One afternoon while surfing the web I stumbled upon this radio show by accident. I was cruising Instagram and saw this playlist post for some radio show. I was surprised at the diversity, so I immediately followed it. Following that, I “tuned in” the next week, and listened in real time. I remember being so stoked, just like when I was a kid listening to the radio. Just like that… 1,2,3… It went from Pop Punk, to Heavy Metal and then to some Death Metal shit I had never heard before. Like a lot of people, I have an extremely short attention span, so I welcome a sense of variety in my life. After a couple weeks, I decided I needed to know more about this radio show. Then wouldn’t-you-know-it, just-how-things-work, the band I play in ended up on the playlist one week. Once I started doing some short attention span digging, I realized I knew the person behind all this. I can’t say I know him that well, but I basically know him from growing up here in Bremerton. One of my best friends was in his first band with this guy. So I called my friend Ray Z. and got the 411 on this radio DJ. Short story long…. Here is my interview with Dean Brittain…
MOEN: I DON’T KNOW A LOT, BUT I DO KNOW THIS: YOUR NAME IS DEAN, AND YOU LIVE IN PORT TOWNSEND. YOU HAVE A RADIO SHOW THAT I KIND OF MISTAKENLY FOUND ON THE INTERNET. WHAT ARE THE “CALL LETTERS,” HOW CAN WE FIND YOUR RADIO SHOW, AND WHEN IS YOUR SHOW ON? DEAN: Hey, thanks for having me. My show is called Against The Grain Radio Show on KPTZ 91.9fm up here in Port Townsend. The best way to listen is streaming it at kptz.org. The show is every Wednesday from 10pm to midnight. That is late, but the show is also archived. So you can check it out anytime.
MOST RADIO SHOWS MAKE ME FEEL LIKE I’M BEING PIGEON-HOLED INTO A THEME, LIKE “TALK RADIO, 70’S HARD ROCK, OR BLUE GRASS IN A SHACK HOUR.” I DON’T FEEL LIKE YOU ARE TRYING TO PUSH SOME AGENDA, YOU ARE JUST PLAYING WHAT YOU WANT. ANYBODY CAN MAKE A PLAY LIST, BUT YOU BRING SOMETHING INTERESTING TO THE TABLE. YES, PERSONALLY I WISH YOU PLAYED MORE OLD SCHOOL GANGSTER RAP. BUT MAYBE WE’LL SAVE THAT UNTIL I DO A GUEST DJ SPOT? Hahaha. Yes, let’s do some gangster rap! I definitely listened to some of that in the 90s anyway. I get to play whatever I want and it rules. I grew up on metal first and then bought a skateboard and a new friend said: “Do you like Bad Brains or Verbal Assault? What about Cro-Mags?” I was like, “Who?” That shit changed my course hard. I loved it and soon I was listening to hardcore quite a bit. But thrash metal always stayed with me.
WHAT MADE YOU VEER AWAY FROM THE SAME OLE, SAME OLE RADIO FORMAT? I wanted to play what I grew up on, what kick ass bands I saw live from Natasha’s to the Lake Union Pub to the Manette Saloon, to the Showbox, just anything that made an impression and was rad. I also knew I just couldn’t age myself and play 80s and 90s punk. I am still a musician playing in a band, and I am passionate about seeking out newer stuff, so I mix all that in a blender with punk, hardcore and metal and I think it works.
HOW DID YOU DECIDE TO DO A RADIO SHOW OUT OF THIS SLEEPY, KINDA CREEPY TOURIST TOWN THEY CALL PORT TOWNSEND? I’ve lived up here since 2011 and you can consider it tiny, but there is a punk scene here. Yes, there is an odd vibe here at times! An end of the road kind of feeling, whether that gives you comfort or not. I guest DJ’ed on the station a couple years ago, and I had a blast. There are some great shows on kptz, but they wanted more live djs and not syndicated stuff so I jumped at the chance for my own show when they offered it to me.
