Chilluminati Podcast - Episode 27 - Andrew W.K. Part 2

Episode Date: May 14, 2019

WE HAVE A LIMITED TIME HOODIE - https://bit.ly/2Pb7bVg Soundcloud - @chilluminatipodcast  Jesse Cox - www.youtube.com/jessecox  Alex Faciane - www.youtube.com/user/Thenationaldex Art Commissioned by - mollyheadycarroll.com Theme - Matt Proft Video - http://www.twitter.com/digitalmuppet Links and Sources: https://www.rocksound.tv/features/read/andrew-wk-reveals-all https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/03/andrew-wk-a-musician-with-an-identity-crisis/36989/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WbVqS0SWAs http://www.metalsucks.net/2010/01/29/vinces-tell-all-tell-nothing-interview-with-andrew-w-k/ http://awilkeskrier.homestead.com/ https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/07/why-does-andrew-wk-glenn-beck-radio-show  

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Check out this versatile lineup at Toyota.com. Toyota, let's go places. All right, let's dive into the much awaited part two of Andrew W.K. here on Chilibnadi Podcast. Welcome back, everybody. Yes. People have been chomping at the bit, my dude. Seriously.

People are been there's threads and tweets and links to articles and people like, have you seen this? Oh, my God, have you seen him doing this interview with Larry King? And I guess pretty mind blowing. I know there's an interview with Larry King out there where Larry literally asked some like like this whole like, are you the real Andrew W.K. And he answered in the vaguest non answer.

Oh, yes. He was just like, maybe we'll get there today. Don't you? So, uh, all right. I'm going to let go of the reins and hand him directly over to you. Can I tell you something? I was at an event talking with some people about conspiracy theories. Don't ask me how we got on this.

And I just, I kept saying, oh, you don't believe that. That's stupid. That one's dumb. And some guy was like, have you ever heard about the Andrew W.K. one? I went, I have. And that's probably the only one I believe. So I'm in. I'm in on this adventure.

Let's do it. Get ready. Okay. So last time we finished by talking about this time in London, where he basically said he's changed people multiple times. He's actually a group of people. It was still intentionally pretty vague, et cetera, et cetera. But shortly after those comments made their way onto the internet, another statement appeared

on his now defunct website, which reminder does not exist on the internet anymore. So I can't link to it, but you can find it online. I'm going to read the abridged version of that now from the article I based most of this episode on from last time, which is by Michael Nelson. It's on stereo gum.com. It's linked in the description of this show. And again, I am sorry that there is so much reading in this episode, but I think like the fact that there is so much like actual, like primary sources really like makes it

believable. Yeah. I think it really lends credence to this. So I'm going to just jump right into this right now. I'm sorry. I have so much evidence. Yeah. No.

Okay. So this is another. This is another statement from Andrew W.K. from his website. Since 2001, I have been accused of being part of a conspiracy in which I knowingly entered into a contact contract with creative directors who proceeded to invent a new identity for me to perform under. I'm here to say this is simply not true and a gross exaggeration of easily explainable and commonplace music industry practices.

Of course I work with people who choose not to include their whole names in the credits or who aren't on stage with me. But taking advice and guidance from other people doesn't mean I'm a victim of mind control. The kind of people who accuse Andrew W.K. of being a talking head for some secret conspiracy to corrupt people's morals are the same people who claim MTV and Cartoon Network are owned by secret rulers of the world out to poison kids brains or that pop stars like Beyonce or Lady Gaga are part of some occult society or that I believe it even more now. I know.

Or that companies like McDonald's Coca Cola or Hollywood are secretly promoting hidden plans or that the president of the USA is just a figurehead and reading a script given to him by a secret world power. That's where the aliens are. Just because I work with other people who advise me doesn't mean that I am a puppet for an evil cult or have some sort of master plan. It has become too common for musical artists and performers to be labeled as part of some global scam to control the world or that were puppets for a larger agenda designed to hurt

people. That's why I'm speaking out and loudly declaring I am not evil and neither are any of my other fellow members of show business. One word. We are here to bring fun and light into the world. Not doubt and darkness. I have always admitted that I worked with people and I have confessed that time and time again even if the critics twisted what I said.

I did this hoping it would quiet people up and put an end to all the speculation and exaggeration. I was never an actor and the partnerships I made with friends, family, and the companies I've worked with have all been to promote entertainment, excitement, and fun to give people something fun to focus on and to occupy our thoughts instead of a bunch of fear or negativity. I feel like this is basically- Wait, what was this in response to?

That was just a statement on his website that he put out after the last time he put out a crazy statement saying he was like a conspiracy. He just basically went and said he was a conspiracy at a lecture and then issued a statement on his site which acknowledges every aspect of the theory and says, but no, I'm not doing that. I feel like this is one of those moments in a movie where someone says too much. Of course I didn't know that you ran over the dog with your Ford Bronco and they're like, well, how did you know it was a Ford Bronco?

Has that vibe to it really just says things? You're like, wait, why did you have that? Why are you so specific in what you're saying? It's unnecessary. That's exactly my thought. I was like, it has that vibe of someone calling 911 but keeping the phone in their pocket and just being like, oh, George, why are you pointing this clock at me and fired three times into the ceiling here at 91 Campbell Street?

