Andrew WK, where do babies come from?
They come from come. And partying.
You are one of my all time favorite performers. One of my teenage dreams was fulfilled when I got to see you for the first time in Austin during SXSW two years ago and take a picture with you. This is my favorite and most cherished photo: http://imgur.com/rf0q9kh I guess thats not really a question.. So what’s your favorite animal and why?
My favorite animal is myself and human beings in general. But beyond humans, there are so many animals that I enjoy. Fishes, birdies, doggies, hogs… the list can go on and on. I also like trotters, screaming beaks, and washed out frogs. And thank you for coming to the Austin show and for your extremely kind words.
Hi Andrew. I’ve only recently become a fan of yours in the last year or so, but I really love your work - and your live show was absolutely fucking nuts in the best way both times I went. I have a few questions that I’ve wanted to ask you for a while now:
1) You’ve said in the past that you’ve met Ke$ha a few times and that she even gave you a tattoo. Have you ever tossed around the idea of collaborating with her on a song or album? I think it’d be pretty rad, myself.
2) Is there a particular reason you don’t perform anything off of Close Calls With Brick Walls live, or does it just not fit in with the rest of your setlist? It’s my favorite album of yours.
3) My friend who just turned 21 wants to know: do you have any beer recommendations? Also, when we all eventually party together, what topping or toppings would you want on your pizza?
Anyway, that’s it. Thank you so much for doing this, and if you see this, for answering my questions! Party on!
Thanks for your questions! I'll do my best to answer them: 1) Ke$ha has always been very nice to me and I love lots of her songs. She did give me a tattoo because I asked her to. It got infected. I'd love to make a song with her.
2) Thank you for liking the Close Calls album! I perform at least one song off of it at every single concert I do. Usually, "You Will Remember Tonight". When we first released the album, we played many songs from it, including, "I Want To See You Go Wild", "The Moving Room", "Into The Clear", "Pushing Drugs" and more. We'll play those songs more in the future!
3) Happy birthday to your friend! 21 is an awesome number of years for anything to be. I'm open to any and all pizza toppings, especially cheese, meat, jalapeños, habaneros, beans, egg, meat, and sauce.
Hey Andrew,
Earlier this year you appeared on an episode of my podcast, Unrendered, where we talked about pizza and your book. You were the first guest we had on my podcast and you helped kickstart us into what we are today. I really want to thank you for being such an awesome guy and helping us out. I'd love to have you back on to nerd with us!
No question here - just PARTY HARD!
THANK YOU! And thanks for having me on your show. Please, please, please keep partying!
Hi Andrew!
First off, I fucking love you and your music.
Second of all, I wanted to know if there are any other bands or musicians that you would want to collaborate with.
and Lastly, will there be any around the US/World Motivational speech tours?
Thank you very much for your kind words and for finding some sort of good feeling in this music and what I'm offering.
I've gotten to work with just about every musician of my dreams - and that happened pretty quickly, much to my amazement. So, I don't have that many more dream musician things left. But those that remain, I keep private, as that somehow seems to help them manifest. Beyond that, I just want to collaborate with being alive.
And yes, there will hopefully be lots more motivational speaking dates. its of self-help magic, spreading the power of positive partying. THANK YOU!
Thanks for stopping in, Andrew (Mr. W.K.?)!
Your Gundam Rock album is made with a tangible love of the series Mobile Suit Gundam. A man has not truly lived until he has sped around corners blasting Char the Great. What can you tell us about the making of album? And, if you have the time, what’s your favorite Gundam series? Favorite mobile suit?
Thank you very much for your question. And thank you for even being familiar with my "Gundam Rock" album. For those that aren't familiar, the Sunrise Corporation invited me to record an entire album of classic Gundam songs (a Japanese robot animation franchise), to help celebrate their anniversary. I agreed and soon found myself on a voyage into previously uncharted musical (and linguistic) challenges.
If you look up Andrew W.K. and "Gundam Rock" on YouTube, you can get a sense of the songs.
I tried to be as faithful to the original arrangements and vibes of the songs, because they're so good. If anyone is familiar with the original Gundam recordings, I hope they can tell how hard I tried to maintain that original spirit. The beauty of those string parts, those brass parts, the drums, the vibes… you can't do better than that, so I didn't try.
I just partied.
PartyWizard in the house!
When are the weekly party chats going to come back?
Thank you for your question!
I've been talking to Ustream about doing a new weekly video web chat. I miss Stickam very much. Hopefully I'll organize something good soon. That was a great tradition and I looked forward to partying on the computer camera every week.
What exactly do you mean by this "U2" thing?
