You’re most likely to have heard of Andrew W.K. from his 2001 hit Party Hard. His song catalogue boasts other tracks in a similar vein such as It’s Time to Party, Long Live the Party, Party Til You Puke, Dance Party, Party (You Shout). He recorded a track for an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force creatively titled Party Party Party, and just last year released an EP in Japan called Party all Goddamn Night. Say what you like about him, the man likes to party.

On Twitter Andrew WK dispenses party tips and general life-advice daily. He wants everyone to feel awesome all of the time, pioneering the genre of Self-Help Party Metal, and a while ago I got to chat with him. He was cool enough to answer some of my questions and recorded for me an alternate intro to Party Hard to be used as an alarm tune, replacing the phrase “When it’s time to party we will party hard” with “When it’s time to wake up we will wake up fast.”

Andrew WK is coming back to London in April and it will be the best gig of the year.

Hi Andrew, how are you today?

Yeah, good! How are you?

Really good thanks; I’ve slept well, eaten well and enjoyed myself.

Marvellous! Those are all big things that make an important difference to the quality of your day.

Some of your songs appear to have a veneer of light fluffy positiveness that hint at a deeper meaning, while others just seem purely rooted in promoting the idea of partying. Is any of that purposeful?

Really all that I care about is getting a feeling of energy across. It’s impossible to really describe what that feeling is precisely because it’s different for each person. To me it’s when you get a wave of chills in your body; you get these feelings of electricity coursing through your veins which makes your hair stand up on end, it makes you have butterflies in your stomach, and it gives you tingles. It makes you feel like anything is possible and you will have energy for days. I’m not sure what that is.

There’s something about music specifically when people are entertaining each other that’s particularly powerful. I think we can all relate to how music is able to stir up a certain kind of pure emotion that isn’t necessarily a happy feeling or a sad feeling or joyful or angry… it’s just pure emotion and I wanna get that feeling out there in as many ways I can. When I make songs it’s just another attempt to make that feeling happen to someone and myself. And it can happen from them listening to the words, it can happen from them hearing the melody and it can happen from the rhythm. It can happen from a combination of all those things, or none of those things and something else that even I can’t pinpoint. But hopefully it happens and they get this incredible physical rush.

55 Cadillac was quite a departure from your previous albums. Was it a side project or do you see it as the next step in the evolution of your work?

It just is an album that exists as it does. It’s different to any of the others yet its consistently the same in that it’s mine and it’s Andrew WK. But it’s true that it has its own place - every album does. I never would’ve imagined I would make an album like this but that’s why it became so exciting to do. It really is what was meant to happen and now it’s done. For me it’s done because it’s already there but for people who haven’t heard it yet it’s still waiting to happen.

You have two songs that are pretty city-specific; what is about NYC and Las Vegas that makes them interesting to you?

I grew up in Michigan and moved to New York when I was 18, so it was my city, where I chose to live and it was the biggest, craziest place around. And Vegas is the other biggest craziest place around; it’s an enigma that’s very powerful. When someone says the name New York it feels a certain way to them, whether they’ve been there or not. And I think Las Vegas is a city that has a similar power; its name alone conjures up a certain sensation for each person and when you use that in a song you’re really able to play around with those feelings and ideas.

Okay, I want you to choose three people in the world, dead or alive, that you would like to party with.

These questions have always been very tricky for me. It’s like picking your three favourite songs, or favourite foods. I would like to see what it would be like to hang out with Michael Jordan. And maybe his dad, who’s passed away. And maybe one of Michael Jordan’s kids.

So basically Michael Jordan and his family?

Well not any of Jordan’s brothers or sisters.

What’s the reason behind that?

Because there’s only room for three.