And that's how it comes off. It's like, hey guys, all this shit is real. Yeah, no, exactly. Are you recording me? No, I'm not recording you on the cell phone in my pocket. What? There's a cell phone in your pocket. Please don't point that barretta at my face right now, but at the same time that he put

out that statement, he also put out this video, which just like the statement is just fucking weird. Like you hear, I'm going to give this to you. It's called. I all caps. I am a real person message from Andrew W. K. And like you guys just describe it to the to the people. Well, you'll have a link, but like give it to the like tell people what you're seeing.

Okay, so the video really cropped. Yeah, it's taken from something. I imagine this is. Oh, wait, this is I don't like this at all. This is on the Andrew W. K. channel. Is this the real official Andrew W. K. It is. This is the real official Andrew W. K. channel.

2010. He wished me a happy new year. He and his voice is pitched down. Yeah, there's no there's no like he either being slowed by like 0.5% or his his voice is pitched. Yeah, it does this convince you that he's just normal and fine and that there's nothing going on convinces me that he's a real person. And at that is the intended state of the video.

This is what it sounds like. Yeah. It's very, very close. Just his face. Yeah, I wouldn't say it's super convincing. I would say it's super weird. But forget about that for a second because we're going to go back to the timeline. It's now one year later.

We're in September 2009 on our timeline and Andrew W. K. suddenly has a new album out. Okay. And it's called 55 Cadillac. No, no apostrophe, just 55 Cadillac, 55 Cadillac. But weirdly enough, instead of like the normal like party vibe, darkness, anthem, rock tunes that he's known for. This literal whole album is just a bunch of solo improvised piano, right? So that that alone is strange.

That is already a strange thing that like he does know how to play piano and always has played piano shows, but this album is literally it feels like something he just sat down and recorded like in a weekend, right? But it also came along with another piece in The Guardian, which was called I am finally a free man and includes this quote, okay? The last decade has been so fraught with legal trouble, I've suffered hallucinations. That's why I've had to make an album consisting solely of improvisational piano pieces. Not really a reason that somebody would normally need to only improvise piano pieces.

But he also goes on to say this other stuff, which basically just stirs the whole controversy right back up again, okay? This is like very soon related to that other stuff. Over the past 10 years, I've had personal and professional issues with several people involved in my career. And due to formal agreements, I'm partially forbidden from going into detail regarding certain aspects of my recent work and as a result, the making of the 55 Cadillac album. Here's what I'm able to say at the end of 2004, and this is important, an old friend

of mine got in some business trouble and basically decided to take it out on me to cut a long story short. This person is someone I worked with very closely and had a formal and family business relationship with due to various complaints this person had with me. They were able to turn my life and career upside down that's something he said before. I wasn't allowed to use my own name within certain areas of the US entertainment industry and we were in a debate about who owned the rights to my image and who should get credit for inventing it.

By 2008 and after a lot of negotiating, my new business team and I had come to an agreement with my opponent and I was finally in the clear. That's how this new 55 Cadillac album became possible. We based the new record label in the UK, so there were no issues with the US. However, as of last week, we've been partially pulled back into the thick of it and I'm getting hourly updates from my lawyers as I type this. I really don't know how to feel about it. It's beyond frustrating.

It almost feels like a hallucination which he mentioned in the same thing. It inspires so much rage inside me that my mind has to seek out other outlets for that energy and I start to feel dizzy and see stars. Anyway, I wanted this new 55 Cadillac album to sound like freedom. The sound of a piano being played by a free man. No one telling me what to play or how to play it. No master plans, high concept visions, worldwide goals with rollout schedules, no style consultants or acting coaches, no more meetings with sponsors or computerized yelling.

No more threats. See, that just sounds like a man who's sick of the bit of the industry. But it sounds like he's sick of master plans, high concept visions, worldwide goals, rollout schedules, style consultants, acting coaches and computerized yelling. What is computerized yelling? His songs is like auto tune. Yeah, maybe like something like that. I guess.

Go listen to. Can I just tell you first off, after the last episode I spent maybe four or five days only playing party hard over and over and over again and at the end of that song there is he goes, yeah, and it's computerized. It is not a yellow man, no man goes, yeah, no one does that. That's so funny, but yeah, at this point, based on this, it seems like elements of every explanation are true. He mentions like getting dizzy and seeing stars, which could be a reference to like

the psychotic break theory. There's stuff that alludes to secret conspiracies here. There's stuff that alludes to the hired actor. There's even stuff that alludes to Steve Mike, which by the way, I don't know if you caught this with the name of the album, but last time I said it was very important that you remember one thing. What was that thing? I 55.

55 equals who Steve Mike Cadillac 55 equals yeah, yeah, and it specifically doesn't have an apostrophe like you would use if it was referencing a year. So his real name is the idea that he might be Steve Mike. You know, I wish I could just tell you flat out that's what I think. You know, I don't know, but it was true. Like this stuff that he said, he was on a new UK label, which by the way, he called skyscraper music maker. Everything seemed to be going well.

