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-- by Jon Wiederhorn, with additional reporting by Gideon Yago
There are at least eight hours to go before collegiate hipsters fill up the New York City nightclub Slipper Room and party hard. At the moment, party connoisseur Andrew W.K. is sitting at a rental piano in the corner of the joint demonstrating his technique.
He lays his fingers on the keys and improvises a few fleet-fingered piano runs, then bangs out a series of heavy chords. Gradually, the noise becomes more chaotic. He lunges into each new flurry, teeth bared, long hair swaying and covering his face.
His arms shake and the piano rocks back and forth — gently at first, then the legs tilt off the ground. As the music builds to a deafening crescendo, he grabs the front of the piano and pushes as hard as he parties, almost toppling the instrument and sending three full drinking glasses tumbling to the floor. He pants for a few moments.
"This piano knows I was never insulting it," he says almost apologetically. "I was saying, 'It's good.' It's a challenge and I like that. I like the way you can get right up into it. I could just pick the whole thing up, I bet."
With a mighty groan, he hefts one side of the instrument two feet in the air. If this rock and roll thing doesn't work out, he can always get a gig as a piano mover.
At 22, Andrew W.K. might not have much industry savvy, but what he lacks in experience he makes up for in raw energy, enthusiasm and passion. His debut album, I Get Wet, is a sonic party manifesto overflowing with pounding beats, ebullient vocals, simple, buzzing guitar riffs and more hooks than a tackle box. The production is pristine, the melodies sugarcoated and the sounds eclectic, incorporating pop, new wave, punk, hair metal, dance, industrial and more shameless pop. I Get Wet is an album of extremes, inspiring either rapture or revulsion.
In simplistic terms, I Get Wet sounds like the Ramones, Def Leppard and KMFDM pulverized in a blender and reconstituted into something sweet, sticky and euphoric. An ardent fan of classical music, death metal and everything in between, Andrew W.K. doesn't believe in categories or even genres.
"All the music I've ever liked has been fair game," he says, voice quivering with excitement. "Every band, every song, every person. I didn't care who it was or what it meant as long as I liked the melody. And the more huge that melody was, the bigger it made me feel."
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Photo: Gregg Delman
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