be Wolf Eyes I guess. He's a pretty cool dude, never got into his solo stuff but his overall attitude and live shows are awesome. He's got a new band up with Matt Sweeney of Chavez and Bonnie Prince Billy fame, I've yet to hear it but it might be good. He also participated in 77 Boadrum, the huge drum jam hosted by Boredoms.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 17:56 |
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I stopped following him after all the rumors about his management hiring actors to play him at gigs and actually started noticing him looking very different depending on what photo you saw of him. The dude went from ripped to scrawny from one photo to the next - though his TV appearances seem to all be the same guy. Dive into it a little bit - there are even websites dedicated to proving they are different people playing "AndrewWK". That being said, I really enjoyed I Get Wet and The Wolf - not so much the albums after that. When The Wolf came out there was a contest for those that bought the album to register to receive a phone call from the man himself and I was actually one of the 250 or so that were chosen to get a phone call. Unfortunately I wasn't home (I was in high school) when he called but he did leave a message on my answering machine that was some generic "Thanks for buying my album, keep being positive and doin' what you are doin'" type thing - but to my high school self that was very into his party music at the time it was awesome. That and its pretty much the only 'register to win!' contest I've ever won in my life.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 19:12 |
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Mr. Carlisle posted:I stopped following him after all the rumors about his management hiring actors to play him at gigs and actually started noticing him looking very different depending on what photo you saw of him. Oh, I dove into it alot bit when it was happening. He lost alot of weight since IGW and The Wolf, but he's still been the same guy all these years (there was one photo I remember seeing of him at one of his shows in '04 or '05 where it didn't look like him at all, but I can't find it at the moment). I'm pretty sure it was all bullshit. Dyna Soar posted:
I never really heard any of his side project stuff. I should listen sometime, since he works with tons of different artists from all over the spectrum. My cousin and my sister got to see him with the Calder Quartet last November--I couldn't go, but they said it was awesome.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 19:35 |
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Andrew WK came to a friend's wake recently, just because he was asked to, and played piano for several hours. He's a really, really good person.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 19:51 |
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I made an Andrew WK thread back when Close Calls came out (or when I found out about it at least) and coincidentally my OP was practically the same thing as yours. He's awesome, I only wish I could actually book him for the big Spring concert at Tufts.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 20:06 |
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Mack Chacky posted:Andrew WK came to a friend's wake recently, just because he was asked to, and played piano for several hours. He's a really, really good person. Wow, that is pretty incredible.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 21:14 |
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Over the years, I've learned that if someone doesn't like Andrew WK, they are probably mean, or boring.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 21:33 |
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Looking at the AWK from I Get Wet, and comparing it to the one from Close Calls with Brick Walls, I always think it's a different person. Nonetheless, he is amazing. He came to my college last fall, and while I almost died from all the partying, it was still an amazing time. He's so nice 
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| # ? May 30, 2009 22:12 |
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WatermelonGun posted:Over the years, I've learned that if someone doesn't like Andrew WK, they are probably mean, or boring. An old friend of mine met him after a show a few years ago and she told him that he smiled too much onstage. What a bitch. That seriously contributed to me liking her a lot less.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 22:16 |
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I've never really talked to Andrew in person (shook hands/high-fived him a few times at shows), but he did wish me a happy birthday once via VHS--my cousin works for VH1 and interviewed him for a segment on a show a few years back, and he convinced him to record himself wishing me a happy birthday  The VHS copy of 30 seconds of green-screen interview footage is one of my most prized possessions--I should try and get it transferred to another medium at some point.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 23:32 |
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At Warped Tour one year my friend gave him his number and said "call if you want to grab some food afterwards." He called and we all went to eat at Steak 'n Shake. Favorite movie: Rudy. Favorite band: Napalm Death. What a cool dude.
