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(Source: app.meinmyplace.com)

A exclusive MIMP interview with Andrew W.K. and Cherie Lily. - “I’ve always said that real men enjoy the smell of vagina. Thankfully Andrew W.K. passes the test and my girl boner is still intact.” - The Bowie Cat

Words by Sophie Saint Thomas (@TheBowieCat)

Images by Michael Edwards

I was 14 when Andrew’s I Get Wet came out. I wasn’t sure why the infamous album cover of his face drenched in blood pouring from his nose got me wet, or why the video for “Party Hard,” featuring this wolf of a man headbanging in filthy ripped clothes, was such a turn on. Perhaps it was his party-positive message, or the raw male stench I was drawn to. Since I Get Wet came out I’ve had my eye on him, so when I heard Andrew had found himself a wifey, I had to meet this woman. It turns out Cherie Lily, the Queen to the King of Party, is just as intriguing as he is. While @AndrewWK gets wet, @CherieLily gets dripping wet.

Me In My Place is pleased to premiere an “Exclusive Bedroom Web Cam” music video for Cherie Lily’s “Body” produced by Vjuan Allure. The video is from her recent “Dripping Wet” EP, and in collaboration with MIMP’s “Dance Off” section, and a recent afternoon spent with the couple where we discussed sex etiquette, Cherie and Andrew’s love story, and of course, partying. 

MIMP founder Michael Edwards and I are sitting at Santos Party House, the downtown Manhattan club and music venue Andrew owns. The party power couple arrives slightly late, coming from a joint work out session. Cherie, the afternoon’s star, is dressed in colorful spandex complemented with dominatrix-esque thong one piece. Andrew is in his signature dirty white jeans and t-shirt, in all likelihood the same clothes he wore over a decade ago in the “Party Hard” video. I ask Cherie if she’s ever worn the leather dominatrix accessory on its own for Andrew in private.

“Not this one specifically, but other things like it, yes,” Cherie answers with a smile.

“Do you guys want something to drink, some water or orange juice?” Andrew asks. He proceeds to pour himself some vodka, topped off with what appears to be cranberry juice, although I can’t be sure. In his stained white t-shirt and eyes hidden by sunglasses, he hands us some samples of Playtex’s “Fresh + Sexy,” an intimate wipe he’s become the face of.

“It’s two packets connected, the idea is that there’s one for before and after an intimate experience. Especially if you’re traveling, if I haven’t been able to take a shower for a day, or a couple days, or weeks or months, this really does come in handy,” he says. “Playtex generally makes products for females but this is for men and women. For men you can even use it if you’re by yourself! Um and you don’t have a partner…there’s cleanup that’s involved there.”

Between their workout dates, concerts, and exceptionally active lifestyle, these two sweat a lot. With her eccentric personality and style (not to mention flexibility and that leather ensemble) I wouldn’t mind smelling Cherie’s party myself, so Andrew better appreciate Cherie’s or else I’ll step in and do it myself. It’s obvious that Andrew is not someone who showers everyday, so I get how intimate wipes could come in handy, but just to make sure he’s down with unwashed lady parts, I ask how he feels about body odor.

“Cherie and I have been very lucky in that we don’t really smell each other. Other people might think we smell terrible, but I think we’ve been together long enough we just don’t notice it. Cherie smells like home.” 

He gazes at her lovingly. “You smell like cozy.”

 I see how far I can push the envelope. “Where’s the weirdest place you guys have gotten it on recently?” I ask, while Michael snaps photos of them making out. “Things must get tricky while on tour.” I’m hoping for stories of backstage blowjobs or a quickie in the green room before they take the stage.

“We go to a hotel room, or a bus maybe,” says Andrew. “I always just thought [public sex] was inconsiderate to other people, you know in case a kid walked in on you in a public place. I guess I had a few things like that happen to me, or even seeing friends when you’re over at their house being really loud because it turns them on for you to be able to hear them. It’s just not good manners or something.”

Time to refocus on music. I ask Cherie if the title of her her “Dripping Wet” EP is a nod to Andrew’s I Get Wet.

Andrew looks at Cherie. “Huh, I never thought of that.”

“Oh yeah, people say that all the time,” Cherie responds. “It’s a nod that happened without us really thinking about it.”

