March 25, 2014 - Andrew W.K. is a renaissance man of hard rock and heavy metal. Aside from making music with a pizza-shaped guitar and bashing the keyboard like Little Richard, he’s parlayed his positive party philosophy into a rather eclectic career that reaches far beyond music. Over a decade after his debut smash album “I Get Wet” and Andrew W.K. himself continues to be a bit of an enigma. Some say his ultra-positive public side is just an act, while others make the extreme claim that he doesn’t even exist at all.
After an intense solo show in Toronto (and a brief discussion about Arnold Schwarzenegger), I got to explore the mystique that has risen around one of rock’s most prolific entertainers. What I found was an individual whose rock persona seems to share his body simultaneously with his real personality. He’s Jekyll and Hyde working in perfect harmony to create someone who can be your friend and your idol. So when it came to talking about the recently departed Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus of Gwar, Andrew W.K. became realer than I could have ever expected… whoever he might be.
Shot and edited by Chris Tung