Since it was through this label now that he was actually able to release. Remember, I said close calls with brick walls only came out in Korea and Japan. Yeah. So through this new label in 2010, he was actually able to release close calls with brick walls in the West, which is cool. However, when they announced the close calls release, Andrew W. K. did an interview with a site called Rock Sound. And in that article, he gave one, let's say, extremely eyeballs emoji update to

the situation. I'll give you a link for this. All right. All right. This this website still exists. If you guys want to look at it, but I'm just going to read a quote from it. It all comes down to credit. Based on the contracts and various decisions we've made over the years, the

people who weren't being given credit had to be given credit. An easy way for them to get credit is for them to have their name on the label. That way, whatever I put out, they automatically received credit for, which turned out to be a really fancy way of him just announcing that going forward, the album, the label that he just started, skyscraper music maker, would now be called, guess what, Steve, Mike music. What? He renamed the label Steve, Mike music when he put out close calls for brick

walls and he says, you know, like I just said, like it all comes down to credit. An easy way to do it is to name, put their name on the label. And so yeah, he officially, when he put out close calls for brick walls, that is out on Steve, Mike music, the label. And then in February 2010, he did another one of those like sort of like half concerts that's like really more of like a motivational speaking gig thing that I think that he's been doing. This one was in New York city.

It was at a place that he used to co-own, which was called Santos party house. And there's a write up about it in the Atlantic by this guy, Chris Good. I'll give you a link to that right now. If you guys want to look at that, cause that also crazy. All these links are going to be in the description for this episode. Yes. So people, you'll have them in the notes, but I'm going to give them to you now, just in case you want to look at them while we're reading.

And I'm going to just read you a little excerpt from this review to just give you guys an idea of what it was like at this event. As the lights dimmed and Andrew came on stage, walking up to a lone chair in a lone spotlight set up almost as if he was about to be interrogated, which in a sense he was WK appeared seeming quite nervous and delivering his opening statement with many pauses and some apparent emotional difficulty. Good evening. And thank you for joining me.

Many of you in this room are my friends. Andrew said, as the audience clapped before stopping to compose himself. I understand people want to know who I work with and who I work for. He said later in the statement, pausing to take a long drink of water, but please know that as far as I'm concerned, every one of these questions and answers is a matter between my business partners and me. It's not out of disrespect for you, the press or any of my fans, but rather out of respect for the promises I made to my family and associates, promises that if

broken will change my life in unimaginable ways. They did not ask to be in this spotlight. I did, I did. I recognize I have brought this on myself and I know above all, I am the one who made the decisions, which have brought me to where I am. I have a lot of work to do and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Had he sung in his own voice on the first album, he didn't answer directly, except to say that, to answer your question, I am Andrew WK.

I am the same Andrew WK that has been there from the beginning. I am the same Andrew WK you have seen on the albums, but he didn't say the voice was the same. He was asked, who is Steve Mike? A mystery producer listed on his first album, whom some have speculated is a pseudonym for WK or Grohl for the mysterious group of people alleged to have concocted Andrew WK's act and persona. Andrew WK grew obviously nervous about this and stood up to protest sounding

genuinely scared and upset that his current creative vision began when he was quite young, 18 years old, and then he takes responsibility for everything that has happened since then. On my first album, I get wet. Steve Mike was the executive producer. This is the name of the producer that appeared on my third album, Close Calls with Brick Walls, which will be released on March 3rd, 2010. He said, reading exasperatedly from papers on the music stand.

And then people should understand that Steve Mike or anybody else or any other group of people that I choose to work with, I chose to work with. He said, just because someone signed up for something or takes advice or has managers or works in entertainment or show business with other people, doesn't mean they don't have a brain. Okay. It doesn't mean that they're not a real person. This was the vision that I was presented with as a young person by my family and

the people that supported me. The point of this is to look out into the world with a sense of optimism, with a sense of possibility, with a sense of purpose, with a sense of power that you can make your dreams come true. He said, telling the audience that songs like Party Hard, a popular track from his first album, were written by songs like Party Hard were written to make people feel good. Songs like Party Hard were written to make people feel in touch with their

greatest potential. I'm so lost. Pretty fucking wacky, right? Like, do you think that he's ever under duress? Yeah, constantly. Like, mental, because I think he just is like, I think a lot of drugs got him to where he's at. You think so?

I mean, I know he's on record saying he's tried like every drug. Yeah, I, you know what I'm saying? There's a lot about him that seems like there's a lot of, you know, people can have psychotic breaks. I feel like there's a lot about him that I think probably there's some truth to everything he's saying, but I think he had a break and he's living in this world that isn't quite right. That's what I used to think, too.

But then, but then I, this is about to like slowly crank up to like totally crazy now. We're not there yet. We're like, we're, we're, we're going to go one layer slightly deeper and then I'm just going to like tell you what I think and we're going to get into a little bit of speculation. Okay. All right.

So, so then even though it was old already, uh, this album Close Calls with brick walls, uh, Andrew W.K. put out a video for the song, uh, called I want to see you go wild. And I think we kind of talked about this last time, but if you watch that video, here's a link again for that video, which we can put in the show notes. There's a ton of Illuminati symbolism in this video. It's like this animated video. I think we did look at it.