How do you recover from a night of partying hard? Also, how did you get involved in motivational speaking? Do you see it as an extension of your music career? Thanks for doing this AMA, you're one of my favorite performers.
One last thing, bring back destroy build destroy!!!!!!
Q: How do you recover from a night of partying hard? A: You don't recover. The lack of recovery is all part of it. That's the beauty of it. There's just as much value in the after-effects and the pre-effects and being in the midst of it. Enjoy it all. Savor it all. Suck all the experience from it that you can and taste it forever.
Q: How did you get involved in motivational speaking? A: New York University asked me to do a lecture where I just talked about partying and life and everything and anything. So I did. And it lasted 4 hours. And I just decided to keep it going. I like to talk to people about being alive and trying to have fun during that time.
Q: Destroy Build Destroy! A: THANK YOU!!! The show is on Netflix.
Andrew WK,
Please, tell me the story of your first party. I want to be inspired.
Alright, I was 18 months old, almost 1.5 years on this earth. My mother had decided to take me to the birthday party of her friend's infant daughter, who was just turning 1 year old. We ate roasted egg, roasted cake, roasted pot roast, and melted milk. Ever since that fateful afternoon, I've been addicted to having fun. That's when I decided to become a professional partier.
I just want you to know that when it's time to party I will ALWAYS party hard.
On a scale of pizza to nana's tea, how hard should I be partying right now?
How hard are YOU partying right now?
You should party as hard as you want. And then a little bit harder. The people at Reddit served me cask single malt Scotch. I'm in the Reddit office in NYC and it's amazing. We're basically partying, basically.
boxers or breifs?
Both, either, or neither. PARTY.
Andrew, Is the path of the partier beset upon all sides?
No! Fortunately, partying is the easiest and most conflict-free path you can take! That's the beauty of it! You don't have to fight or fear or watch out for attacks from any side! Once you begin to fully celebrate not being dead, you are essentially invincible.
What are your inspirational sources for your party persona?
That's a great question!
My Mom and Dad are my main party inspirations. After all, they did create me. And they have always been nice to me.
Beyond them, every friend, every good time, every good song, every good meal, every good feeling, every special sensation that I ever was lucky enough to experience. I want to be the combination of all of that and turn it into a go-to source of party power.
First off you are amazing...if you could party with any historical figure who would it have been?
Crowley.
Who is this Steev Mike guy and why can't you release new stuff? What's going on man?!
It's a long story, but I'm working on it. And hopefully a new album will come out soon!
Hi Andrew! Do you remember writing this note EXACTLY 10 years and 1 day ago? Never got a chance to say thanks--so thanks! Plan on doing any tours through Baltimore anytime soon?
Wow! Thank you SO much for saving that note after 10 YEARS!!! Was that from the Otto Bar show? I've been through Baltimore a couple times since then, but not nearly enough. We usually play in DC or other places. But Balt is one of the great American cities and I love it. I'll make sure we come party there again soon. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!
Hey Andrew, you rule.
I've seen you address and rightly deny conspiratorial accusations that you're some sort of reptoid or something (as you should).
My question is, how do you think this stuff all started? Why you?
Thanks.
Edit: Grammar
Thanks for being here, rj. This is a complicated topic, and also very simple. The complicated answer is that these sorts of accusations and rumors have been around since I first started working. People said I wasn't a real person, or that I was a front for a larger group of people. There is truth and non-truth to those claims. The simple answer is that all of this is absurd and should just be ignored.
I've always hoped that I can present excitement in a raw form, without the need to qualify and explain it. Sometimes people want to tear that feeling apart, and I understand that.
I guess, at the end of the day, just party.
You signed intimate wipes for me. I thought of you when I used those wipes. Thank you so much.
Thank you very, very, very much for using those Fresh + Sexy wipes. And thank you very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very much for thinking of me while you used them.
PARTY.
You're involved in one of my favorite gifs ever
Any particular thoughts about this?
Wow. Well, thank you for asking about this.
That was pretty much one of the most intense experiences of my life. It's very hard to put into words exactly how I was feeling at that moment. Being on TV is always intense. And being on FOX News is even more intense. I was just overtaken by a certain physical flavor. I savored it and allowed it to wash over me. My facial movements were a bit loose. I'm not proud of how I looked, but it was an honest expression of how I was feeling in my soul. It is what it was. Or something.
PARTY.
