Remembering Andrew W.K.’s TV Interview Where He Hid Under a Piano

Andrew W.K. gave a jostle to rock music when he burst onto the scene into the early 2000s. But while some were busy trying to figure out if his persona was a schtick, the singer himself was doing crazy things such as giving an interview from beneath a baby grand piano and mounting a bizarre television performance that ended in possible broken bones.

The rocker accomplished both of those things during a 2002 appearance on the New Zealand late-night music show Space. Many years later, the Space host who interviewed W.K. for the unusual segment shared the full video interview online, and it really has to be seen to be believed.

Watch the interview toward the bottom of this post.

"Amazing footage of Andrew WK live on New Zealand music show SPACE in 2002," the clip's caption reads. "Interview taking place under a grand piano and the performance going very differently to what was rehearsed, resulting in Andrew [W.K.] breaking his hand and leaving presenters Jaquie Brown and Hugh Sundae, stunned."

The clip includes plenty of surreal conversation between W.K. and Brown as the TV presenter attempts to speak with the singer under such odd circumstances. She carries on with aplomb, however, and the resultant footage gives us tidbits such as this:

"Are you all nuts and bolts and man and gruff and GRARRRRRGH?" Brown asks the musician, as Metal Hammer remembered.

"Nut. Bolt. Flour. Cheese, Fudge Brownie. Egg," W.K. whimsically responds. "And a whole lot of love."

Similar exchanges fill the duration of the 10-minute interview. But the denouement is when the performer starts getting violent with his piano during a performance of 2001's I Get Wet single "Party Hard." After the song subsides, W.K. reveals that he may have just broken his hand.

"He goes up another level," Brown recalls of the performance now. "He stands up. He stops punching the keys and he starts punching himself. He's punching his chest, beating his chest, then he moves out from behind the piano and onto the floor. I'm like, 'Oh, God— what's happening?'"

Hey, if you're gonna party, you might as well party hard.

Andrew W.K. Makes a Bizarre Appearance on New Zealand's Space in 2002