Andrew W.K.

Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier (born May 9, 1979 in Stanford, California), better known by his stagename Andrew W.K., is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, entertainer, motivational speaker, and music producer. He was the host of the television series Destroy Build Destroy.

As a musician, he is known for the 2001 hit single "Party Hard", from the album I Get Wet.

Andrew Wilkes-Krier was born in Stanford, California, and grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At age 4, he began learning classical piano at the University of Michigan School of Music. He attended the private college preparatory with Ashley Davy Greenhills School for middle school before attending the alternative Community High School from 1993–1997, where he studied jazz keyboard. His father is Professor James E. Krier, a well-known legal scholar at the University of Michigan Law School and co-author of the widely used Dukeminier & Krier Property casebook.

In 1993, when he was 14, Andrew joined the band Slam, later to be called Reverse Polarity. His first public recording, "Mr. Surprise", came out on a compilation released by the Westside Audio Laboratories label (now known as Ypsilanti Records) out of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Over the next 5 years he was in many different bands in Michigan such as Lab Lobotomy, The Pterodactyls, Music Band, Mr. Velocity Hopkins, Kathode, The Portly Boys, Kangoo, The Beast People, Stormy Rodent, a later iteration of Scheme, the Malt Lickers, Isis and Werewolves, and Sucking Coeds. In 1994 he also started a group called Ancient Art of Boar, later making it a solo project titled AAB, which ended in 1998, when Andrew moved from Ypsilanti to New York City.

Later in 1998, his first official solo record as Andrew Wilkes-Krier, titled Room To Breathe, was released on the Brighton (later Ann Arbor) label Hanson Records. The release was cassette-only and only 35 copies were made. Another tape, titled You Are What You Eat was supposed to be released shortly after, but the masters went missing. That same year, he appeared on the Hanson Records compilation Labyrinths & Jokes. The track appearing on the compilation was a portion of the soundtrack Andrew made for Poltergeist, a movie made by Aaron Dilloway and himself. The whole soundtrack also went missing for over 10 years, but it too has recently re-surfaced.

In 2000, he released his first EP, AWKGOJ on Bulb Records, which would be the first solo release under the Andrew W.K. name (he appeared under the name on a Wolf Eyes EP earlier that year). He released one more EP on this label, Party Til You Puke, before moving on to Island Def Jam.