Andrew WK takes party to the piano
06:05 PM PT, Oct 31 2008
What's party man
Andrew WK been up to these days? Besides preaching positivity as a motivational speaker at Yale, Carnegie Mellon and NYU? The
Santo's Partyhouse co-owner is gearing up to record an improv piano record in November, to be released on good friend Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace! label. He performed a solo piano show last month (pictured above) at New York's the Stone, at the request of Foetus' Jim Thirwell.
"The piano is how I first came into music," he told Pop & Hiss in an interview today. "The approach to recording will be all spontaneous, all improv. It'll be called '55 Cadillac, named for this '55 Cadillac limo I bought, the only car I ever owned in New York. It was first bought by Dean Atchison, the secretary of State during the McCarthy era, so it's a haunted car as well. It's had a lot of intense experiences. All of that will be going into the album."
The album artwork will also feature Mr. WK posing with the behemoth. His sizable fanbase in Japan are sure to eat this up; WK had the most popular ringtone recently when he created a rock version of a popular comedian's catchphrase. Now he's working on a whole "album" of ring tones, translating J-Pop hits into Andrew WK rock missiles.
Our rowdy but deep-minded friend will also be appearing in L.A. for the opening night of Paper Magazine's fourth annual Los Angeles project on Nov. 5, in a one-night recreation of the anything-goes vibe of Santo's. We'll get a taste of his motivational mojo then: "I just want to harness the energy. I'm there to remind us all that we are alive and that it's time to celebrate."
--Margaret Wappler
Photo courtesy of andrewwk.com