Yeah. I, yeah, we peeped it last week. But most importantly for us this time at around like one 35 in that video, why don't you guys head there and tell me what you guys see. A man, well, he's got a bullet in his head. Is he dead? Is that the hint? Hang on.

Let's see what else we see. No, just look at one 35. Just look at that background for a second. Wild steves electronics. Yes. So there's a, so there's a cartoon storefront in this video. Uh, and the most major thing you see at around this time is it's wild steves and it's spelled S T E E V wild steves.

Right. Uh, and to me, this, this is specifically weird because it's the first time that like Steve Mike has been like joked about in like a fun way on the like public side of the persona. You know what I mean? Which like kind of almost, it almost feels like it's like a knowing wink about the whole situation, right? Which to me is like, which, yeah, it's to me, it's significant, but I'm

still not sure where I, where I land on this. Uh, and again, Andrew W. K is doing nothing to help anybody understand. No, he's makes, he makes it worse. Fucking anything. And literally at this point now, like people like who interview him are just dead ass, just asking him about this shit. And the way that he answers just keeps getting weirder.

Okay. Like, uh, in 2010, uh, again, there's a quote, uh, from metal sucks, uh, which is like a website. I'll give you the, I'll give you the, uh, I'll give you the link to the metal sucks, uh, that you guys can read if you want to read that whole article, um, where he, somebody's asking him about that talk that he gave in London, where he was like, I am a different Andrew W. K, right?

Where he says, I've changed or whatever. And we were talking about the boat, uh, analogy, like that, that talk that he gave, somebody asked him about that. He said question, this is the statement that you said, I'm not the same guy that you may have seen from the I get wet album. I'm not that same person. And I just don't mean that in a philosophical or conceptual way. It's not the same person at all.

Do I look like the same person? What did you mean by that statement? And then here's the answer that Andrew W. K said, well, I meant it exactly as I said, but the idea that I'm not Andrew W. K was never meant to be the point of that. That was meant to make it very clear that I am Andrew W. K.

And I was hoping that by appearing on that stage and saying it in that way, I guess people wouldn't accuse me of not being Andrew W. K, which is what I was dealing with more at the time. At that time, the question was more about, are you the real Andrew W. K. You don't look like the same person as before. I wanted to make it very clear that I am Andrew W. K.

Just because I don't look the same as someone else. I asked people, do you think I look the same? If they had said, no, it doesn't mean that I'm not actually Andrew W. K. And I happen to have the authority to go out there and be Andrew W. K. And have people believe it's me at that time. I think just because I did look different, people assume that something had changed.

I wanted to make it clear that if that was the case, it doesn't mean that I'm not Andrew W. K. Regardless of whatever confusion there was, there should be no confusion about the fact that I am Andrew W. K. I can go out there and beat it and have people understand that. Yeah, that doesn't answer anything.

It seems confusing to me. It seems confusing on purpose. And it does definitely comes across like he's doing it for the, for the lulls. Yeah. And this shit just keeps going on. There's like weird stuff like this all over YouTube, uh, like the one you were talking about earlier, the Larry King interview. Like if you guys want to go check that out, like it's super fucking weird.

Uh, for example, but now journalists are actually like starting to like care about this story. They're trying to like, instead of just using it as like a fun intro to a review, they're starting to like actually try and like get to the bottom of the story and like digging a little deeper and slowly, but surely we start to get a little bit more to chew on. Okay. So in the same article from metal sucks, just before he gets into the Q and A

part that I just read from the dude, uh, who wrote it talks to this guy, Donald Tardy, who is from this band called obituary, who used to be the drummer for Andrew W. K. Uh, for the whole time when he was playing those early shows for his first two albums where like supposedly he was played by a different person sometimes, right? And by the way, for, for what it's worth, the author of the article that quoted this, like the main article that I read, he thinks that this guy right now, this answer is like 100% truthful and earnest.

He like goes out of his way to say like, I think this is true question. Just so you know, there's been all sorts of internet comparisons and photos of Andrew from the I get wet album and photos of him more recently. Speaking from a personal level, he totally looks like a different dude. Answer. Really? Question. It does not look like the same guy.

Answer. Huh. I have no idea. I never heard the interview or the lecture. I don't know what to think about that. Andrew to me is a dude. He is nutty as ever. He's as intelligent as anyone that I have ever met and he likes to keep

people on the balls of their feet. I don't know how to, if Andrew was actually was quoted as saying that, I don't know, it would have been hard for me not to crack a smile. If he was saying that with me in the room to me, Andrew is Andrew and he's a dude. He's a good guitar player and an amazing piano player. And he is Andrew question. Another quote for you from the same lecture.

Andrew WK was created and this is a bit of a confession by a large group of people, almost a conference of people. I'm the next person who's playing Andrew WK answer laughter. Wow. Then you know what? I'm fooled also. And then other people began to realize that if you ask people who knew Andrew WK, instead of asking Andrew WK himself, you actually get some pretty

like concrete, coherent answers that are like, they feel pretty candid. That's good. Um, and so then there was a book, uh, there's a series of books called 33 and a third, which are like, uh, vine, like, like books about great albums. Basically they're like somebody, like a journalist goes and like deep dives about an album and this guy, Philip Crandall did one about, I get wet, which is the first album, which asks like tons of people about the Steve Mike situation.

