He’s partied around the world, motivated many and now he’s starting his own political party. Andrew W.K. is an unstoppable force with positivity constantly flowing through everything he does. We had the chance to talk with the ‘Party Hard’ singer about his latest political endeavours, how he stays positive and what keeps him going.
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S] You’ve recently announced that you’re starting a political party, The Party Party. What made you want to get involved in politics?
A] “Years of partying, going back fifteen years, I never had any personal interest in getting into politics. People asked me if it was something I would consider and I didn’t feel I had very much to contribute there since I’m not a politician and I don’t want to be a politician. More recently, I started to wonder if there was a way where not only I could contribute to the political realm, but that maybe a lot of folks that aren’t politicians could contribute something to the political atmosphere and that’s where I came up with this idea of a political party that focuses purely on partying so that we can energize our optimism. We can engage in these political issues with more vitality and hopefully with a better attitude.”
S] Where were you the moment you decided to do this?
A] “It was probably about two months ago when I thought maybe we could do something. I didn’t know exactly what it would be. After talking to people in politics, people I met through television, I decided starting my own non-political party would be maybe the most useful thing that I could contribute. I don’t think my opinion on political issues is as valuable as my partying skills. I think that I can contribute to the atmosphere and still let people think for themselves. You can be a member of the Party Party and still be affiliated with any of the existing political parties, you can still follow your own ideology. This does not promote a particular political agenda. I believe I was in a hotel room in Los Angeles, partying and doing my partying mission work. I reached out to political people and a lot of them were a bit discouraging initially. They did not want to be involved directly. I didn’t want to start the project alone. I felt that I would definitely want the help of people, especially when it came to the bureaucratic paperwork side of actually filing. What would it really take to start this party and get it recognised? I still have a long way to go in that department. I actually reached out to friends of mine at Playboy Magazine. I really didn’t know if they would want to be involved, but they jumped right in. I really couldn’t have done it without them. I have to hand it to them, not only did they do tremendous work on producing our announcement video, helping build the website and just being that encouraging supportive partner from the beginning, that really gave me a lot more confidence. They didn’t ask for anything in return. They didn’t want their name on the video or ask for their logo. They just believed in the principals involved here: the freedom to party in your own way. Now it’s only been about a week since I first announced it and the response has been incredible. I never expected this amount of enthusiasm. The beautiful thing is now that I’ve invited people to this party we get to decide what we’re going to do together. Now it’s a collaboration and we can do whatever we want with it.”
S] You have a real message of positivity. How do you stay so positive and motivated?
A] “I’ve always felt that this was a team effort and that we empower each other with this kind of party energy. It’s been as challenging for me as it has been for many people. Being positive has not been my natural state of mind. It’s always a lot of work for me. It’s something I want to do to get cheered up, to get focused. I think it’s just a very simple starting point, where no matter how painful, discouraging or challenging it can be to be alive, we start from this very pure and basic decision to decide that being alive is something good and is an incredible opportunity and we celebrate that. That is the ultimate party. To celebrate happiness’ chance to exist and taking all of the challenges with that not as obstacles or inconveniences, but things that are there to make us stronger and push us to be the best we can possibly be. It’s not easy, but partying hard isn’t always supposed to be easy.”
S] How have you personally changed and developed from the start of your career through everything that you have done?
A] “The difference compared to when I first started was I was all alone and I was calling out to the world with a party invitation and hoping that there were other people out there. Now, fifteen years later, to know that I’m not only not alone, but that I am standing side by side with so many incredible people who believe in the same mission that are on this adventure with me. That’s the biggest change and as far as how that has impacted me I just feel more amazed and more fortunate and more thankful every single day. More blown away every day that any of this has happened and that it continues to. The strangest part is that when it started I felt that I was in control of everything and I was the one that was doing this. Now this deep into it, it’s very clear to me that not only am I not in control now, I never was. This was something I was meant to do whether I wanted to or not. This wasn’t about me, this was about a feeling and a real true belief in trying to contribute some good feeling towards humanity and I am a servant of that feeling and it is the greatest privilege that I have ever been able to imagine, to be able to serve this thing called human happiness. I still feel like it’s only just started and still has a long way to go.”
S] Even with all the paperwork involved with the political party, is this still part of the party mission?
A] “No matter what happens on the paperwork side, even if they reject our applications they can never stop the party spirit because party spirit lives inside of us. In our hearts, in our minds, in our souls — that is not something that anyone has the ability to take away from us, so even if we can’t become an official political party, recognised by the government, we’re still an official party to each other and to ourselves and that might even be more powerful anyway.”
S] Do you have any plans to come back to the UK this year?
A] “I look forward to coming back as soon as possible and I’m so excited for all the things still to come, but at the same time I am at the mercy and service of the party gods. I am just here to do their will and they’ll tell me when I’m supposed to do the next thing, just like they always have, and I’ll just show up and do the best I can and follow their plans.”
S] What are your upcoming plans for this summer?
A] “The only plan that I have is to not stop partying. Everything else, for better or worse, I have no idea what’s going to happen. It’s going to be as surprising to me as it will be for anyone else. The one thing I know is that I’m not going to quit.”
S] Has it always been your goal to motivate and empower your fans?
A] “My goal is to create a raw energy that makes life feel better, that makes it feel good to be alive. I’ve focused on it and dedicated my whole life to have it be my mission, to be able to put everything into this one very simple concept of partying about life. The fact that you, or anyone, gets anything out of that it confirms that it’s working. That is the goal. It’s a quest to make life count. It’s not easy, it may be the hardest thing to do, but I think it’s worth it. We’re not doing it alone. We’re doing it together and I think we’re also doing it together with the very forces of life, the very forces of nature. They want us to do it, I don’t think they’re indifferent to it. I don’t know how to describe it, but I think trying to find out the meaning to life and going on that quest and that adventure and not giving up no matter what is the meaning of life if there is one.”
S] What is a typical day for you?
A] “The only things that are consistent are not even getting up because sometimes I haven’t gone to bed. The consistencies are eating food, going to the bathroom, rocking out and partying as hard as possible and everything else can be radically different from one day to the next. I never really know exactly what’s going to happen until it’s happening, but the one thing I can count on is food, bathroom and partying.”
