Weekly Warped: Party With Andrew WK

On June 25th, the 2010 Vans Warped Tour kicked off in Carson, California and Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman invited a few Canadian press outlets down to cover the festivities; we were one of the lucky people invited to go and take part in the festivities.  Today we continue our coverage on the festival with not only one update but a grand total of four different views on the festival.

For the first story of the day, we took a look at one of the main attractions of this year’s tour: Andrew WK. Check back every hour to see more stories about the tour.

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Party with Andrew WK
By Bobby Gorman

When the 2010 Vans Warped Tour rolls through your city this summer, coming with it will be eighty sweaty bands packed in vans, busses and RVs. But out of those eighty bands, there is one man that stands out in the crowd, one band that builds excitement everywhere he goes and one man that will be the talk of the day when the day is done. That man is Andrew WK and he’s ready to party hard.

The announcement that he would be headlining the entire tour came on the heels of false accusations over his origins that was quickly refuted but launched him into the mainstream consciousness again. While the scandal may have made him a talking point again, his energetic music never died out and the prospect of seeing him live again was greeted with enthusiastic anticipation.

For the first time in five years, the party-rocker is on tour with his full band – including his houserobics instructor wife Cherie Lily who’s out there dancing up a storm with him every night. The excitement was palpable, especially since his 2003 stint on the tour is still being talked about to this day (Chris Farren of Fake Problems called it one of the best live shows he had ever seen); but how could he surpass the legacy that he left behind seven years ago?

He brings a party tent, that’s how.

Every day he sets up an 800 sq. ft. air conditioned circus tent in the middle of the festival to create a place of “pure celebration and fun.” Half the tent may be filled with every type of Andrew WK merchandise available – including some fantastic t-shirts featuring hilarious pop-culture takes on his iconic I Get Wet album cover – but the other half is where the party happens. Not only does Andrew WK personally give away an ESP guitar to a random fan in every city, but he joins them in his tent and won’t leave until he’s met every single person there.

As I walked around the fairgrounds in Mountain View, I passed by the Party Tent on several occasions and watched as Andrew WK met with his fans. He was there for over two hours; only leaving when his tour manager eventually pulled him away ordering him to have some rest before the night’s performance. You see, Andrew WK actually wants to meet his fans; he doesn’t just claim to want to meet them. While some autograph line-ups had posters saying only one item per person and no photos allowed, WK did the opposite. He signed anything, wrote personalized greetings, posed for wild and outrageous party photos and had actual conversations with the people who lined up to see him – he didn’t just stick to the simple pleasantries of “hi, how are you?” It may have made the line-up that much longer, but made the ultimate goal of meeting him that much more rewarding.

However, it’s not only the fans who want to meet and talk to Andrew WK – the bands are equally as excited to have the chance to hang out and party with the guy.

“When I went on the Warped Tour when he first came, Andrew WK had to be really good with fans but he also had to be really good with bands,” recalled Dave McWane of Big D And The Kids Table “Meaning bands would come up to him as fans – like all of us. I’ve never seen that. There’s no other artist that all the bands love like Andrew WK. It’s funny; we’re all like geeky fans when he comes by.”

Nearly everyone I talked to had to talk about Andrew WK in one way or another. Some, like Mike Wiebe of The Riverboat Gamblers, remembered old times with the rocker.  “One time in New York we were with Valient Thorr and we teamed up and played Party Hard. Andrew WK was in town and he came and sang on it,” he recalled, hoping to be able to do another collaboration with him during the Warped Tour. “He’s just a super talented dude and really fun to be around. He’s a good guy,” finished Wiebe, a thought echoed closely by Farren who retold the story of meeting him in the studio “he was doing something else there and I met him and talked to him. It was awesome, he was really nice. I just saw him here today and he remembered.”

Everybody seems to want to find a way to get on stage with Andrew WK. Along with Farren, Wiebe and McWane, Bryce Avery of The Rocket Summer and Sierra Kusterbeck of VersaEmerge confessed desires to perform with WK – be it them singing his songs or him singing their songs, they’d be happy either way.

You never know, it could happen. WK is no stranger to showing up on other people’s stages. In 2003 he joined The Dropkick Murphys on stage in Boston to sing with them and in Ventura, California this year he jumped on stage with 3Oh!3 to sing House Party. So keep your eyes open as you walk through the Warped Tour grounds this year because chances are, WK will be out partying somewhere.

After all, as Kusterbeck put it: “who the hell doesn’t want to go party on stage with Andrew WK?”