And honestly, like it's here where I start to feel like I'm getting information that's leading me to what I believe is the true answer of what's going on. I can't wait till we get to that. Yeah. Yeah. Me too. So here's, so here's a quote from Gary Helsinger, former music publisher at

Universal Music Publishing Group. Okay. I love Steve Mike. He's awesome. He's really talented. You know, he really balances out what Andrew does the way they work together as a team, it's incredible. They combine their efforts and where one is lacking.

The other one has that quality. So everybody knows it was made up. It doesn't blow any cover. Does it? And then Jeff Rice says he's another guy who used to collaborate with Andrew WK that Steve Mike thing just reminded me of everything we used to talk about a practice. People were saying that Andrew WK had an impersonator or he was a series of

people. I was like, yep, that's Andrew fucking with people. Well, people are accusing him of being, he's actually capable of doing. And then Pete Galley says he was, he was, he used to be a manager of Andrew WK. He says he will never say this and he doesn't like the comparison, but I don't care. He's got a sprinkle of Andy Kaufman and a sprinkle of Andy Warhol. He takes pop culture and turns it on his head.

That's what's so great about him. You don't know if he's fucking with you or if he's genuine, but he's so likable that he can get away with whatever. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So now the gears are starting to click into place, right? You're starting to maybe get a better picture of who Andrew WK, the dude is like behind.

Makes sense why he'll, he'll never give you a straight answer ever. Yeah. Well, but actually in this same write up, Andrew WK himself, coincidentally, like seems to give the most believable response from him that I've, that I've seen anywhere. He says at this point, every other version of what it could possibly be has come out and I've gone with some of them. I've gone with others.

Again, I think those are some of the mistakes I feel we've made giving too much attention to it, trying to address it too directly. The fact of the matter is that it doesn't really ultimately impact hopefully too much in the big picture. And to me, this is where I start to like really form a conclusion, which is like basically what the author of the article believes too, which is that maybe like even from the beginning of like his whole career, the like secret mystery element was like caked in core core to what Andrew WK is about.

And that he's just like a weird guy who like that is, you know, what his plan is, right? And I'm, and you know, it's crazy. So remember, remember the Homestead article, like the like website that I linked to that was on Homestead earlier, the one that's called like a Wilkes crier.homestead.com. Sure, yeah, yeah. So there's a theory there that the article points out that's called the real

story theory, which is for the most part, like based around this like very unverifiable testimony that comes from an anonymous person who allegedly went to high school with Andrew WK. And granted, we can't consider this fact, but I'm just going to read it because it's it's, I think, I think it's relevant for what I'm going to say later. It goes like this. I won't get into irrelevant details, but the fact is Andrew and a few other people have been planning all of this for a long time from years and years, even

before I get wet came out. None of it is related to advertising or new albums or anything else. It's actually a lot more complicated than that. And it goes way beyond one particular time or idea. One day in the acting class, the teacher had us all stand up and talk about what our dreams for the future were. Most of the kids said to be a famous actor. One other girl said to be a star on Broadway and I said to make movies.

Andrew went last and stood up and said very slowly, I want to craft my own non-existence. The teacher asked him what he meant and he said exactly what I said. The teacher was clearly annoyed and the whole class rolled its eyes because Andrew was always saying weird stuff that made no sense. I asked Andrew how he was going to craft his own non-existence. I don't remember what he said word for word, but essentially he said, first I'm going to make myself undeniably exist as a recognizable and identifiable

form, and then I'm going to spend the rest of my life working to eliminate it and prove that its existence was an impossible illusion all along. But because people have already seen it, they will experience the sensation equal to maximum pleasure. He said he's needed therapy for a long time. It leads me to believe that he's more excited about this fucking theory that I'm talking about right now in this episode of this dumb show. Then his own music career.

Like I feel like this part of it is more important to him almost than the music even. Yeah, it definitely feels like it's way, at least from that quote. So he just gets off on crafting weird stuff and then convincing people that the weird stuff they saw isn't actually the weird stuff, but like all this stuff is just him trying to one up the last thing he did and try to blow people's minds. Yeah.

And again, this is a prank channel before prank channel. Yeah. But again, that that quote is from, you know, 2015, right? No, just some, some website. There's no verification for it. And there's nothing, no record of Andrew W. K saying anything to verify anything similar that, oh wait, except there is in this interview with Vanity Fair that I just linked to you where he says, in

high school, that's when I realized there was this whole other dimension of the world that was based on penetrating it and twisting it and distorting it and going after it in bizarre ways. I don't know if there's a word to sum all that up, a whole side of culture that was specifically based around blowing your mind, freaking yourself out and getting way out into the outer zone, feeling strange, basically. And I was completely and immediately enamored with that feeling, not understanding, confusion, how it felt good to not understand, how that made things bigger

and more full of possibility. It was one of the first experiences I had with a natural antidepressant. Eventually I was able to connect that excitement that that feeling gave me the urgent curiosity with a real melodic feeling. So, yeah, it's when he's talking about all that my mind immediately goes to, he really likes to play with the perception of reality. He likes to play with people's perception of what's real and almost, I don't want to say get off, but just get off on the fact that he's in control of it.