HOW DOES THIS RADIO MACHINE OPERATE WITHOUT YOUR TYPICAL INDEPENDENT RADIO STATION ANNOYINGLY BUGGING YOU BETWEEN ALMOST EVERY SONG WITH: “IF YOU DONATE TO OUR RADIO STATION TODAY, WE WILL GIVE YOU A STICKER AND A SHIRT, SO DONATE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY NOW!” This is a community driven station and it is supported by donations. We get lots of support from this community. I think all Djs are volunteers. There are funding drive weeks. Since my show is so late and I probably don’t have a huge listening base, I’m not required to spend 10 minutes talking about money, but I do mention donating from time to time.
ENOUGH ABOUT PRE RECORDED MUSIC. LET’S TALK ABOUT LIVE MUSIC. PLEASE TELL US SMOKESTACK READING FOLKS ABOUT THE “LIVE LIFE LOUD” SHOWS AT THE QUILCENE LANTERN? IS THAT SOMETHING YOU ARE ALSO PART OF? In the beginning I was. A good friend Erik and I were in a band together called In Droves up here in PT and I was also in Trashfecta at the time. We booked shows at most of the bars up here until the pandemic hit. We brought bands from all over the PNW. It was fun, but also took a lot of time and energy. I started to burn out on it, so Erik went onward with it. and has thrived with Live Life Loud booking heavier acts at the Lantern. He booked Earth at the Lantern. It was fucking epic for sure. I will still book if my band Quitting Time is involved. I had Dead Bars from Seattle and Amusement from Portland up here just a few weeks ago. That ruled.
CONTINUING ON THE LIVE MUSIC TIP… WILL YOU GIVE US A QUICK HISTORY OF SOME OF THE PAST BANDS YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED WITH? I’ve been in so many… so I will name the ones that at least recorded and were a positive experience… hahaha… These bands span my teenage years in Bremerton, to Seattle, and to my current time in Port Townsend: Overflow, Roark, Bucklin, Dean & the Quitters, Tonight We Knife, Repo Zest, Trashfecta, In Droves, Dillweed, and Quitting Time.
YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN A BAND CALLED QUITTING TIME WITH BENNY EARLY. BENNY IS SOMEONE I’VE KNOW FOR MANY YEARS FROM THE SEATTLE PUNK ROCK SCENE. I KNOW BENNY NOW LIVES IN PORT TOWNSEND. SO FROM WHERE I’M SITTING, IT SEEMS LIKE THE BAND IS HALF SEATTLE PEOPLE, AND HALF PORT TOWNSEND PEOPLE. HOW DID THIS BAND COME TOGETHER? Yeah, Benny grew up here in PT. I met him dropping our kids off at school and saw him at Trashfecta shows. He said he was ready to get back playing music and we talked about influences and styles and it was a great fit. He recruited Ryan from Seattle, who I knew from when he was in The Damage Done. The three of us started writing and it was clicking for sure, but we needed a drummer. I asked Kelly, an old friend from Bremerton who I have known forever. He was in Brainsick and Radical Leftovers. Very good drummer. We practice in Bremerton, so we all do a lot of travel except for Kelly.
WELL DEAN WE HAVE ALMOST COME TO AN END HERE, YOU MIGHT SAY WE HAVE REACHED OUR QUITTING TIME. I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU ONE LAST QUESTION. CAN YOU GIVE ME THREE THINGS PEOPLE SHOULD DO, OR SEE IF THEY ARE IN PORT TOWNSEND? IT WILL BE LIKE DEAN BRITTAIN’S GUIDED TOUR. If you dig records and guitars, go to Quimper Sound in the Uptown neighborhood of Port Townsend. If you like to walk beaches, bunkers and woods, Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island rules. If you like beer and a great Chicken sandwich, go to the Uptown Pub and tell Rob I sent you. Cheers! // INTERVIEW w/ MIKE MOEN
[Check out: Against The Grain Radio, a punk, hardcore & metal show on 91.1FM KPTZ every Wednesday from 10 p.m. to midnight, or stream in the archives at kptz.org. And check out Dean’s new band Quitting Time and their debut EP ‘Tied To A Wreck’ at quittingtime.bandcamp.com]
