Andrew W.K. is known for his fist-pumping party anthems, but tomorrow night, showgoers will see a more vulnerable side of the man in white.

When Wilkes-Krier hits Avenue Theatre with former MuchMusic VJ John Ruskin (a.k.a. Nardwuar)'s band The Evaporators, he will perform as a true solo artist with nothing but a keyboard and a microphone.

This fits in with his upcoming album '55 Cadillac, to be released this September through his own Skyscraper Music Maker label, which will be -- brace yourself -- an instrumental piano album.

"The band is amazing and I really consider the band to be a huge part of why I've been able to do what I've done with Andrew W.K.," he explains. "But I wanted to reconnect with that place inside me that existed before I had the band."

Wilkes-Krier has been floating somewhat under the radar in North America since an unfortunate contractual obligation denied him the right to continue releasing CDs in the U.S. under the name Andrew W.K. after he split with his then-creative manager in 2005.

Instead of letting this hindrance dismantle his career, the cheery rocker has used the opportunity to spread his creative juices to other avenues and focus on international markets, namely Japan, for his musical releases.

In the last four years, the multi-instrumentalist has been producing albums for other artists, running a nightclub in Manhattan called Santos Party House, giving lectures at universities across the U.S., and prepping his new live-action TV show Destroy Build Destroy, which debuted on the Cartoon Network last week.

"Basically, it's me trying to get that fun energy, electricity, the sense of freedom and possibility, out using whatever tools I can. So I can do it through talking, I can do it through music, I can do it through TV or doing this interview. And that made it so much less painful for me," he says.

"Before, everything had to fit into this idea of what I was supposed to do and who I was, this ego-based idea of what made me 'Me.' If I shift my concept from being a musician to (being) a person who wants to make people feel good, then that allows me to do all these different things and still have it make sense in a bigger picture."

His latest musical effort is a brand new split 7-inch with The Evaporators titled A Wild Pear, on which he covers Canadian punk classics by Subhumans and The Leather Uppers.

At age 30, the man who penned Party Hard is still a partier at heart. But for Wilkes-Krier, partying goes far beyond sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.

"When you're in a good mood, or doing something that you love to do, or around someone that you love to be around, or listening to a song that makes you feel good, that's a very powerful source of energy.

And to me, that's what celebration is about - it's about being excited and psyched and thankful that you're alive.

The more that any of us are able to stay in that state, the better time we're going to have throughout life," he says.

"Having a good time, to me, is what a party is. There's no specific way to have a good time, there's the way that you want at that moment. It's really about the freedom to do what you enjoy, the way you want to do it."