Like he's fucking with what you think is real. And like to him, that's the ultimate win. I think there is no him. I think he like really is serious about like just like making himself seem like an enigma, like it's all about perception. Right. If he just appears as like an obscure person, like, I think that's what he wants to achieve.

He's taking what he perceives as reality and forcing it into your own. Yeah. And at this point in the article, I don't think it has anything to do with that. I just think it's a dude who gets off on the idea of weirding people out. Yeah, making them uncomfortable around him so that they have to like, they're invested in his weirdness for the sake of him just being strange. And they're like, what does this mean? He's like, what does what mean?

Like that kind of stuff. And you're just like, who are you? He's like, who are any of us? He, that's his thing and he likes that. No, that's, it's very similar to what a lot of this is kind of a weird connection, but a lot of cult leaders do the same thing. Yeah, it's like they kind of wrap you up in their mystery and their, and their lure and their charisma.

And then you're always questioning them, but they always seem like they have the answer. The cult of partying, dude. Yeah, that's right. The cult of getting wet and partying. But this is where at this point in the article, this is where the author just like starts speculating. So this is where it's really going to start getting crazy. And like the gravity of this is really going to start coming together.

He thinks that the whole real story theory, that letter about the dude who went to school with Andrew W. K. and the whole website actually with all the secret codes on it and shit. He thinks all of that was written by Andrew W. And then he thinks he made up all those secret codes by himself just to give himself something to write about and all those other official sites. And there's actually a little bit of evidence to kind of support this way of thinking as if the whole thing is like, there's not even really that many people

who like do this legwork, except that I'm talking about it right now. And except that that guy was talking about it on the stereo gum article, but like, it seems like he might have just went online and slowly laid the groundwork for this whole thing himself. So here's like, okay, here's a quote from the intro of that homestead site that I was talking about earlier, right? This is from like 2004 or something. This is like from like around I get wet times, right?

To say that Andrew W. K. is avant garde is like describing a skyscraper as a tall building. It's an overstatement of the obvious. Skyscraper is an elegant word designed specifically to communicate the idea of a tall building and it communicates the idea on its own terms by combining two romantic and lucid works into one super noun adjective verb hybrid of its own creation. The word skyscraper is the custom crafted essence of tall building in the same

way that Andrew W. K. is the conclusion of every edge being cut and crossed. Does it seem like a coincidence after reading that, that he named his label skyscraper music maker and then changed it almost immediately to Steve Mike music? Yeah, man. It's weird. I also mean, yeah.

I, I, I, the more you, you talk, the more, yeah, I, I like last the first episode, my mind was like drugs. Maybe some of this is something this is real. Like, yeah, yeah, there's something's going on. Now I'm like, he's a troll on purpose. Yeah. Uh, he also thinks that the comment that I read last time from, remember that one not like on that, like there was like a comment on an article in 2007 about

Steve Mike marketing ploy. Yeah, he thought that was written by Andrew W. K., which I mentioned last time would fit right. And above it, there's one from a user called 55, which was posted three years. It was posted three years before the release of 55 Cadillac and says Andrew was never real. And if you remember all the way back at the beginning, I was reading a response. From the webmaster of Andrew W.

K.'s website in response to his absence. Right. Yeah. Her name was her name was Christine Williams. Right. Do you think it's a coincidence that her name is like incredibly superficially similar to Wilkes career? Like Andrew W.

K.'s Andrew W. K.'s name. I mean, that could be just a weird coincidence, but and the Andrew W. K. also reverses his own initials all the time. And this whole thing, here's the thing. I think that's a stretch, but I also don't because I think he's weird enough to like have done all of this. I believe it, but I think I believe that last episode.

I think the idea of him being just a strange dude who likes this is entirely plausible. It's just so speaks to the danger of the internet. You can be your own witness, alibi and conspiracy person. Yeah. Look, I've already, I've already said this and numerous things. I'll say it again. The reason why I blew up on YouTube was back when I was doing a world of warcraft videos way back in the day.

I would go on the forums, post a video and then create fake accounts to keep it on the front page and be like, wow, this is really, really great. I'm not, I'm not even going to BS about that. That's what I did. And then I got people in my guild and friends to go on there and be like, they never watched it, but they were just like, this is great content. And it stayed there and people bought in and eventually people were just, okay, cool, like that's, you had to hustle.

So I get it. I don't get what this contributes to his fame though. It got people talking. No, I got people talking interviews. I think it contributes to what he considers fame. I never went up in that classroom. His goal and everyone said, yeah, when everyone stood up in that classroom, everyone said what they want to do.

