Musician and professional partier Andrew W.K. recently took a new role, as sort of a rock ringmaster of the Dos Equis-sponsored “Most Interesting Show in the World.” He led a 17-city tour of music, magic, burlesque, and other variety acts presented to the public with no cover charge and free Dos Equis.
The Most Interesting Show in the World
“There really is this party feeling,” Andrew W.K. tells us. “It doesn’t feel as much like a traditional concert; it feels like a celebration. We have local performers on every show, as well as an incredible performer named Bubble Man …. I really, really love magicians and magic. I have for years. A lot of my friends almost seem to specifically hate magic; I had never even conceived that someone could hate magic! That’s like someone telling me that they hate candy or roller coasters or amusement parks! But I actually have a lot of friends who do hate candy and do hate amusement parks. Why am I friends with these downer people?”
“Anyway, this has been unbelievably exciting just for that, to watch a magician perform. Elliot Zimet is a Las Vegas-level magician. He performed for a year with Ringling Bros. circus, living on the circus train …. He has birds in his act that we bring on the road. Live parrots! It’s incredible.”
“The whole show really becomes like a song. That’s the beautiful part of it. Even when there are moments of spontaneity and improv, it’s still like a song, an hour-long song, with all these different parts and performers. Some sing, some do magic, some dance, but they’re all part of a song. And when it’s tight like we have it, it really goes by like a song …. And working with these people who have that kind of timing, that vision to practice what they do to the point where they’re masters, it really elevates you and what you do to another level. It’s like playing with a good athlete; you just play better.”
And play Andrew did, rocking out on an elaborate full-size piano onstage, glistening with sequins, surrounded by falling confetti, while sexy dancers kicked and twirled around him. It wasn’t his usual headbanging show, but the audience seemed willing to expand their minds and take in the brain-melting skill demonstrations and colorful eye candy-and especially the free Dos Equis.
Andrew W.K. — Party Monster
Talking with Andrew W.K. about the Most Interesting Show in the World made us realize he has way more going on than that. He’s a head-banging rocker, a classical pianist, a motivational speaker, and he loves blowing stuff up. What’s not to like? We also love him because he loves us. He says, “I’ve been a huge, huge, huge fan of the magazine for many years, so this is really nice o finally get a chance to talk about something.” So we let him talk about everything and anything he wanted.
What’s the deal with the bloody nose? You partied so hard that you’re bleeding?
I didn’t really think about any kind of meaning behind it; I just thought it was an exciting image that people would be able to identify with…. I thought it was a way to show blood that wasn’t violent. You always want to have something timeless and classic, like a great band name, like the Police or the Cars. Those are all taken, gone, so what do you have left? A few images, concepts, ideas. A bloody nose is one of them.
Showing vulnerability to your audience maybe?
Sure, that as well, that’s a huge part of it…. I believe very strongly that you have to be the fool. But when you’re a performer there’s a combination of ego-boosting and ego-crushing, and I think you need to really have that balance for the audience to appreciate you. If you have too much ego boost, then they’re gonna be like, Who does this guy think he is? But if there’s too much embarrassment, it’s just too painful. You want to have that combination of the glory and the struggle that we all go through in life. It’s a fun line to walk.
Some performers are known for reinventing themselves. Are you on the verge of doing this? There have been rumors and controversy that you’re not even the same Andrew W.K. [as the original]. But it seems that you’ve chosen to simultaneously keep the original persona and reinvent yourself.
If you’re a performer and you try something new, it’s still the same person at the core that gives the nice consistency to any sort of radical change you might go through. I’m just someone on a personal adventure through the world, an adventure of partying and celebration. I figured that show business, entertainment, was the most exciting thing I could do.
Which version of A.W.K. is it easiest to be?
It’s all very easy to be. That’s the key. It’s physically demanding, but easy spiritually and emotionally. I’m very fortunate.
A lot of rock stars are obviously trying very hard to be sexy. I don’t get that sense from you, but all your female fans want to fuck you anyway. What’s your sex-appeal secret?
Well, that’s great! Oh, I don’t know. I remember a long time ago, before I ever started doing Andrew W.K., I had a friend at work in a record store [in New York City] called Kim’s Video, when it used to be on St. Marks Place. Amazing place, incredible job, one of the great times of my life there.
We were talking about the future. He said, “Man, if you ever blow up, girls are just going to love you.” I was really confused, because all the stuff I was doing, it seemed like girls would specifically not like it. There’s blood, and I’m kind of dirty, and the music is really intense and aggressive. It seemed much more masculine. But he said, “No, that’s why they’ll like it. It’s very masculine, very intense, but you’re really nice and you’re being really sweet. They’re going to like that.” And when we started, it was primarily male audiences. But over the years, it was more girls and more girls and then beautiful girls! Now, in this past year, we might be at a 60/40 split, 60 male, 40 female. I think it happened over time, with women realizing that this was okay to like.
I was always really uncomfortable with performers trying anything that didn’t seem to come naturally. There are some performers who are very naturally sexual people, and that just comes out and you can’t really hold it back. It would be awkward to hold it back. But someone who isn’t that sexual naturally, trying to be — that always weirded me out. So I would never go without a shirt onstage or try to do something that was too provocative in that sexual way. I just let it come out through the intensity of the performance. Maybe people envision, If he’s headbanging like that, would that be what it’s like if he’s having sex? I dunno. But I’m grateful for any female fans that we have. They’re taking a big risk and really going out on a limb to like us.