“A subconscious nod,” Andrew agrees. They often finish each other’s sentences, and forget that we are in the room and break into their own private conversations. It’s sickeningly adorable, and the romantic buried inside my pervert mind is quite pleased that my teenage crush has found himself such a perfect partner.

Cherie grew up outside of Chicago to Iranian immigrant parents who came to America in the late 60’s, before the Shah fell. Eventually making her way to New York, Cherie worked in the fashion industry before switching her focus to fitness and music, two loves she merged to create “houserobics,” a combindation of dance music and erobics. Along with continuing to teach fitness classes at Crunch, Cherie released “The Dripping Wet” EP on February 12th, 2013. The EP is Cherie’s follow up to her debut EP “WERK,” released on Andrew W.K.’s Steev Mike label. The video for “WERK” features her signature houserobics and some impressive moves by Andrew W.K., who says he pulled a few tendons while filming the video.

Andrew and Cherie met in 2005 through their shared vocal coach, Melissa Cross, who specializes in the art of screaming. 

“I was in different hard core and rock bands at the time and I heard about this coach, so I went to go see her. I was in the waiting area and then this guy came out and it was Andrew,” says Cherie. “I was like ‘Oh my god, who is this guy? Andrew W.K., he’s so cute.’ ”

Melissa Cross’s role expanded from vocal coach to life coach as she helped set the two up. 

“She knew right away! She knew Andrew really well, and then when she met me she knew we would be a good match. And she was right. Melissa told me that I couldn’t just ask him out, it had to be more organic. So she would make my lesson after his lesson so we would run into each other,” says Cherie.

I ask Andrew what he thought of Cherie the first time he saw her.

“I thought she was a little angel face,” says Andrew. “Also, I had been asking the singing teacher about a girl that could join my band, because from the very beginning, going back to like 98’, 99’, I’d always wanted this feeling of a team of people on the stage. I had a few friends who said ‘Oh use this girl, she’s great at keyboard.’ But I had met these girls, I mean they were very nice, and lovely and fine, but they would never be able to throw down, let alone withstand the atmosphere of doing what we do, not just on stage but traveling and the whole nature of it. Then when I met Cherie I asked Melissa initially ‘do you think she could do it?’ and she said yes, but I still had no idea the level of athleticism and stamina, and most of all the attitude that Cherie had.”

At the time, Cherie was working in the male model division at Wilhelmina Models. She invited Andrew in for a meeting with the celebrity division to secretly get closer to him, but it was Andrew who finally asked her out. The two married on October 4^th, 2008, in a traditional ceremony held at Santos Party House, although they did head bang to “Party Hard” during the reception.

The more I get to know the pair, the more curious I am of Andrew’s definition of “party.” When one envisions of the word, especially coming out of a rock star’s mouth, a “fuck it” Jim Morrison mind set comes to mind. Yet his politeness, the traditional wedding, and deep consideration of others (particularly when it pertains to humping in public) leads me to wonder if the most the two men have in common are their unwashed pants. I ask Andrew how he defines the word “party.” 

“Party is a very simple word that everyone understands in its essence, but it can also mean something unique to each person, which I think is the best aspect of that word. It’s something you can do on special occasions like the New Year, or your birthday, or Friday; when you are very thankful that a weekend is coming, or that it’s a new year, or you were even born at all,” says Andrew. “But if you’re thankful to be alive every day then you can party and have that celebratory mindset,” he continues. “Taking something that you are grateful for, fully acknowledging it, and then driving that energy towards that appreciation. That’s how I think of it. That’s how I justify doing it every day.”

I’m realizing that for Andrew and Cherie, “party” isn’t just sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, but rather a mind set, something deeper, even spiritual.

When the interview concludes we all leave Santos Party House at the same time, and I happen to be heading in the same direction as Andrew and Cherie. So I don’t look like a creepy stalker who has secretly been envisioning group sex throughout the interview, I keep my distance, but observe. Bundled up on the chilly evening, arms around one another, the pair doesn’t look like rock stars, but they do look in love.

“I’ve never met any other person, let alone a lady, that can throw down as hard as me and never complain about it. She has a much better attitude than me. I try to learn from her every day about being better at life, let alone head banging,” says Andrew.

To see Cherie in all her glory, catch her performing at Webster Hall’s Trash Party Friday, March 29^th. She hits the stage at 2AM. Take a hit of whatever Andrew and Cherie are inhaling and stay up for it.

(Source: app.meinmyplace.com)