This is his version of that and it contributes to what he wants. So of course he's going to do more of it. Yeah. And we're getting close to the end. I'm going to read you one more. Now that we're all kind of getting on the same page, I'm going to read you another quote from that book about, I get wet, uh, from this guy, Jimmy Coop, who was one of his guitarists, just to show you like really how close to the

core of his whole presence. This mystery is Andrew is capable of so much crazy stuff that I honestly don't know for a fact if Andrew didn't hire you himself to create this book and get all this information out of people. Just to find out what people are saying or thinking, I'm not paranoid, but I know the extent and the bizarre lengths Andrew's gone. Yeah, it just fits. Yeah.

So in conclusion, like I think, and I think it's actually like pretty well supported, and this is just like my final sort of like statement on this. I think there actually is an element of like Andy Kaufman slash Andy Warhol ask, I think there actually is one going on here, which Andrew W. UK is definitely participating in himself actively, not just as like a, like a, he's not just like saying crazy shit all the time. I think he's like trying to actively further this conspiracy. And, uh, regardless of how true it all is, regardless of whether he's

written all his songs himself or whether he's ever hired any sort of body double. Um, there is one last parallel, which we just talked about that the article draws, uh, that's based on the song, don't call me Andy, which like, I wish like we could like buy the rights to that to play at the end of this episode because I want everybody to hear this song. Just if you have a chance, go listen to this song of close calls with brick walls called, don't call me Andy. It is basically a song that is just about this.

It's literally like a song about this idea and, uh, his identity and this mystery and everything. And it's, you know, it's a very vaguely lyric song, but if you like have listened to this episode and you go listen to that song, I think it will have some very big resident things with you. And I don't think it's called, it's called, don't call me Andy. And that's the, and that's the chorus of the song is just, don't call me Andy, don't call me Andy, don't call me Andy.

And I don't think it's an accident that Andy Kaufman and Andy Warhol's names like mixed, mixed together are literally Andrew W. Andrew Warhol Kaufman. I think that's like, I think that's like where his head is at. Mind blown on that one. I like that. Damn. I'm, I'm a little depressed.

He's not part of the Illuminati. He might be. You never know. We don't know how far, we don't know how far the, the theory is true. We don't know how much of it is real, but I think this is basically the machinations of a guy who had a crazy idea when he was in high school that has just been like using willpower to like further this insane like spider web of mysteries while also having a pretty like remarkable music career.

That was a cool journey. You took us on. Is that not crazy that that's like, like the thing about this one that I like is that it sounds fucking insane, like completely fucking insane, but it's by far the most convincing theory I've ever like rabbit hole down. Like, I never thought that I would go down this rabbit hole and be like, you kind of found a bottom. Yeah.

You're going to found the bottom of the rabbit hole. I'm like, I think it's never happens. Yeah. I wish that's cool. I wish I could like catch up with Andrew W. K. when he's like retired. Like I wanted, I, I hope there's like an end. I hope there's like a finish line where he gets to be like, yeah, fuck you guys.

I am alive. Andy, Andy Kaufman is alive. Like I want, I want there to be like the big reveal, but I'm curious. So he released an album in 2018. Yeah. And the album was, according to the reviews, it had three spoken word tracks. All of the tracks were about positivity and uplifting people. Everything about the album was this positive, like good vibes.

I'm here for you. You can get through this kind of feel. I'm curious. Going back to the idea of deconstructing yourself and making it so like you're here, everyone knows your thing, but you're not real, right? Yeah. There's like a, going back to the cult idea, there's like a spiritual aspect to all of this.

And I feel like when you look at religious figures and, and profits, right? They were clearly people, but they transcended existence to something beyond just being a person. And I wonder if the reason why suddenly all of his stuff is like, Hey, you're not alone. You can do like things like that is cause it goes with the idea of being like now I'm beyond being a person and I'm a message. Like, is that the kind of crazy shit he's into?

Cause I think that connects that tracks. Yeah. I think it, like when you look at, I think that when you, after you've listened to this episode or you like read an article about this and you kind of have like a sort of like ability to stand back and like look at this whole thing together, like his music career and his, uh, and his weird, like alternate reality where he doesn't exist plan that he's been enacting. Like you really start to get to this point where you're like, this whole

thing is his artistic statement together. And I think you're picking up on exactly what he's trying to do. I think he's like commenting on it and it becomes like, you know, I mean, his music is pretty like light. It's not very like, uh, you know, challenging to listen to. It's very like sort of like poppy. It's very simple, catchy. Yeah.

But I think with, with the like sort of like added background of like this whole like, is he real? Is he not thing? It adds this like whole other layer to it. Like, like, okay. So I just sent you the link to this version of don't call me Andy from the Andrew WK YouTube page, uh, that, uh, it only has like 2000 views, but the art, the album art for it, like just tell the people what it is.

It's like, yeah. So it's clearly his body with long hair, but his entire face is missing and he's holding two albums crossed armed. And in one, it's, it's, uh, his like, he looks like a crazy person, just staring in the camera. The other one, he just looks smiling and happy. Yeah. And he might not even be the same person.

Who knows? Yeah. They look, I mean, look, if you look at the two albums that he's holding, the people in the two albums look different. It's like two of the ones that people always point to that are like, wow, he looks totally different on these two. And he's, he's like, got all these like occult symbols on his body. He's got like a clot.