At the other end of the spectrum, you also host a kids’ show, Destroy Build Destroy. You literally build things and destroy them?
Yeah, on a massive scale. These are Hollywood-level explosions — like a 500-foot fireball. You can see it from a mile away; it leaves a mushroom cloud with a ring around it. It really is completely over-the-top. When the show was first described to me, I asked, “Are the explosions going to be pretty impressive?” Because I just couldn’t imagine them mixing kids with that type of power.
Right, it seems like a really bad idea. Like, let’s get Andrew W.K. to work with a bunch of children. Awesome. Then we’re going to give him fire and explosions. This is a terrible idea!
TNT! TNT! Well, that’s the thing; this was unprecedented — the combination of teenagers and explosions. I realized that this was going to be a fantasy. We have episodes with the top monster-truck drivers racing around; explosions going off; me, a rock guy screaming his head off through a megaphone — it’s archetypal fantasies of a young kid. Maybe specifically of a young boy, but we always have girls on the show and they seem to love it. And then to work on a team ofl00 people in Hollywood, so you get the best of the best-I mean, just the level of absurdity is so high that I can safely say that this is what it’s all about. This is what you work toward in life, so you can have experiences like that. It’s really one of the greatest things I’ve ever gotten to do. It’s so ridiculous and so over-the-top, and yet it’s so fun and loving and exciting. This is the best thing you can ever use explosives for. It’s much better to do this than to blow up a country with them. Just blow up a bunch of garbage and then build something with it, with young kids. I’ve always said that I hope that someday the only weapons used will be in Hollywood for special effects. We’re trying to buy up as many as we can to use on the show, to take them off the market.
Okay, so you’re about explosions and monster trucks and screaming, but you play classical piano, you went to prep school, you’ve had speaking engagements at Yale. It’s kind of a weird dichotomy. I’m guessing you’ve turned out a little bit different than some of your classmates.
Yeah, I have some amazing classmates, though. I went to a very special school full of amazing artists, so it’s no surprise that they’re doing amazing things. But no one, I guess, has done exactly this.
“I would never go without a shirt onstage or try to do something that was too provocative in that sexual way. I just let it come out through the intensity of the performance.”
I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s an easy definition for how you use the word “party.” A lot of people, when they say “party,” mean drinking beer and doing coke or something. I get the feeling that could be part of what you mean but maybe not all of it.
To celebrate is to revel in the moment. It’s been presented to us that it’s only appropriate to do that at certain times. On the weekend, or at night. You can only celebrate once a year, at New Year’s or on someone’s birthday. Why wouldn’t we just appreciate being alive every day? To me that’s a state of mind. Every day is a reason to celebrate, and everybody has his or her own way of celebrating, just like a little kid wouldn’t necessarily go out and do a bunch of drugs and drink, but he can have a party that is just as genuine, just as meaningful to him. It’s amazing how many very open-minded people I’ve met in terms of politics and religion, in terms of letting people follow their own path, people who don’t like oppression, who don’t like people to be picked on — these same people say, “You’re not partying the right way. You’re supposed to party like I want you to party, the way I do.” To me that is the biggest pile of BS in the world. It’s the same as trying to tell someone that they’re not cool because they listen to the wrong kind of music. The alternative is to do your thing and let everyone else do their own. And that’s partying. And partying hard is simply doing it with every bit of energy and passion that you have.
I noticed on your Twitter feed that you said, “The whole point of everything I’m doing is good times, good feelings, and good living. That’s all I care about.” It’s a great summary of everything you’ve said, but is it difficult to maintain such positivity?
I don’t try to, I guess. I used to be a lot harder on myself about being in a certain mood al the time, but then I realized there were times when; for example, I would watch a sad movie and it might make me well up with tears or something, but is that not part of the full range of human experience? I realized I don’t want to cut myself off from feelings just because they’re not making me smile, basically.
It takes effort, but it’s such a blessing to be able to put effort into something like that.
Don’t you ever want a day off from partying?
That’s the day that you can party just by lying down and meditating. Meditation or rest is just as important. You’ve gotta follow whatever comes to you and just enjoy the full range and spectrum of everything we have here. I mean the full range of emotion — sadness is not a bad thing. We have to be able to have happy days and sad days and good times.
You’ve described yourself as a “New Age motivational speaker.” What is your definition of “New Age”?
I don’t know what the traditional definition is…
Well, I think of hippies and crystals.
Shoot, I guess it contains that. To me it’s just new. We’re in a new age. It’s part of a new way of thinking for the future, based on, I guess, very traditional, age-old ideas. It’s an important time to revel and celebrate, but at the same time keep perspective on what really matters and what is really important. I think we are in this new age of humanity.
As one might expect, Andrew W.K. has his own appropriately titled web site with the subtle tagline: God of Partying. You might find it interesting as well. … On a more tangential note, while we have zero indication at all — none to be perfectly clear — that Andrew W.K. has ever visited a cam site at all, even once, ever, we do feel confident that some Andrew W.K. followers might have. We feel equally safe in the presumption that at least some of these adventurous individuals will at one point or another have felt enticed by Fetish Cam play. Daring people tend to be daring in general, after all, and thus we applaud them.
Photograph by Neil Wilder / Corbis Outline