Andrew, i just want to say thank you. i cannot even begin to express how much you and your music has done for me. its gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life. whenever i feel low you bring me right back up. the sense of joy and empowerment i get from listening to your music is indescribable. i can honestly say that you've made my life better and made me a happier person in general. i owe you big time. hopefully this wont sound too weird but i don't just think of you as a musician, i think of you as a friend and a brother. thank you so much for everything you've done for me. i hope one day we meet so we can party hard together!
Thank you so much for your extremely kind and complimentary words. I want you to understand that the way this music and I make you feel was my dream. That's how I want to feel. That's how I always wanted to feel and couldn't. So I decided to devote myself to something that would hopefully make me and other folks feel good and powerful. The fact that you found that feeling in my work is… just huge. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And you're welcome. Just remember that YOU decided to give your energy and time and attention to this. YOU found the good feelings inside of this. Give yourself credit. YOU are building this with me. And YOU have all that you need and more to keep this feeling going and growing. Never let down. Stay strong. And party hard.
How many of those white shirt/pant combos do you own?
Thanks to the kind folks at Levi's, I currently own over 100 pairs of white jeans. Most of them are in storage, as back-ups, but I have about 20 pairs at my house. I try to wear the same pair until they basically disintegrate and break apart. Then I'll pull up a new pair. For example, I wore the same pair of jeans for the past 7 months of tour. Now I've switched to a fresh pair. I'll probably run these into the ground by March or so, depending on how hard I party.
I use Fruit of The Loom for t-shirts.
Hi Andrew WK. Do you believe in God and in general what are your thoughts on the 'larger picture'?
Can't wait to see your book!
The larger picture is the same size as the smaller picture, for better or worse, so to speak. As above, so be low.
I believe in believing in God.
I can't wait to see my book either!
Let's just party until then.
I recently saw you for the first time when you performed with Marky Ramone at Irving Plaza. The afternoon of the show, you put a call out on Twitter for people to retweet you if they wanted to go to the show. I did, and within two minutes, I had a follow and a DM from you. Money is kind of tight right now and it was a really nice pick me up. It was just a super nice thing of you to do and I really appreciate it. Fan for life. You haven't even unfollowed me yet!
So I guess my question is, why are you so nice?
Thank you for wanting to see that show! It was my pleasure to give you free tickets! That's what it's all about! I never really won contests or prizes and things when I was growing up (and still now), so whenever I have the chance to give someone else a prize or a special gift, I like to do it. It's just as thrilling to give a prize as it is to get a prize. Thank you for coming and thank you for partying!
I'm not partying currently as I am sitting in my office. What can I do to make my workday full of partying?
Not being dead makes just about everything about day-to-day life into a party. So try and think of all the good things about your life, and be thankful them (Thanksgiving) and celebrate them. That's the basic premise of partying - to be constantly aware of what we're grateful for and actively give thanks.
Use what you have to have some smiles and laughs.
Andrew WK, a few years ago, my friend jumped on stage with you and started playing the key part to party hard, but instead of kicking him off, you went up a higher octave and played with him.
Random, but you're goddamn cool. I hope to party as hard as you one day. Now for my question, what do you dream about?
First of all, thank you to your friend for playing that keyboard part with me! I remember that quite well, actually. Not many people have learned the piano parts to my songs so well. Tell him, "Thank you for partying!"
When it comes to my actual dreams, like most folks, I've had all kinds of dreams, but the most reoccurring dreams have been about fun houses that I want to build and apartments I want to live in. I will.
Which American city has the partiest pizza??
Wow… there are a lot. It's hard for me to even go city by city, because sometimes even the most unlikely city will have great pizza. Pizza is party.
I'm a big fan of Canadian pizza. And I don't necessarily mean the chains, like Boston Pizza (although they're pretty good). I just mean that after playing shows and going back to my hotel, I've gotten more top-quality super-late-night delivery pizza in Canada than any other North American cities besides New York and Chicago.
Beyond that, I think that New Haven, CT has really good and really special pizza. I think that Boston, MA has extremely good pizza at a few locations. In fact, most of the Northeast USA has good pizza.
There's a few places in Orlando, Florida that have pizza so good I can't even believe it. It's the kind of pizza that you almost have to block out of your mind, or you will go completely crazy.
I'm not very picky when it comes to pizza. The people I've met who are really picky about pizza don't usually like good pizza.
Andrew, how do you keep your hair looking so awesome?
I stopped using shampoo back in high school. I read an interview in Big Brother magazine with Ed Templeton, and he talked about how bad it was to wash your hair all the time. That had a big impact on me. Plus, I really like Toy Machine, so I listened to what he was saying.
The rich natural oils in your head deserve to saturate your hair fibers. Let that oil soak in. Don't rinse it out. Don't feel the need to constantly be stripping your hair down. Let it revel in its own grease.
