Rock Star Speaks to Juice

Billy Drown

Billy Drown

Editor’s note: The Collegian’s Billy Drown recently spoke with Party-Rocker Andrew W.K. The following is the trasnscript from their conversation.

Drown: Your new CD, The Wolf is excellent.

A.W.K.: Thank you.

Drown: The Wolf, just like your first CD “I Get Wet” has really uplifting messages in the songs. Songs like “Never Let Down,” “Long Live the Party,” and “Tear It Up” really are emotional and lift people spirit and mind.

A.W.K.: Yeah, each one of us decides how we are going to feel about the situation that we are in and the life that we are living. I think that we should work a little harder, have some more fun and just be happier.

Drown: The style of music has somewhat changed though. Why did you decide to go with a slower pace with The Wolf?

A.W.K: Well it’s not just that they are slower. It’s not like I said, okay now this album is going to be slow. The new album just ended up having some of those kinds of songs on there. When I sit down and write a song, I just try to make it as good as possible. Sometimes it ends up being fast, and sometimes it ends up being slow and sometimes it ends up somewhere in the middle. On this new album the most important thing was opening it up and letting the feelings out about how happy and thankful I am.

Drown: You are really good to your fans. You are calling around 1,000 people that buy The Wolf, and all they have to do is enter a number they find in the CD case into your website. You then call them up and thank them for buying your album. I think that is really cool. I wish that more artists would get closer to their fans like you are.

A.W.K: There are all different kinds of music out there and they are all made for different reasons. My music isn’t better than any other kind of music just because of those things at all. That’s just what I feel is the right thing to do for this music. That’s what this music is about. This music is about us being together and us feeling important within this, and us knowing that we belong as friends and as a family. We belong here and that we aren’t going to be left out and we won’t be let down. That’s what is important to me. I put that before anything else. That is my priority.

Drown: Well, school just started about a month ago, and I’m sure that there are some freshman that are homesick and feeling as if they don’t fit in here. Could you give them some words of advice to help them out?

A.W.K.: You just need to toughen up. It’s okay to be scared. It’s okay to be nervous. Just don’t forget what you came here to do. Don’t forget why you are here in the first place. You came to do this. You got to be strong. Just stay strong, and no matter how overwhelming or how scary it may seem, just know that you will get through this. You have to keep going, don’t stop. Remember this: everyday of your life is a gift. It’s up to you how you live it. It’s up to you on what you make of it. Just remember that you will be okay in the long run.

Drown: Well thank you for your time.

A.W.K.: Thank you