‘The joy of not being dead’

Andrew W.K. is bleeding and I can’t look away.

In the new music video, “I’m a Goner,” I watch him pull a microphone stand out of his stomach and get a little sick in my own.

The upbeat single by punk duo Matt & Kim, features W.K. and rapper Soulja Boy.

The three-way collaboration on “I’m a Goner” came after W.K. met fellow New Yorkers Matt & Kim on tour in Australia earlier this year.

W.K. said that getting asked by Matt & Kim to work with Soulja Boy was one of his dreams.

“I said, ‘This is what it’s all about, this is proof that dreams come true, this is a sign for anyone who’s ever doubted that you can hope and wish and go for your dreams and see them come true,’ because that’s exactly what happened,” W.K. said.

The singer-songwriter has been working on his new album for a year and plans to go on a full-length tour after it’s done. He’s still recording and hasn’t chosen a title for the album and a release date for the record hasn’t been announced.

“I’ve been really just trying to get it done as soon as possible but not rushing it because you cannot rush,” W.K. said. “I’m just making the best songs I can one at a time, one moment at a time, one beat at a time, one part at a time, a verse, a chorus, a theme, a mean, a melody.”

W.K. adds that in addition to working with Soulja Boy and Matt & Kim, he’d like to be on the road with Motorhead, Josh Groban and Kesha.

“I would like to tour with anyone that brings the energy and excitement of the party and feeling enthralled,” he said.

Kesha recently gave the head banger a tattoo. The two met up in New York City after one of her concerts.

“I wanted to get another tattoo, just a simple straight line about an inch and half to two inches long,” he said, adding that he recently got a tattoo done on the TV show L.A. Ink before meeting up with the pop songstress. “Kesha said she could do it and so she did,” W.K. said.

W.K. owns a record label called Skyscraper Music Maker and a nightclub in New York City called Santos Party House. He writes two monthly advice columns, one for Japanese magazine Rockin’ On and another for British adult magazine Front. Despite all his endeavors, he finds time to make music and party.

“I have over the last ten years slowly rearranged and worked to fashion my life and day-to-day existence in such a way so that all I have to do is this stuff,” W.K. said. “I don’t have any work to do. I just party and all this stuff just happens.

“To me, partying is the joy of not being dead.”

The intense emotions and commercial prominence of Andrew W.K. have led some people to assume it’s an invented persona of Andrew Wilkes-Krier, but he said that isn’t true.

“I am Andrew W.K.,” he said. “Like if Joe Johnson decided to become a firefighter. You don’t say he’s not a firefighter because his shift ended.

“It’s really a journey and an obstacle course that, combined with my own participation in it, becomes an odyssey. That’s all I can say, I enjoy being on this odyssey.”

Andrew W.K. plays the Mansion with the Fugitive Underground and Guilty Spark on Sunday at 8 p.m.

Andrew W.K., Interview, Josh Groban, Kesha, Matt & Kim, Motorhead, Soulja Boy, The Mansion

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Journal, Queen's University - Since 1873




© All rights reserved. | Powered by Digital Concepts

Back to Top
Skip to content