he wants to see you go wild hi I’m
Rebecca Brayton and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
with andrew WK
from a young age you start playing in
bands I mean what what drew dude you to
music initially well I like that you
could perform that it was something that
you could do that was fun for yourself
but you could also involve other people
and not just your band members but an
audience I started playing piano at four
and a half that’s could be a very
solitary experience of course i was
taking lessons with other students
around but one of my time spent
practicing on a plane by myself and then
the idea is somehow of getting out there
in front of other people and seeing what
they thought of it became very exciting
so that’s when I got more into
performing and entertaining if that’s
the right word
your father is a well-known legal
scholar at the University of Michigan so
I guess the question is why music not
long my father James II career he’s a
professor of law specializing in
property law and environmental law is
also very successful writer of a
property law book that’s pretty much the
book that anyone studying American law
has to use and he did encourage me to
consider following in his footsteps at
one point but then I think also he was
very excited about me going into the
arts because he is very artistic but did
not necessarily get to pursue those
ambitions the same way so at first he
was very concerned and thought I was
throwing my life away and then when he
saw that maybe there is a chance that
I’ll be able to survive he got very
excited and he’s actually been very
involved and supportive and in
incredible ways that most people aren’t
as fortunate to have from their parents
so I really bow down to my dad and my
mom mean they created me they made me
and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for
them in their support
what is your songwriting process like
piano is my main instrument so most the
time I’m writing on piano and then I’m
bringing the guitar later and sort of
reinterpret the piano part for guitar
which is very fun actually there’s so
much you can do on guitar you can slide
up and down you can bet notes it’s such
an expressive instrument piano the
beauty of it comes from its limitations
at times but other than that I actually
prefer to try to write songs in my head
where you sit and close your eyes and
you think okay what would the coolest
song and the world sound like that
hasn’t already existed comfortably and
then just write a picture how it would
go and if you listen to a lot of music
you can hear all the instruments and
just sort of picture in it and then the
key is to translate that to figure out
how to actually play what you just
imagine
so what would you say is the overall
theme of your music it really is no
overall theme except to get a physical
sense of excitement going a theme I
usually think of an idea or a concept a
mood I mean I want people to be happy
but it’s me it’s more of a physical
sensation when I hear a song that I
really like it’s a fit my body feels a
certain way my stomach gets butterflies
it I get chills I’ll get full body shell
that’s what I want out of a song i got i
put on bridge over troubled water i’m
gonna get full-body chills every time it
doesn’t feel what is that feeling it’s
not a thought I mean I’m thinking about
the lyrics I’m thinking about the melody
but I’m not having ideas like I have
it’s a different kind of idea music it
seems to be the only thing for better or
worse that gets this certain kind of
sensation so I want to use it for all
it’s worth to do that not really
interested in expressing something or
telling a story other people are very
good at that and I love music like that
I feel like I’m here to try to get those
chills going up and down people’s minds
and get that that that feeling that just
makes you you know you maybe want to
move your body
Rebecca Brayton and welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’re speaking
with andrew WK
from a young age you start playing in
bands I mean what what drew dude you to
music initially well I like that you
could perform that it was something that
you could do that was fun for yourself
but you could also involve other people
and not just your band members but an
audience I started playing piano at four
and a half that’s could be a very
solitary experience of course i was
taking lessons with other students
around but one of my time spent
practicing on a plane by myself and then
the idea is somehow of getting out there
in front of other people and seeing what
they thought of it became very exciting
so that’s when I got more into
performing and entertaining if that’s
the right word
your father is a well-known legal
scholar at the University of Michigan so
I guess the question is why music not
long my father James II career he’s a
professor of law specializing in
property law and environmental law is
also very successful writer of a
property law book that’s pretty much the
book that anyone studying American law
has to use and he did encourage me to
consider following in his footsteps at
one point but then I think also he was
very excited about me going into the
arts because he is very artistic but did
not necessarily get to pursue those
ambitions the same way so at first he
was very concerned and thought I was
throwing my life away and then when he
saw that maybe there is a chance that
I’ll be able to survive he got very
excited and he’s actually been very
involved and supportive and in
incredible ways that most people aren’t
as fortunate to have from their parents
so I really bow down to my dad and my
mom mean they created me they made me
and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for
them in their support
what is your songwriting process like
piano is my main instrument so most the
time I’m writing on piano and then I’m
bringing the guitar later and sort of
reinterpret the piano part for guitar
which is very fun actually there’s so
much you can do on guitar you can slide
up and down you can bet notes it’s such
an expressive instrument piano the
beauty of it comes from its limitations
at times but other than that I actually
prefer to try to write songs in my head
where you sit and close your eyes and
you think okay what would the coolest
song and the world sound like that
hasn’t already existed comfortably and
then just write a picture how it would
go and if you listen to a lot of music
you can hear all the instruments and
just sort of picture in it and then the
key is to translate that to figure out
how to actually play what you just
imagine
so what would you say is the overall
theme of your music it really is no
overall theme except to get a physical
sense of excitement going a theme I
usually think of an idea or a concept a
mood I mean I want people to be happy
but it’s me it’s more of a physical
sensation when I hear a song that I
really like it’s a fit my body feels a
certain way my stomach gets butterflies
it I get chills I’ll get full body shell
that’s what I want out of a song i got i
put on bridge over troubled water i’m
gonna get full-body chills every time it
doesn’t feel what is that feeling it’s
not a thought I mean I’m thinking about
the lyrics I’m thinking about the melody
but I’m not having ideas like I have
it’s a different kind of idea music it
seems to be the only thing for better or
worse that gets this certain kind of
sensation so I want to use it for all
it’s worth to do that not really
interested in expressing something or
telling a story other people are very
good at that and I love music like that
I feel like I’m here to try to get those
chills going up and down people’s minds
and get that that that feeling that just
makes you you know you maybe want to
move your body
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