Revel in New York
A look at the city through its people
Andrew W.K.
Andrew W.K.'s true will is to create feelings of pure joy, true fun, total love, endless freedom, and infinite possibility. He strives to reach as many people as possible, using music, performance, visual art, lecturing, writing, nightclubs, television, and many other methods.
Andrew W.K. was born Andrew Wilkes-Krier, in Stanford, California, May 9th, 1979. His mother is Wendy L. Wilkes, and his father is Professor James E. Krier (legal scholar and co-author of the widely used Dukeminer & Krier casebook, "PROPERTY"). When Andrew was 4 years old, his family moved to Michigan, and Professor Krier began teaching at the University of Michigan Law School, in Ann Arbor. Andrew had begun piano lessons shortly after this move, and by age 5, was studying at The University Of Michigan School Of Music Pedagogy program. By his early teens, Andrew had exhibited great enthusiasm for musical, visual, and performing arts. He spent his high school years playing drums and keyboard in an almost endless variety of short-lived, but passionate southeast Michigan groups. By the age of 17, Andrew had graduated from high school, one year early, in an effort to dedicate all his time to creative work in the arts. At age 18, he was accepted to The School Of The Art Institute Of Chicago. After visiting the school, Andrew decided to move to New York City instead, and pursue his creative vision independently.
Upon arriving in New York, Andrew found odd jobs in art galleries, department stores, avant-garde fashion boutiques, selling opera tickets, and eventually as a gumball machine salesman; any job to support his primary interest: making the most exciting music he could. He pursued this goal day and night, putting all of his abilities and resources into the writing and recording of his own material. Shortening his name from Andrew Wilkes-Krier to Andrew W.K., he set out on a mission to have his music heard not only in New York City, but also around the world. His focus was to create music of great physical power and sensation, without meaning beyond "happiness" and "pleasure" in its most pure form. Andrew made efforts to remove his own personality from the context of his presentation, and at the same time contradicted the idea with the singular tone of his image, and the alarming amount of intentionally strong visual content. His earliest press photographs featured him battered and bruised, bloody with cuts, a bandage on his nose, contrasted by t-shirts with the word GUESS? printed in large letters - prompting the viewer to wonder, "Who? What? Why? Where? When?", and keeping the music, and Andrew himself, free of the constraints of certainty, and full of limitless possibility. The themes of questioning, and enjoying life to the fullest, continued in Andrew's approach. Andrew described it as: "I want the other person, to add their imagination to the experience and allow me to do the same with them. It's a way for us to play together, all the time; in life in general." In early press interviews, when asked what the W.K. in his name stood for, Andrew would respond, "Who knows?"
Without a band or even a partner, Andrew began performing solo concerts, vowing to play any show, anywhere. Using only a keyboard, a drum machine, and his voice, Andrew played shows up and down the east coast, including New York City, New York State, New Jersey, South New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Rhode Island. Quickly the word spread of the energy and raw excitement of the music. After performing several shows with friends and fellow New York performers, Fishcerspooner, Andrew was invited to play two engagements at a Belgian Arts Festival called "Over The Edges". Also during this time, Andrew recorded and released his first songs on two EPs called, "Girls Own Juice" and "Party Til You Puke". Both of these recordings were released with long time friend, Pete Larson, of the Bulb Records label.