He's got a watch on. I don't know what time it is. You can see he has these like weird rings. And it's just like, if you look at this for like one second, you're like, Oh, it's just another like weird enter WK thing. But if you look at nine, it is nine to 39 on the clock. Yeah. Which is like six 36.

I don't know. Maybe it's like some sort of like upside down at six 36. Yeah. Like, I don't know, but like six E six. Yeah. I, I just think like, if you look at it deeper, you suddenly, it suddenly resonates with you in like a whole other way. Like, you know, once you know what I've just told you about Andrew WK, I think

it just deepens his whole allure. I look at him now as more of, uh, instead of like, uh, somebody who might be going through some weird shit. Now I just see him as somebody who wanted one very specific thing in life and achieved it, you know, in his own weird way. If this was like a documentary and we had to end this in a way, I would say go look up the music video for the song, you are not alone. Yeah.

Andrew WK it is all like inverted colors. And it is just him alone with a microphone. And the song literally is about how like your journey is not over. It's just begun. You're not alone. It is I like the perfect capstone of it, of who he is as a person that he's like, I'm just, this is, this isn't over. I'm just getting started with this stuff.

Like it's crazy. And oh my God, I think it's the perfect way. It's like a really, like emotional song for a dude is like party hard. You can do party more. Like it's a different tone. It's fascinating. So do you, do you feel like he's like reached the end of his journey? Like, do you think that he's like achieved?

I think, I think he is transcend, like he's changing what his goal. Like, I think he hit the idea of the mysticism and creating a persona that is beyond just being a dude. And now when you reach that level, right? If you go back to spiritualism, you are now a message instead of a person. And so his message, which was always about positivity and like, let's party and have fun is now like, it's a, it's the same kind of like thing, but he's transcending that into being like, Hey, it's going to be okay out there.

Y'all, I'm telling you, it's, there's some crazy shit going on here. I might be in, I might be in the cult now. He might have convinced me. You think you got, you think you got moved by this? I got brainwashed. I think I'm in. I love that. It's, it's been interesting on my, in my perspective, cause I'd never heard of

this dude till today, like this, this episode, seeing the birth, basically the birth of this guy for me and it's like getting led around what this guy has done. Yeah, man. I, I like Jesse's line of thought of like, now he's going for to be like a symbol and a message and that way in a weird way, it makes himself immortal in his own weird way. He cannot be killed. Yeah.

Uh, if he just persists as a feeling and a message for people. Yeah. He both was that typical saying, right? You die twice once physically and once when somebody says your name the last time. Yeah. He both is and it's not Andrew W. Okay. He achieved, I achieved maximum pleasure by what did he say?

He says, I achieved maximum pleasure by like, uh, because people have already seen it and I also believe it's an illusion. I have experienced a sensation equal to maximum pleasure. What a wild time. You are an excellent leader, Alex. Is it coming out? You, is this coming out? Literally today, I'm going to put this out.

I have to, cause I won't have time otherwise. Then you know what, if it's Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, speaking of maximum pleasure, the most pleasurable thing you can put on your goddamn body is a limited edition shilluminati, which you can buy right now from the eddy.com. The link is in the show description guys, and you can put one of those sexy sweaters on your bodies. Put it on your body. Put it on your hot bod.

Just like wear it, take a photo. You know what? I got through the whole song while you guys are talking at the end. He's like, take a step into the great unknown. It's in the song. That's 2018. What do you think we're doing on this? The man, we are the podcast for him.

He should come on and just talk to us. Official fourth member, unofficial fifth beatle of the shilluminati Andrew W. In spirit all the time with me at least now. He's part of me. I'm going to get an Andrew W. K necklace and wear it like a cross around my neck. I can't for this was, this was great, man. This was awesome.

That was so much fun. Thank you, Alex for dragging us, not only bringing us into a rabbit hole, but giving us like a satisfying conclusion to said insanity. I'm so glad that I was able to make this happen. I'm so glad that I was able to like pull this shit together and like actually make it because it's so fucking crazy. It was awesome. It was freaking great.

I loved it. Well, I guess, uh, next, the next, the next episode is back to shit. I can't prove to Jesse. So it'll just be completely great. Can't wait. Um, thank you guys for listening. We'll be back sooner rather than later. Do go get those hoodies by the time you're listening.

If this is the first day it's out, we've got like two days, but May 15th is when they stop checking the clock. Go check it out. If you want to get in touch with us, you can always do so on Twitter. I'm at Mathis Games personally. Jesse is at Jesse Cox and Alex is at Fosse on AA. And of course the podcast in general is at Shaluma naughty pod. Same thing with Reddit.

You can go yell at us over there and tell us all your really, really dope stories. We've had some really interesting alien stories recently on the subreddit. So go read those really. And that's it. Yeah. Throw us reviews wherever you're listening to us, review us, baby. Five stars. We love you.

We'll see you next time. Bye. If you've ever had to deal with a plumbing problem, you may have felt the pain of realizing you don't know any plumbers. Whether you're trying to stop a leaky faucet, fix a running toilet, replace your old water softener or install a tankless water heater. The plumbers at any hour services can help. All you have to do is call any hour services or schedule an appointment at

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