Ain't nothing but a rock'n'roll blog: Andrew W.K. meets a lobster
By Jillian Mapes, Assistant Managing Editor
June 9, 2008 | 11 p.m.
The last two months of my life here in Athens have been difficult. Haunting me everywhere I go have been those infamous fliers of Andrew W.K., complete with copious amounts of blood running from his nose onto his white t-shirt.
But I can’t fault ACRN.com booking agent Brian Ostrander for his thorough publicity efforts. Neither can the thousands of people who attended Saturday's Lobsterfest, which Andrew W.K. headlined. As a member of the All Campus Radio Network, it was truly exciting to see our organization’s annual extravaganza draw its largest crowd ever, all after months of scheming. It was also a bit scary.
Having scrawled in my reporter’s notepad as quickly as I could manage during Andrew W.K.’s Lobsterfest performance, the notes I took from backstage read more like those taken when attending a protest, not a concert. There was very little talk of set lists and instrumentation written in my notepad, just phrases like “not surprised if someone gets hurt” and “the mood behind the scenes=nervous.”
Sure, I’ve seen VH1’s "100 Most Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll History" to know that nothing as tragic as the countdown’s #6 most shocking moment would happen at Lobsterfest. (For those who aren’t as addicted to VH1 “all-access” shows and music countdowns as me, #6 was the fatal trampling of 11 concertgoers at a 1979 Cincinnati show for The Who.) There was, however, a heightened sense of concern among the festival’s organizers, especially when the sound guy started tossing stage divers from W.K.’s platform and threatening to abruptly end the concert.
It all started when Andrew W.K. invited fans to join him on stage to celebrate America, or some silly junk like that. Of course, maybe 50 people (including myself) bum-rushed the stage so they, too, could “party hard.” Someone started messing around with Andrew W.K.’s keyboard, prompting the sound engineer – an older gentleman with the most urgent and stressed-out of demeanors – to force W.K. enthusiasts off the stage. It seems us crazy college kids just love to defy authority, as attendees continued to jump on stage in pursuit of the party.
I’ve been to enough concerts to know that stage diving and crowd surfing are not automatic causes for alarm. But when one concertgoer climbed the stage’s scaffolding, there was room for trepidation, especially because festival security was virtually nonexistent. Needless to say, I was able to breathe easily again once Andrew W.K. finished his short set.
I wasn't excited at all for W.K.'s performance when the initial announcement was made that he was to headline Lobsterfest, but that also correlated with the fact that the other headlining considerations included one of my favorite indie rock bands, The National. For being a non-fan, Andrew W.K. really did surprise me -- in a good way.
As for his performance, I was more amused than rocked to my core. Andrew W.K. has a background as a motivational speaker, which really came through as he encouraged the crowd to “have sex...have safe sex…have butt sex!” Also encouraging was Michiganian W.K’s intense love for Ohio, especially with his continual audience appreciation and improvisation of a song about the our great Buckeye State.
In fact, master pianist W.K. spent half of his set improvising and goofing around on his keyboard, even playing one song that continually repeated the line “I went to Kohl’s to buy a bag of coals.” Just in case you missed this novelty ditty, W.K. discovered that Kohl’s doesn’t sell coal. Shock of the century, right?
His silly songs and positive stage banter come as no surprise to those who interacted with Andrew W.K. While I met him only briefly, I can tell you seven randomly endearing tidbits about Andrew W.K.:
1.) He drove down to Athens from Michigan with his parents.
2.) He danced a jaunty jig during his Lobsterfest performance.
3.) He was nice enough to contribute a column about hens (yes, the chickens) to my friend’s DIY zine, Absolute Catastrophe.
4.) He played classical piano in the festival’s Green Room before his Lobsterfest performance.
5.) He set up his own stage equipment.
6.) He requested very simple foods for his pre-performance snack. Snickers bars, granola bars and peanuts. Seems Andrew W.K. craves nut-based foods.
7.) Someone told me that he kind of likes to party...hard (you had to have seen that one coming).
So, was Andrew W.K. worth the thousands of dollars ACRN dished out for his performance?
I don’t hear any complaints from the massive crowd who came out to “Party Party Party.”
As for me, I’m not quite sure why Andrew W.K. continually shoved his second microphone down the crotch of his white jeans, but the mystery kept me intrigued enough to keep watching Saturday’s performance. I eventually deduced that I was impressed by W.K.'s unique fusion of electonica and metal influences within pop songs.
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Need more Andrew W.K.? Read a gut-busting article he wrote for Vice magazine, titled "MUSIC, PARTYING, AND LOVE - THE HOLY TRINITY OF RAISING HELL" here.