I WAS CLEANING UP THE AUDIO RECORDER storage on my phone the other day when I came across a file from February 2025 labeled nothing more than ‘band.’ Of the thousands of things that could’ve been in my world, turned out it was the notes for the interview with Andrew Frits that I thought I had lost ahead of bremerton punk band The Autocratic$’ record release for ‘Political Theater’ last year. Serendipitously eponymous, the release of the LP was during the same time period that a billionaire’s contract ‘government agency’ appeared out of nowhere, gutted the federal budget, and disappeared just as quickly… “Yeah, the timing of it all has kind of been like, oh fuck,” Andrew explains as we listen to first side of the test pressing on the recording. “Everything’s terrible and politicized. It’s like ‘Political Theater’ only that was before we knew about any of this stuff… Everything that’s happened. It’s fucking vile now. Elon Musk. And all the stuff being voted in. ‘We’re doing this, and we’re cutting that…’ and like what the fuck is happening?” Which, I believe, was likely going to be the narrative of that album review if I wouldn’t have lost the notes. But from there, the tape runs something like an hour and forty-five minutes spliced together over multiple locations and states of consciousness, talking about everything from recording a ska band on an analogue four track in the 90’s to the Autocratic$ new record, to Andrew’s other bands, to all the bands he’s been in and all the bands he has cataloged as a DIY punk rock recording engineer over the past twenty plus years at his studio 321 Bremerton. And I came away with this snippet for you on the importance of documenting things..
[*READERS NOTE: THIS INTERVIEW IS ARCHIVED FROM FEB, 2025. DIRTY LIGHTS IS NOT PLAYING AT THE CHUCK NEXT WEEK.]
BILLMAN: YOU EVER BEEN IN A COVER BAND? ANDREW: No, I’ve played covers… Do you remember Dirty Lights? And the band Sister Kisser? Dirty Lights, in that band we cover a Sister Kisser song. We play down at the Chuck next week… Us, Me Grimlock… and Summer Coat which is a new band from the guys from Map Of June. It sounds so fucking good. It’s just all good songwriters
I DONT REMEMBER MAP OF JUNE SO MUCH… I think you weren’t up here at that point. I think you came up towards the end of the whole ‘Kitsap Bands’ thing. Remember kitsapbands.com? So that was already at its end at that point. They were one of those bands like with Kane Hodder and that whole explosion of stuff.
I JUST MISSED IT… I WAS THERE FOR THE KANE HODDER FUNERAL THOUGH. I mean, I don’t really miss Kitsap Bands. It turned into more of a shit-talking show…
THEREIN LIES THE ISSUE WITH THE INTERNET, I THINK. I WAS JUST THINKING HOW RAD IT IS THAT SMOKESTACK IS SO PRINT FORWARD THAT THE ONLINE COMMENT SECTIONS FOR ANY OF OUR STUFF ISN’T FILLED WITH VITRIOL OR DUMB SHIT. ITS MORE LIKE “HEY, THIS IS RAD, AND THIS WHAT I HAVE TO ADD.” That can be hard to steer away from, especially nowadays, dude… [There’s a pause in the conversation as the last song of the record rips. We’re both listening intently, commenting on the mixing and mastering. It is badass. And Andrew is stoked how it turned out. He laughs.] It’s definitely stressful waiting for the test presses, cause it’s like fuck, there is no one else I can blame.
IT’S FUCKING RIPPIN’ DUDE, GREAT RECORD… Nice and fast and short. All of us have short attention spans, so use that in our favor, you know… Don’t give anyone a reason to go outside and smoke during your set, ha ha.
WE’VE GOTTA DO YOUR WHOLE STORY AT SOME POINT. MAYBE NOT THRU THIS RECORD SPECIFICALLY. BUT YOU’VE DONE A LOT OF COOL STUFF THAT IS SCATTERED IN A SOME SENSE. IF WE COULD PUT ALL THAT IN ONE PLACE, MAYBE UNDER THE 321 BANNER OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT… Hell yeah, I’m down.
ITS FUNNY HOW WE DONT THINK ABOUT WRITING THINGS DOWN IN THE MOMENT ALL THE TIME, OR DONT HAVE THE TIME, OR WHATEVER. And then you lose it, you know.
SIMILAR TO MAKING RECORDS. AT LEAST YOU CAN ENCAPSULATE THAT MOMENT. DOCUMENT IT, OR WHATEVER. I DONT KNOW WHY I THINK THATS IMPORTANT BUT I DO. Documenting anything, I think, is a necessity, you know. Cause even if it’s something that may not even be that important at that time, just checking the box for something you did, may have been cool may have been not that cool. But then when you get older, it’s like this actual physical remembrance… of…
OF A MOMENT IN TIME THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE BE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. Gone.
AND THEN THERE’S THE EVEN BROADER SCOPE THAT I THINK ABOUT (CAUSE I THINK ABOUT WEIRD THINGS)… WHO KNOWS WHAT THIS MIGHT MEAN TO SOMEONE 10, 20, 200 YEARS FROM NOW.That whole time capsule idea. It’s like when you start getting into punk and stuff, and you start getting records, there’s certain ones where I’m like: ‘I’m not gonna part with this one.’ I have a bad habit of giving stuff away but there are those ones, where that one ties me to this whole other time… I feel like that’s a normal thing for people who, like, give a shit. // INTERVIEW w/ BILL MAN
CHECK OUT ANDREW’S BAND THE AUTOCRATIC$ APRIL 11 at the Charleston. Listen to their album ‘Political Theater’at theautocratics.bandcamp.com and while you’re there, check out Andrew’s other bands Dirty Lights and Sandkiss
