Music Folks

Andrew W.K.: The Party Hard Man and His Surprising Second Acts

October 14, 2026 · by Music Folks

Andrew W.K. arrived in 2001 with I Get Wet and “Party Hard,” a blast of loud, relentlessly upbeat rock that made him a cult hero. Since then he has been a TV host, a lecturer, an advice columnist and a nightclub owner, and in 2026 he surprised fans again with an album of instrumental jazz.

Quick Facts

Born: Andrew Fetterly Wilkes-Krier, May 9, 1979, California
Raised: Ann Arbor, Michigan, area; moved to New York in 1998
Genre: Hard rock, party rock
Key albums: I Get Wet (2001), The Wolf (2003), You’re Not Alone (2018), God Is Partying (2021), Temptation to Exist (2026)
Key song: “Party Hard” (UK No. 19, 2001)

From Piano Lessons to I Get Wet

Sources differ on exactly where in California he was born, but they agree he grew up in the Ann Arbor area of Michigan, where he began piano lessons at the University of Michigan School of Music at age four. He later took up drums, and in 1998 he moved to New York, working short stints at Bergdorf Goodman and Comme des Garçons.

Island Records released I Get Wet on November 13, 2001. “Party Hard” reached No. 19 on the UK Official Singles Chart and No. 3 on the UK Rock & Metal chart, and the album topped Billboard’s Heatseekers chart. The Wolf followed in 2003 and reached No. 61 on the Billboard 200.

Beyond the Music

In 2004 his website was hacked by someone claiming to have co-created the Andrew W.K. persona, a claim he denied. A related dispute over the rights to his name and image limited how he could work in parts of the US music industry until a 2009 settlement, after which the album 55 Cadillac was released worldwide. The name at the center of it all, “Steev Mike,” is even credited as executive producer on his 2026 album.

He kept busy in other ways. He hosted the Cartoon Network show Destroy Build Destroy from 2009 to 2011, co-owned the Manhattan club Santos Party House from 2008 until it closed in 2016, and wrote a weekly “Ask Andrew W.K.” advice column for the Village Voice starting in 2014. That same year he lectured at the Oxford Union on the philosophy of partying, and in 2018 the American Association of Suicidology named him its first Person of the Year.

Where He Is Now

After God Is Partying (2021) he postponed shows and deleted his website and social media accounts without explanation. He resurfaced in late August 2026 with Temptation to Exist, a ten-track instrumental “jazz noir” album that he produced, mixed and largely played himself, released first through a fan-run site and YouTube Music. As of October 2026, no tour had been announced.

Sources

Tagged: 2000s, American, Hard Rock