Andrew W.K.

Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, motivational speaker and "professional partier", currently based in New York City, New York, United States. Current live band members: Erik Payne – Guitar and vocals Gregg Roberts – Bass and vocals Cherie Lily – Vocals Dave Pino – Guitar and vocals Amanda Lepre – Guitar and vocals Clark Kegley – Drums Erica "ET" Pino – Keyboards and vocals Past live band members: Jimmy Coup – Guitar and vocals Sgt. Frank – Guitar and vocals Donald Tardy – Drums Kendall Andrews – Guitar and vocals Rich Russo – Drums Blake Canaris – Bass and vocals Justin Payne – Guitar and vocals Andrew was born May 9, 1979 in Stanford, California, son of James E. Krier and Wendy Wilkes, 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 keyboard. In 1993, when he was 14, Andrew joined the band Slam, later to be called Reverse Polarity. His first public recording, "Mr. Surprise", came out on the 2408092 compilation released by the Westside Audio Laboratories label. Over the next 5 years he was in many different bands in Michigan, most notably The Pterodactyls (2) (as L.A. Ellington) and Kathode (as Glaucomanie). During 1996 he founded two labels: V. Records, featuring releases from Japanese noise and hardcore artists, and Rock Side BK, where he made up a fake catalog and would record each release himself as they were ordered, with fictional band names such as The Portly Boys and Haunted Elegance. In 1994 he also started a group called Ancient Art Of Boar, later making it a solo project titled AAB, which ended in 1998, when Andrew moved from Ypsilanti to New York City. Later in 1998, his first official solo release as Andrew Wilkes-Krier, titled 1715858, was released on Hanson Records. Another tape, titled You Are What You Eat was supposed to be released shortly after, but the masters went missing. That same year, he appeared on the Hanson Records compilation . The track appearing on the compilation was a portion of the soundtrack Andrew made for Poltergeist, a movie made by Aaron Dilloway and himself. In 2000, he released his first EP, 973530, on Bulb Records, which would be the first solo release under the Andrew W.K. name (he appeared under the name on the Wolf Eyes EP 424284 earlier that year). He released one more EP, , and was scheduled to release a self-titled LP on the label, but ended up signing to Island Def Jam Music Group before its proper release. Andrew released his debut album on Island Records, , in 2001. The album is known for its cover art: a photo of him with a stream of blood running from his nose onto his chin and neck. I Get Wet soon rose to the #1 position on Billboard's 'Heatseekers' list, and its lead single, , became Andrew's biggest hit. He later contributed to with , which would also become one of his most famous songs. His second album, , was released in 2003. Despite not reaching the status of his previous album, it was still commercially successful. On tour for the album, Andrew was injured on stage and broke his foot. Not wanting to let his fans down, he performed the remainder of the tour in a wheelchair. In 2004, Andrew had a television show on MTV2 titled Your Friend, Andrew W.K., in which fans would write letters to Andrew asking for his help and he would pick certain letters and go to visit them. The series lasted for 11 episodes, each about 9 or 10 minutes in length. During the filming of the show, Andrew was in a car crash but sustained no serious injuries. In late 2004, legal disputes surrounding the use of Andrew W.K.'s name emerged, which prevented him from using it in the US and affected his possibility to release music there. He began performing as a self-help, new age motivational speaker in 2005. In 2006, after premiering the live concert film 2061045, he released his third album, Close Calls With Brick Walls = 兄貴、危機一髪!, exclusively in Asia due to the aforementioned legal troubles. Also during 2006 Andrew joined Tom Smith (2)'s To Live And Shave In L.A., and served as producer on 965007 together with Close Calls With Brick Walls co-producer Don Fleming. In April 2008 he performed live at Roadburn with David Tibet's Current 93, playing bass. This show was documented on the release. He also contributed vocals to the 2009 album . On October 4, 2008, Andrew married Cherie Pourtabib (also known as Cherie Lily), four years after the couple met. In Spring of 2008, Andrew and three partners opened a multi-level nightclub and live concert hall in downtown Manhattan, New York City, called Santos Party House. The venue would shut down in May, 2016. After being commissioned to record ringtones with covers of Japanese songs in 2008, Andrew recorded 3922200, released exclusively in Japan together with the compilation 3920820. Because of his cover of "Ai Senshi" ("Soldiers Of Sorrow") from the film Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers Of Sorrow, he was approached by Nippon Sunrise, Inc. to record an entire album of Gundam covers to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the franchise. The result was 1944567, released in 2009. In February 2009, Andrew found a loophole in his contractual constraints and formed the record label Skyscraper Music Maker, based in London, England and Manhattan, New York City. The second release on the label was Andrew's album of "spontaneous solo piano improvisations", entitled , released on the same day Gundam Rock was released in Japan. After some legal disputes, the label was absorbed and renamed into Steev Mike in 2010. Its first release under the new name was the double disc set , finally reissuing the third album globally. In the Summer of 2009, Cartoon Network announced that Andrew would be hosting and creating music for a new live-action TV program called, Destroy Build Destroy. The show features Andrew working with two teams of teenagers, competing to "blow stuff up and use the wreckage to build amazing machines". The show premiered on June 20, 2009. Cartoon Network also used Andrew W.K. in a video about the network's shift away from cartoons toward live-action shows, with the song "Hearing What I Say" (adapted from his 2006 song "Not Going to Bed") In 2011 Andrew released 3519975 as another Japan exclusive, with the announcement of a new full album in the works. This did not materialize right away, however, due to Andrew partaking several other projects since. In 2013 he became the vocalist of Marky Ramones Blitzkrieg, until 2015. He was also selected as the opening act for Black Sabbath's 2013 North American tour. In the same year he also announced his own book, The Party Bible, to be published by Simon & Schuster, and in 2016 he became an advice columnist for VICE. In 2018 Andrew finally released his next LP, , heavily influenced by his motivational work.