Interviews

Andrew WK

Interview with Andrew on Nov 30, 2001 by Archive Bot

I'd like to thank Jon of Island Records and Andrew himself for the string cheese and interview.

AWK: Punkbands.com right?

PB: Yea.
AWK: Great name. How long have you guys had that website?

PB: Around '98.
PB: What inspired the idea for the cover of "I Get Wet" and what really caused the bloody nose?
AWK: Is this being transcribed?

PB: I'm typing it when I get home.
Slappy (My friend): Yea! Transcribed! HAHAHAHAHAHA

PB: Sorry, I had a little too much to drink before I got here.
AWK: Did you really? Did you drive?
Slappy: No I did.
AWK: You're designated.

PB: I had a mind racer and the alien succretion.
AWK: Where? From Mars 21-12?

PB: No. Chili's... So yea.... before you went on that tangent!
AWK: I knew this photographer dude who took real good pictures. He did everything from advertising, to photo journalism, to set-up shots. He has lighting always... always! He took a lot of pictures of highways and stuff like that. It just looked real cinematic and cool. So I said to him.... can you take pictures of me with just a black background and close in? I didn't tell him the bloody nose idea because I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do it yet. I didn't think it was best if I told him and thought it would be better if I just.....

PB: Went BAM!
AWK: I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. The first idea I had for this thing was an ax that I ended up not doing.

PB: Thank god!
AWK: Well, I was just going to be holding an ax. Hehehehe But in preparation for it I got this pig's blood from a butcher shop and it was like in a water bottle. I brought that with me and I brought this door jam. I saw somebody use this exact same thing the other day at the concert in Columbia. It's just a broken cinder block but it has that little lift so you can use it as a door stop. That's what they were using it for and that's actually what I took from my apartment building in Brooklyn. We took that to the place and took twenty pictures with a large format camera. Then I said ok I'll be right back, I have to use the bathroom. I just stood there for a few seconds, took some deep breaths, and bam! I hit my nose. Not as hard because I didn't want to bash my nose. It bled and it bled good. I was blowing blood out and it bled down to about here (the mouth area). It started to dry and get crusty, so that's why I used the pig's blood. Half was mine, half was the pig's. That actually wasn't going to be the album cover. It was going to be the cover for another thing I was working on that never came about. At first I wasn't going to use it, but then thought it would be insane not to. It was met with a lot of adversity at the end of it.

PB: When I got "I Get Wet", it had a black sticker over the nose and blood. What do you think about that?
AWK: It's only on the shrink wrap so once you pull off the shrink wrap it's gone. It's my guess that in a few years that won't matter anymore. I've always said this so many times.... all that is, is a piece of plastic and can't stop this. That picture exists, and you think we don't have enough energy to peel the thing off? It doesn't stop anything, it just momentarily obstructs it. The point is that people in positions of power often fantasize themselves of being capable of stopping things and most of the times they can only temporarily obstruct, but never before! It will only keep getting more like this because information is so easily accessible. They can't stop anything. They can only stop it if they can end it, and that's what I meant when I sang... You can't stop what you can't end.

PB: "I Get Wet" hasn't only boosted your popularity but has also gotten you a new record label in Island Records. What do you think of majors and why Island?
AWK: Why don't we cross reference and do a little cross court. Cross-cross!

PB: Crossfire! CNN...
AWK: Crossfire was also a good board game. Crossfire is that show.... my parent's friend is on that show. The dude with the glasses and he's kind of a dorky dude. He's really funny. I was very fortunate to.... this whole thing began without any kind of plan. There was never a plan of we are going to play these shows, then we'll have a band, then we'll get signed, then we'll make the record, then this will happen, then.... this is my goal and this is my dream. Let's do this everyday and do everything as hard as we can and see what happens. Anything that can continue this and make it more exciting would always be said yes to. One of those was a label and they were the first we really talked to and it seemed good. It didn't need to be second-guessed, or thought about too much, or set aside, or waited on, it was just lets do it. Ya wanna do it? Good, lets do it. I have heard so many things ranging from horror stories to nightmare scenarios to it's the worst thing in the world and to never do it. I have seen none of those to be the case. This label is amazing and above everything else they aren't only smart and friendly but above all those things they have trusted me with this as they should of, but which so often doesn't happen. The amount of responsibility they have allowed me to take on and the amount of trust they have given me, is the only way this has been able to go as it has so far. For better or for worse, but it's the only way I want to do it. It's definately a group effort but nobody knows this music better than I do, and nobody knows business better than they do.

PB: Warped Tour 2002 or Ozzfest 2002 and why?
AWK: Well, if I had to do a tour next year I'd do the Warped Tour. I'm soooo happy we did the Ozzfest tour. It was really a way of us saying to all those who say we can't, shouldn't, aren't supposed to, and won't be able to.... WE JUST DID! The reason that certain kinds of bands or only certain bands play at Ozzfest is not because people don't want see certain kinds of bands but because the people organizing it think that the people want to see certain bands. So it ends up becoming this very stripped down and one time only kind of thing within itself which is awesome, but we were really proud and pleased and happy to say thank you very much for the invitation. Of course we're gonna do it and we're gonna give it all we have. Ozzfest was like driving your bike up this steap hill like a CHALLENGE ya know, and Warped Tour's like AHHHHHHHH reward. I looked at Ozzfest as we had to play for twenty minutes and what were we going to make for the rest of the day? No matter if it was for five hours, or ten hours, I was out everyday talking to everybody.