If you've washed your hair every day for a long time, your hair will take a bit of time to adjust. It's probably been over-producing oil to compensate for being stripped by all the soap. Once you stop using shampoo, it'll take a week or two for your body to re-adjust. Be patient and don't give in.
Party and let the oil flow.
who is your favourite muppet?
I was just thinking about this earlier today! Who is the PARTIEST Muppet?
In a way, I think of ALL the Muppets as one giant organism of creative personality. It's hard to separate them. I don't want to separate them. It's like asking, "what's your favorite note on the piano?" All the notes count, and they help the ones you don't like stand out. Everything has its place.
With the Muppets, there's a surplus of charisma and power. We have too much to choose from. It's an embarrassment of riches. I like them all. I like Jim Henson. I like the puppeteers. I like the voice artists, like Frank Oz. But I guess my favorite (at this moment), is Sully.
PARTY.
Specifically on The Wolf, the ending to many of your songs are very inspirational and uplifting. The lyrics at the end of Totally Stupid (when we look into the future...) are honest to God the most happy inducing words to listen to when feeling down.
I have been blessed with a good life, but there have been a few times I really needed some positivity, and soaking in that song truly lifted my spirits.
That being said: Andrew, what or whom inspires you, to inspire others?
I'm not entirely sure what inspires me. And I don't really know why I want to inspire other people. All I can think of is that it feels good to care about being alive. It feels good to feel good. It feels good to want to do something before we die. So, how can we amplify that? How can we harness that? How can I take that feeling and give it to myself, and hopefully someone else?
We might as well do something, since we're here. Or maybe not. WHO KNOWS? That's the power of positive partying.
Why were you (briefly) chosen to be an ambassador to Bahrain? And what ultimately happened to that?
It's quite a long story, but I'll do my best to present a concise version… and I swear that all of this is 100% true.
Almost 2 years ago, I was contacted by the US State Department about traveling to the Middle East as a Cultural Ambassador. We spent about a year going through many levels of security clearance and background checks before finally getting full approval. At that point, we put together a plan with the State Dept. that would have had me visiting Bahrain - visiting schools, talking with students, performing with local musicians, and just engaging with the the people in general.
We booked our flights and had our itinerary confirmed. Two days before my flight to Bahrain, we received a call from the State Dept. We were told that a higher up in the department had seen a photograph of me and decided that I was "not suitable" to represent the United States of America.
FOR THE COMPLETE DETAILS, GO TO: http://peterslarson.com/2012/12/02/andrew-wk-how-he-almost-became-the-us-cultural-ambassador-to-the-middle-east/
AND ALSO SEE: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2012/11/201015.htm
WAIT A MINUTE YOU WERE THE GUY FROM CARTOON NETWORK WHERE CHILDREN WOULD DESTROY SHIT AND PUT IT TOGETHER. question is how did you get that role?
YES! That's me! The show is called "DESTROY BUILD DESTROY" and we did three seasons. The episodes are on Netflix (I think) and were also on iTunes (I think).
I had been working with Cartoon Network for a while. I did an animated cameo appearance on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and recorded a song for their movie called, "PARTY PARTY PARTY" (look it up on YouTube).
One day, I got a call from Cartoon Network because they were looking for someone to host a live action game show where kids would blow stuff up with real explosives and then build something using the wreckage and then blow that up again. I thought, "this is the greatest game show idea I've ever heard of!" There really had never been a kid's game show that involved dynamite and bazookas and gasoline and truly dangerous, violent stunts, so I was naturally psyched.
The show ended up being the #1 show on all of TV for boys. And I won "Host of The Year" from the KidScreen awards. We were at the top of the heap!
Unfortunately, there were a lot of complaints from parents that the show was inappropriate and too violent. They also thought I was a bad influence on young people. So the show was abruptly pulled off the air.
Still, it remains once of the partiest experiences of my life, and I think about it every day.
Andrew, What is your favorite item at Taco Bell?
Wow! This is such a great question! Because I'm actually making a special trip to the Taco Bell headquarters in California TOMORROW morning at 5am!!! It's hard for me to express how much I love Taco Bell. To me, it's the epitome of just about everything I love about everything.
When someone asks me what they should order at Taco Bell, I usually tell them that they can't go wrong with just a beautiful little pure hardshell taco. Throw some Fire Sauce on there if you want to kick it up. Go supreme or just go original - either way, that crispy corn and that smooth cheese and that seasoned ground beef is just a wonder to behold, AND TO TASTE!
I just love it. And I love saying I love it. It's party food.
