Lobsterfest performer discusses haunted hotels, why he loves our Buckeye State
By Alexandra Hazlett
June 5, 2008
Andrew WK will perform this Saturday as part of ACRN’s Lobsterfest outside of Baker Center’s lower level. He said he is planning an “exciting but also satisfying performance” featuring both new material and older, more well-known tracks. The show starts at 8 p.m., and is considered the headline performance of the three-day Lobsterfest (see related article).
The Athens NEWS had a chat with the 29-year-old rocker and found that the man whose iconic photo features blood running down is face is incredibly polite, articulate, grateful for his parents, and despite growing up in Michigan, really likes Ohio.
The NEWS: You grew up in Michigan and your dad is a law professor at University of Michigan. Did that ever come up when you were performing in Ohio?
Andrew WK: “I remember a concert in Ohio. I said something about Michigan; maybe that I was from there. I used to come to Ohio a lot with my parents… I love love [sic] Ohio very much. I’m flying into Michigan, and then driving with my parents because they’re so excited… People started booing and I didn’t understand at first. And then I realized it was a sports thing… But as long as no one punches someone else, I guess that’s OK. Once the punching starts, then I start backing away.”
The NEWS: You thought about attending college in Chicago, but changed your mind and moved to New York City instead to focus on your music career. Do you ever wish you had gone to college?
Andrew WK: “I was accepted to an art school in Chicago where I wanted to study fashion. Then I decided I didn’t want to move to Chicago and I sort of lost interest… I didn’t want to be in school anymore…”
“I’d worked so hard to be done with high school… There were so many other things that I wanted to do and put my time into that I hadn’t been able to do before. Some people didn’t know what they wanted to do, and college makes sense, or maybe what you want to do is college, but I knew I wanted to create my own field. Now I would love to go [to college], I think I would appreciate it more.”
The NEWS: Were your parents concerned that you decided not to continue your education?
Andrew WK: “My mom and dad were both really concerned that I wasn’t going the route that we’d expected. But I’d never really gone the route that was expected, and I’d always ended up OK. And my mom would tell me this, and she would tell me that she believed I would always end up OK. That gave me that confidence to go and [do what I wanted to do].
“Dad was a little more vocal with his concern. He was much more supportive after I’d proven that I could support myself. I think it was just so strange to him. He’d had no experiences in his life that he could compare this to… He’d heard mostly stories of people who hadn’t made it or things fell apart.
“I think, as we get older, we get to interact with our parents in ever-changing ways, and we get to see them as people. The really crazy thing is I’m 29 and the same age my mom was when she had me. It’s not to take anything from them; it’s amazing they actually pulled it off and raised me.”
The NEWS: Aside from your mom and family, what other ideas have either influenced or contributed your success?
Andrew WK: “Just the idea in general that if you have an idea in mind you can make it happen and not wait for the perfect conditions, you can create the perfect conditions. It’s more important to them [people] to do what they want to do than to wait for the things in order to make them happen.
“I think that’s the case with anything that anybody does. It can happen with something private or small, the idea that everything we’re doing we’re making happen. It’s not something anyone does for us. Everything that happens to me I’m responsible for.”
The NEWS: Athens is regarded as one of the most haunted places in Ohio. Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
Andrew WK: “I was in Canada and we were staying at a hotel that turned out to be haunted. There was a really strong feeling in the place. There was like a haze over the place as soon you walked into it, very intense. Even the employees were affected, making mistakes. And the next day we decided to leave the hotel and find another. The minute we left the hotel, it lifted. It was weird. When we checked in at the next hotel, we mentioned where we had stayed the night before, and the front desk clerk said ‘it’s a very famous haunted hotel.’ I didn’t disbelieve in those things [before] but I’d never experienced something that would make me believe.”
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