PB: How did the whole Island Records deal come about?
AWK: I started doing this in New York City and I started writing parts of songs and doing music similar to this. This was the first kind of music I started playing when I was playing piano when I was little. Always having been in so many bands or doing so many other things, or working on this that and the other. Having that be a very productive way to live, it didn't allow me to focus on one thing. I've never really done that. I think it was actually scary to me, to put all your eggs in one basket if you know what I mean. When I moved to New York after a year of living there I thought it's time to try something I never tried. It's time to see what will happen if I stepped up and said I'm going to try! Not try any one thing, just try to try to try. Not trying to do this, or trying to do that, just trying to do something period. For a while I was just trying to record better which took a good six months and I still wasn't learning everything. It's going to be a never ending learning process. Being able to acutally record music better and I didn't have a band, and all these songs I had written were so written for a band to play more than even other songs I had worked on in the past. It really seemed like I needed a band. I couldn't find people, I was putting ads in the paper, and just trying to get a band together that just wasn't working. I was meeting people but they said I don't really want to do it, and they said I don't like the keyboards in that song because they sound lame. There would always be one problem or the other. It just came clear to me that I was going to have to do it on my own, and do it by myself which is a way I thought many times throughout my life. Sometimes positively thinking that and sometimes..... screw em! I'm going to do it on my own. This was just like no, I'll just have to because there is no other way to do it.
So instead of sitting around and waiting for things to be perfect, I said screw it I'm going to make them perfect by not sitting around and waiting. Playing concerts by myself with a tape player and keyboard, and playing any show, anywhere I could. That continued and that's what led me to this point. That's why I met people... and I was always recording and always passing out tapes, and always passing out cd's. People would then like it and then help me. A couple dudes, one of which is now my manager knew enough people in the music business who gave it to people they knew, and the next thing you know Island Records and I had a meeting and we just went. We just went. There was never a goal to achieve. There was never a leading up thing. It was always like a rolling thing. If you're on a wheel and you're always rolling it's never like now we're here. Instead it's like whoah this happened, ok we're here, whoah now that happened, ok we're here now. It was like awesome, ok what do we do tomorrow? There was never a moment of resting or saying ok we've done it. That's why I don't feel any different than when I first started doing this except just a better person. Just more thankful, just more understanding, and a person who can understand what I can do and what other people can do than I ever did before. To all those people who said to me you're cool now, and you're thinking this way now, in six months man you're going to be the biggest jerk in the world. And I say first of all that's a ridiculous thing to say and second of all I say NO! I know I won't and I'll just stop thinking about it. Now when I think back to when people said that and think wow I'm glad things are good because I still feel pretty good about how this is. Things I never thought I'd be able to do I do on a nightly basis. We've only just gotten stronger and better. It was all from just doing. Not thinking, not questioning too much, not stopping and waiting for the perfect moment. But saying the perfect moment might now come and tomorrow might not even come so I have to just do it now.

PB: What's the deal with the dirty pants and dirty shirt, and are we ever going to see a new wardrobe?
AWK: This is clean! These aren't that dirty actually. The thing about the outdoor festivals is that stuff gets way dirtier, and usually I don't get sweaty. These last few concerts were the hottest concerts we've ever played by far in terms of temperature. I was drenched from head to toe, and soaking wet. I have other clothes up front that are just as wet and haven't even dried at all. It's actually just about what's really important, and washing my clothes every day isn't really that important. In terms of why is it always the same? It's the same because it's one less thing I have to think about. I don't have to change it, and I find something very strong and comforting in consistency and reliability. These clothes are going to stay and they're going to be around like good friends. Also, it shows up good on a black stage too.

PB: Was "I Love NYC" inspired after the events of 9/11? If not, how did the song come about?
AWK: No, no, no. It was about three years ago I guess. I was walking down a street called Spring or Prince and Broadway and that's where one of my friend's worked. And a lot of times I write a lot of songs in my head when I'm just doing stuff and that's what I did with that. I was like "I Love New York City!". It just seemed so simple, then I wrote the versuses like a year later. Of course when it happened it was insane. I'm really glad I have it and it was written about what I was thinking which was that the city is unstoppable. That either you're in it and you work within it, or you stay on the sidelines but either way it will go without you. It's a churning thing and it's just so great. It never sleeps, it never stops, and it never stops. That line "You can't stop what you can't end" is just so crazy. They leveled the city and it just kept going.

PB: Lastly, thanks for the string cheese and interview. Please describe each of the following bands in one word each.....
Poison?
AWK: Hmmmmmmm I don't remember much about Poison. Uhhhhh I just remember the album cover ten years ago. I didn't find out about most of this stuff until it was long past.

PB: Motley Crue?
AWK: Good drummer.

PB: The Ramones?
AWK: I know more about 'em now, and I like the song "I Believe In Miracles."

PB: Anthrax?
AWK: I like that anti-social song. They were cool.

PB: N'Sync?
AWK: I really like that song "Larger Than Life". It's about them being famous and how they're fans are actually huge. I thought that was really cool. That's a huge great statement. Amazing and ground breaking production on that record. I have a lot of admiration for those guys.