New music feature (my first cover story!!!): Andrew W.K.

But—you can’t read it online (at least not yet). Sorry! There are photos of it after the cut, though, and maybe that will get you to buy the magazine ;)

So, after covering Andrew W.K.’s presentation at CMJ for PompOnline.com, I was asked to write the cover story on him for the survival-themed issue of Pomp & Circumstance, which is out now! It’s my first cover story so, if you can’t tell by the way I’m typing this, I am SO excited. I’m still waiting to find out where you can buy the mag in New York, Chicago, and Michigan…so more on that soon.

Andrew W.K. will always make me think of being on drumline in high school, because all the guys in the grade above me loooved him and would always bang on shit while singing/yelling “Party Hard” (they did this at our band camp talent show one year). But now when someone mentions Andrew W.K. (which, if you live in New York, is ALL THE TIME), I’ll be more likely to think of a really freaking cool guy who has an amazing outlook on life and just wants to make people happy, even if he tends to do some really crazy stuff. Also, my interview with him—a couple weeks ago in Brooklyn, before the photo shoot—was one of the best I’ve ever done, not because of the questions I asked but because it wasn’t forced and actually felt like a conversation. Sorry for being super cheesy but the whole experience, the magic of everything coming together perfectly, helped reaffirm that this is really what I want to be doing right now and all of my hard (and sometimes unpaid) work will pay off sooner or later. Hopefully sooner rather than later…

Anyway, on Thursday night Pomp had a party for the issue release and there was a panel about survival with W.K., author Tony O’Neill, and comedian Lianne Stokes, which was filled with talks about hard drugs and losing jobs, and also involved W.K. sitting like a statue for what had to be at least 15 minutes. Many, many thanks to my amazing friends who came to hang out—I had so much fun!

My MSU buddies Nick and Robb flipping through the mag

Me and Andrew W.K. after the panel. My Michigan friends and I bonded with him over our accents.

From left: Amber, Amy, Sarah, me, Nick, Robb