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| # ? May 30, 2009 23:35 |
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Uh, guys, Andrew WK is dead. Or something. I didn't actually bother to read the whole thing
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| # ? May 31, 2009 02:06 |
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WatermelonGun posted:Over the years, I've learned that if someone doesn't like Andrew WK, they are probably mean, or boring. I'm loving shocked at how many people I know who have no idea who Andrew WK is. It's depressing.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 03:06 |
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Asnorban posted:Favorite band: Napalm Death. What a cool dude. Didn't think that I'd like him more than I do already, but there we go.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 03:08 |
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Farts Domino posted:Uh, guys, Andrew WK is dead. Or something. I didn't actually bother to read the whole thing
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| # ? May 31, 2009 03:24 |
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This is as good a place as any for these Click here for the full 829x310 image.  Click here for the full 829x310 image.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 05:29 |
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Farts Domino posted:Uh, guys, Andrew WK is dead. Or something. I didn't actually bother to read the whole thing What the gently caress? I don't want to believe any of this but it's all so bizarre.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 07:39 |
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Long Live The Party is the best song. It can be used in any situation. Alarm, exercise, lunch background music, you name it. It's the perfect song. He apparently has shows at his club in NYC every month or so and I've been meaning to check it out for awhile.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 08:10 |
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Andrew WK grew up in Ann Arbor, where I go to college these days. A friend of mine who went to the local high school said Andrew visited once just to chat with the students about random stuff. Apparently when he lived here, he would occasionally go into Zingerman's Deli and order one dollar's worth of the most expensive cheese. Awesome.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 10:35 |
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Ok, better close this thread now, we're approaching pretty goony levels of praise here.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 10:50 |
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You mean every other thread on these forums has reached goony levels of contempt and ridicule, right? And this thread is the anomaly.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 14:08 |
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Did anybody else preorder The Wolf and get a personal phone call? He got really behind and I thought he wasn't going to make good despite my only being 150th in line (though he skipped around) but almost a year later I got a call when I was really grumpy and stuck in traffic. I had it sort of planned out so it went something like me:"Hey, you're Andrew W.K... my name is Andrew H.K." him:"Whoooaaaa what's your middle name?" me:"Hunter" him:"Whoa that's a much cooler name than Andrew, I would totally go by Hunter WK if I had that choice" me:"also once I was driving around listening to your first album and right around track 11 it started skipping, so I took it out and looked at the CD and somehow THE CD WAS MOIST. I GET WET GOT WET. him:"Wait hold on... Track 11? I think that's the song I GET WET!!!! Hold on let me check" *indecipherable noise* "You hear that? That's I get wet!!!!" me: "yeah!" actually no him: "Hunter, we're going to do this. We're going to put our backs into it and give it all we got, start a worldwide revolution. We're never gonna stop living in the red, we're gonna party hard and we're gonna never let down. Are you WITH ME HUNTER?" me: having no idea what he was talking about, but feeling with him anyway "I'M WITH YOU!" him: "Hunter, it's been incredible talking to you" and I think he might have thrown in some other catchphrase from one of his songs as a parting gift.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 14:19 |
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Carfax Report posted:What the gently caress? I don't want to believe any of this but it's all so bizarre. Yeah, that whole situation was really loving weird. I mean, I've heard some interesting arguments to go with the whole "ANDREW WK IS FAKE AND A CONCOCTION OF RECORD COMPANIES" thing, but that site seems like its using wacky numerology bullshit to prove that AWK is an illusion, and it's doing it without a shred or irony.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 14:28 |
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Dyna Soar posted:Ok, better close this thread now, we're approaching pretty goony levels of praise here. Yeah, but what kind of criticism can you level against Andrew WK? I mean, you can not like it (I guess...) but you can't say the guy isn't succeeding 100% at doing what he's setting out to do. And his cover of Ai Senshi rules.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 14:30 |
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 I love Andrew W.K so much.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 14:33 |
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Mr. Carlisle posted:I stopped following him after all the rumors about his management hiring actors to play him at gigs and actually started noticing him looking very different depending on what photo you saw of him. Hey I heard Paul is dead
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| # ? May 31, 2009 15:34 |
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BIPSY posted:And his cover of Ai Senshi rules. It doesn't hurt that Ai Senshi is one of the most metal songs ever.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 18:44 |
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He's supposed to be playing a show with legendary Vancouver band Thee Evaporators (Nardwuar) on June 23rd at the Biltmore in Vancouver. I'm thinking of going.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 19:03 |
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Andrew W.K. always seemed like an awesome guy just from seeing him in interviews back in the day, but this thread proves it; I'm going to go out of my to go see a show at Santos House Party next time I hear something I likes playing there. Dude deserves it.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 20:25 |
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I Get Wet is the best song.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 21:23 |
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the talent deficit posted:He's supposed to be playing a show with legendary Vancouver band Thee Evaporators (Nardwuar) on June 23rd at the Biltmore in Vancouver. I'm thinking of going. That sounds like a legendary show, I wish I could see it.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 21:48 |
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Here's an odd one: Mr. WK is credited with bass, piano, vocals on the latest Current 93 record "Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain". Wow. And I began to read that "different AWKs" website, and about four paragraphs into it I figured that it is either an elaborate prank or the work of an off-their-meds crazy fan. Based on skimming the rest of it, I'd lean towards the latter. I am not very familiar with AWK, and the OP nailed it - all I knew was the Party song and that bloody-nose album cover. After reading this thread, I am inclined to check him out.
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| # ? May 31, 2009 22:32 |
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Mr. Anthrope posted:Here's an odd one: Mr. WK is credited with bass, piano, vocals on the latest Current 93 record "Aleph at Hallucinatory Mountain". Wow. I did a double take the first time I saw him credited for a Current 93 performance...Creepy pastoral folk + Andrew WK?!
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| # ? May 31, 2009 22:43 |
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Well, that album also features Sasha Grey on vocals. And it's awesome. Tibet is a genius.
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| # ? Jun 1, 2009 01:36 |
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The "record label fuckery" consists of Andrew actually selling his name to the label/producer/someone and after a falling out he no longer had the right to release music under the name any more, yeah?
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| # ? Jun 1, 2009 03:29 |
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I was wondering when Close Calls was going to get a North American release. Andrew WK kicks rear end, the music is just great to listen to when you're flying down the road doing 100 on a motorcycle.
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| # ? Jun 1, 2009 03:53 |
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| # ? May 19, 2013 17:22 |
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Laserface posted:The "record label fuckery" consists of Andrew actually selling his name to the label/producer/someone and after a falling out he no longer had the right to release music under the name any more, yeah? Something like that. I don't know the exact details. but I do know that he couldn't release albums in the US for contractual reasons. But I guess that's all fixed now
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| # ? Jun 1, 2009 03:54 |
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