Andrew W.K. doesn’t want his love of tacos to be obscured by pizza

Andrew W.K. first became a global icon with 2001’s I Get Wet, which featured hit singles like “Party Hard” and “She Is Beautiful.” Andrew’s musical success led the Michigan native to cross over into television, hosting shows like MTV2’s Your Friend, Andrew W.K., Kerrang! TV’s Andrew W.K.’s Party Hard 100, and the Cartoon Network’s Destroy Build Destroy. The singer even wound up with a weekly advice column in the Village Voice, plus other columns on Vice and Japan’s Rockin’ On magazine.

As one of the world’s foremost authorities on partying, Andrew W.K. is one of those rare celebrities that seemingly everyone loves. In turn, when he announced a taco guitar in time for National Taco Day - just a few years after his pizza guitar collaboration with the ESP Guitar Company - it was undoubtedly time to talk food with Andrew. Below are highlights from our very party phone conversation.

The Daily Meal: Something that got a lot of people talking was your Taco Guitar, which wasn’t your first collaboration with ESP Guitars. Do you have any plans to release the taco or the pizza guitar on a larger scale?
Andrew W.K.: Thank you for asking about that. It was never my intention or ESP’s but I have noticed a growing demand, or maybe I should just say passionate requests, by individuals who said they will like to own their own pizza guitar or their own taco guitar. That is certainly a big stamp of approval and a delight as for us, it is very flattering. That is really up to ESP. They rarely make production models of their one-off customs, but I think anything is possible and in the meantime there is no reason that anybody out there can’t make their own pizza guitar or their own taco guitar. I made my own, so can you.

Does that put any pressure on you to come up with an even more outrageous guitar?
Well, I don’t know... I would not call the taco guitar “outrageous,” it is the most sensible guitar in my opinion. Pizza guitar is the most sensible kind of guitar you could have. When I see these other shaped guitars, I don’t even know that they represent, you know? Pizza and tacos, those are things that I am familiar with, it only makes sense there should be a guitar that is shaped like them. And actually, I do have several other ideas that I have had for a long time, so this has been somewhat strategic... I don’t take for granted that I am going to make these next models. I don’t assume that it is going to happen, but I pray to the party gods and I pray to the guitar masters at ESP that they will indulge me once again.

You have always been known as a pizza guy, but the taco thing has creeped up more as of late. Have you hidden your passion for tacos all these years?
I have been pretty upfront about it, to be honest. I think pizza, there is something about pizza that just has a slight more cut to it, so it might resonate with more people in a deeper way or in a more instantaneous way. But I have been very open about my love for tacos. I have had the pleasure of working with Taco Bell quite deeply over the years, even making a TV series with them about Taco Bell, about tacos. I have made other videos about the history of Taco Bell. I have supported tacos and eaten tacos for as long as I could remember, so it is only natural.

I apologize for not knowing all that.
No, it is good for me to know because I’ve got to make sure that my love for tacos is not obscured by anything. It shouldn’t even be obscured by pizza. Both of these great foods can exist side by side. One does not need to be over the other. That is a common misconception when it comes to favorites, you can have more than one favorite, even though it seems like a contradiction.

When it comes to eating healthy on the road, because you have always been known to be in great shape, do you have pizza and tacos on your rider? Or do you have more healthy fare backstage?
We have had pizza, I think, every single day except for one on this tour so far, largely due to the fact that we have formal scheduled pizza parties with our fellow partiers. People come into the concert, people win the special treat to enjoy pizza, and we share it with them, so we’ve eaten pizza every single day. Some of the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life is sometimes the place that you wouldn’t really think we could have the best pizza... I mean, we have been spoiled rotten in the most beautiful sense of the word by all these wonderful pizzas that we have been really most of the time given, usually donated by a wonderful pizza place.

Whether it is Sizzle Pie or last night in, in Houston, Texas, we had Pi Pizza. Even House Of Blues and the Brooklyn Bowl provided their own in-house pizza, and those were fantastic too. In fact, the variety is what keeps it interesting, keeps it going. But I am not a pizza snub, I am very easy to please when it comes to pizza. I love every kind of variety, every different interpretation of pizza. I like inexpensive pizza, even frozen pizza, some of that to me is the best pizza, right up there to that very high-end pizza. I love it all, and I eat lots of pizza.

I have had tacos on this tour, not as many as I would like, although we did celebrate National Taco Day, the day that we announced the taco guitar... We had tacos, a full big taco bar on that day. We just had to. We feel very lucky that we have such a bounty of delicious food. I have always been a big believer in just eating what you want to eat and try to keep neurosis as far away from food as possible, and as long as you party hard enough, it all takes care of itself.

With that many days on the road, W.K. can find a pizza at every tour stop.