Andrew W.K. Admits He's Not the Original Andrew W.K.

[Drizzt7]

Andrew W.K. Admits He's Not the Original Andrew W.K., Says Persona Was Developed By Committee


Last month, prince of partying Andrew W.K. took to his Twitter account to defend his name against accusations that he was an imposter. The accusations come from a complicated internet rumour claiming that the original Andrew W.K. was an entirely different person named Steev Mike. W.K. has been defending himself for years against this allegation. However, he's now changed his story.

The Daily Swarm points to a lengthy video on RockFeedBack, where a recent UK lecture from the rocker has all sorts of confessions. The talk, which can be seen here, has W.K. flat out admitting that he wasn't the original performer, saying, “I’m not the guy you’ve seen from the I Get Wet album… I’m not that same person. I don’t just mean that in a philosophical or conceptual way. It’s not the same person at all.”

He goes on to say that the character was developed by a committee “in the spirit of commerce.” W.K. does not mention Steev Mike, and still leaves some wide open questions about his own true identity. Most of all, this blows the whole case about who Andrew W.K. is wide open. Perhaps his Twitter account, which was home to some very defensive Tweets last month, is run by a different person?

Andrew WK - Real Talk Part 1

Andrew WK - Real Talk Part 2

Andrew WK - Real Talk Part 3

The videos get a little long. All that's really needed is the first one. The rest of it he is talking about it.

What does everyone think? Does this change your perspective of him?

I'd still love to see him back on the show.

[golgi body]

I remember Dzagama bringing this up back when Andrew W.K. was a guest on the show. I looked into this conspiracy briefly and had to admit there was some weird shit going on. I met 'a' Andrew W.K. back in 2003 and he was an awesome guy. Kind of sad to find out it was just a marketing ploy akin to Milli Vanilli.



EDIT: After having watched some of the first video there sure seems to be a lot of 'word smithing' coming from this guy. Almost as though he's trying to convince himself that he's not just literally a whore, but rather some purveyor of a deep message about life. I guess it turns our that AWK is simply brand used to sell albums and cash in on motivational speaker fees. No more, no less.

'He' may have a great message and believe in whatever he's pushing, but as I believe Keith has mentioned before, nobody likes to be tricked. This poor guy probably thought he scored a cool gig, but soon realized the potential backlash from inevitably being outed as a fraud would blacklist him from any future career in entertainment; so, I guess he had to do this. I'll tell you what though, I bet this guy feels a hell of a lot better after getting this shit off his chest, but let's not try to spin things too much.

[Bucho]

He's an entertainer for fuck's sake, if you're out of your teens and you still put a lot of trust in them you should write 'Naive' across your forehead and change your name to 'Sucker'.

Whoever the fuck he is and however the fuck he came into being he entertains the everliving shit out of me when the mood's right. That's all I ask. Because I'm an adult.

[PoorGradStudent]

So Andrew W.K. is like the Dread Pirate Roberts?

[Junkenstein]

Originally Posted by Bucho

He's an entertainer for fuck's sake, if you're out of your teens and you still put a lot of trust in them you should write 'Naive' across your forehead and change your name to 'Sucker'.

Whoever the fuck he is and however the fuck he came into being he entertains the everliving shit out of me when the mood's right. That's all I ask. Because I'm an adult.

I guess the point here is that two different people performed on two different albums as the same person. Admit it's creepy.

That doesnt change my like or dislike of the music, but it's kinda like discovering that Hendrix didnt play guitar and was actually a white guy named ted (well not the same, but kinda)

[Bucho]

Originally Posted by Junkenstein

I guess the point here is that two different people performed on two different albums as the same person. Admit it's creepy.

That doesnt change my like or dislike of the music, but it's kinda like discovering that Hendrix didnt play guitar and was actually a white guy named ted (well not the same, but kinda)

It's interesting. It's intriguing. It's funny. But it's not creepy. It's barely even surprising. I've seen and heard way too much bullshit from this industry to be shocked by something like this (assuming it's even true), let alone creeped out.

Hendrix is obviously on a much more massive scale but that wouldn't surprise me either. People already forgot Milli Vanilli? People already forgot that last year we supposedly found out the dude from Mamas and Papas was having a consensual sexual relationship with his daughter for ten years? This Andrew WK shit is run-of-the-mill by comparison in this game stacked to the rafters with weirdos and liars. Maybe it's because I was a muso myself and met more of these shady types of people than the average bear but I barely bat an eyelid at this one.

You don't strike me as an Oasis fan Junk but Noel Gallagher was 100% spot on when he wrote, "Please don't put your life in the hands of a rock'n'roll band, who'll throw it all away." Even for a generally happy go lucky dude like me once you've seen how the world works you don't go around trusting in people you don't know, especially entertainers. They'll cut your throat soon as look you in the eye son.

So yeah PGS. Exactly like the Dread Pirate Roberts.

[Junkenstein]

Yeah, i agree that stuff like this shouldnt influenbce the enjoyment of a bunch of songs, especially fun songs like WK stuff was. (Stress on the "was", since his new piano stuff is really boring).

But personally that type of trickery is something i always identified with cheesy throwaway pop like Milli Vanilli or Boy bands. Not with cult stuff like Andrew WK, where the guy behind the music seemed as important as the songs.

That said, "i get wet" was an album i would barely use as background party music, so whoever played doesnt change much for me. But i still think that the "fake persona" stunt is really cheesy.

[bluecrucial]

This is like if we found out if some of the people on Jersey Shore weren't Italian! Oh... wait...

[hayroob]

Here's what I don't get:

He's from Ann Arbor, near where I live and a lot of my friends remember him from all the local bands he was part of in the 90s. His name is actually Andrew W.K. He was a competent musician and vocalist way before I get wet or any of the AWK stuff hit so what I guess he did and this is what confuses me, is create a persona using his real name and then cast somebody else as him, then took over the persona after the first big album? He could play, and he could sing and he cold hire songwriters and producers, why did he cast somebody else as him?

[Keith]

I don't hear him saying any such thing whatsoever. I can't follow what anyone thinks they've learned.

He is absolutely saying it metaphorically.