Gonzales Wins Piano Battle Against Andrew W.K.

09/28/09 5:01pm

by Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

Gonzales emerged the victor in his piano battle against party rocker Andrew W.K. on Saturday night at New York City's Joe's Pub.

Gonzales (real name Jason Charles Beck), who holds the world record for longest solo concert, challenged Andrew W.K., who just released a solo piano album, to the piano battle earlier this month, and Andrew W.K. accepted. The battle was decided after four rounds.

In the first round, Andrew W.K. got the crowd screaming after his hair went flying everywhere as he pounded out a dissonant series of chord progressions. Gonzales, clad in a purple workout suit resembling something from a Koodo ad, was much more laid back in this round, gently tickling the keys in the upper register to great applause.

The second round saw Andrew W.K. get the crowd screaming again with a fiery ostinato that eventually ended with him yelling into the mic. Gonzales decided to one-up Andrew W.K. by stomping and slamming his hands all over his keyboard and then poked fun at Andrew W.K.'s yelling once his part in the round was done.

The third round featured tons of glissandi from Andrew W.K., who attempted to play the piano horizontally (though he couldn't do it upside down and backwards - perhaps Mozart could teach him a thing or two about that). Gonzales again showed Andrew W.K. a thing or two when he played wit a headband covering his eyes.

The two musicians faced off against each other at the same time during the deciding fourth round, amusingly neck-lunging at each other after trading duelling chord progressions, ostinati, glissandi and headbangs before Gonzales threw what appeared to be a gold chain at W.K. to distract him. Gonzo was then declared the winner and celebrated by exposing his chest and rubbing his nipples.

Did he cheat to win? You decide by watching the video of the fourth round below. (Andrew W.K. wasn't having his loss, and took to the piano to headbang, stomp and pound out something really, really atonal in protest.)

You can see videos from all three rounds here, but you can watch video of the fourth round here:

Gonzales' next album will be produced by German DJ Boys Noize, according to Self-Titled magazine. No other information about the release is available yet.

You can see Gonzales with a super SECRET guest at Toronto's Mod Club on Wednesday.

You can see Andrew W.K. here:

Sept. 29 Brookline, MA @ Collidge Corner Theater w/ Calder Quartet
Sept. 30 Washington, DC @ Sixth & I Historic Synagogue w/ Calder Quartet
Oct. 2 New York, NY @ Joe's Pub w/ Calder Quartet
Oct. 4 Toronto, ON @ Trinity-St. Paul's United Church w/ Calder Quartet
Oct. 7 San Francisco, CA @ Swedish-American Hall w/ Calder Quartet
Oct. 8 Los Angeles, CA @ Largo w/ Calder Quartet