Andrew obviously has a love for the Denver music scene and has found the perfect outlet to support the music he loves. Following is an edited transcript of my talk with Andrew.

1. If I'm not correct, Smooch Records is a Denver-devoted label based in San Francisco. What motivated you to put a focus on the Colorado music scene? How did you start Smooch Records?

Andrew: I moved to Colorado when I was 13 and by age 16 my only friends were in their mid twenties and all played in bands. I liked their bands, which is how I slowly became friends with those people. When I was 17 I began working at the local college radio station in Boulder with the intentions of having a show devoted to the local music scene in CO. This came to be and quite quickly local bands were invited on the air for interviews and live performances. This progressed to putting on a slew of 2-day concert series sponsored by the radio station that were devoted to supporting local music.

I wanted to record these concerts and release a compilation of the live recordings. The firs t shows were recorded but as the project moved on a bit it seemed to make more sense to scratch the live compilation idea and simply release a compilation of local music. It turned into a 2 CD set with 45 bands, fully sponsored and paid for by Radio 1190, but that turned out to be the first release on Smooch. The label itself started out of fear that the radio station would not get behind the project so the label idea was sort of plan B to release the compilation. I'm interested in the history of most things and quickly became fascinated with CO's music history.

One appealing aspect of Denver's music scene to me is that because it is so small, everyone supports and befriends everyone else involved, regardless of the genre of music. It's a small community of people interested in different things and different sounds but because of the shared interest in music and because there really are so few bands, everyone for the most part supports one another.

2. What are some of your favorite Denver based bands?

Andrew: I very quickly became a fan of some music that is only made in Denver. It's a small group of bands with a shared history dating to the mid 80s and is slowly being recognized as its own genre as 'the Denver Sound.' These bands include Denver Gentlemen, 16 Horsepower, Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Munly, Woven Hand, Tarantella, DeVotchKa, and more. Aside from that camp of bands, I'm a big fan of Blood Axis and NON, who are both based in Denver.

3. Do you focus specifically on Denver bands or are you interested in bands all over Colorado?

Andrew: All over Colorado, though of course most bands live in the state's largest city.

4. How did you come up with your 'naked woman' Smooch Records logo?

Andrew: My ex girlfriend drew it with no intentions of it being used as a logo. At that time I wanted to have some sort of logo and I wanted her to design it so when I looked over her shoulder and saw that image I thought it would work for the short term. At this point it's an easily recognizable image. It doesn't mean anything, nor does the name 'Smooch' and that is my only problem with the logo or the name of the label. I do wish they had meaning and they do not. They just are.

5. I can imagine you must have visited the Centennial state many times. All in all what are your favorite things about Colorado, other than the music scene?

Andrew: Green Chili is good. I miss mountain biking most of all.

6. I used to live in Pueblo, Colorado a growing city south of Denver, have you met any interesting bands from around there?

Andrew: I've never really met a band from there but certainly lots of musicians from Pueblo that relocated to Denver. Some of them were in some of my favorite Denver bands. Jim Chandler comes to mind first. He played in the Down-n-Outs when I met him and that band was one of Denver's best. Before that he played in Dead Silence and after moving from Denver he played with the Makers and briefly with the Cramps.

7. Have any fond memories of specific concerts?

Andrew: Many. It's hard to pick specific ones because there really are so many. There was a string of about 10 Munly shows where each time he performed the performance was drastically better than the previous so it was nice to watch a band mature so quickly. Juhl with PMS was one of the first shows I went to and I loved and befriended both of them. Every show at Monkey Mania was a fun experience. There were many great house shows in Boulder and very fond memories of bands at the 15th St Tavern and the Bluebird.

8. How did you find out about Bum Kon? And what was it that attracted you to them?

Andrew: I first heard of Bum Kon because the manager of Wax Trax in Boulder wore a 'Drunken Sex Sucks' T-shirt and I was amused by the design. He told me they were an old Denver punk band and I found their two LPs still on the shelf at Wax Trax. This would have been around 1999 or 2000. I thought both LPs were good but had never heard their debut single until many years later when co-owner of Wax Trax, Duane Davis, gave me a copy. I simply liked the band and one of my best friends, Bob Ferbrache, happened to be the person that recorded their single and he also recorded 20 other songs by them in the same session. That is what has been reissued recently on Smooch and Maximumrocknroll. I thought the band played great hardcore punk music. I have been close friends with the singer of Bum Kon, Bob McDonald, for the past five years-the amount of time I've spent in San Francisco. Being so close as a friend and fan, it made sense to release this music.

9. How did you find out about their lost tracks?

Andrew: There is a website of old Denver punk flyers at www.trashistruth.com. The person that runs this site is named Dalton and he gave me a mix tape of early 80s CO bands in 2000 at the time of the first release on Smooch. On it was a song by Bum Kon called "Giving In" which was not on the single nor their albums. I showed this tape to Bob and he didn't remember what the song was. There is a recent release on Smooch of old CO punk 7" singles compiled onto one CD and the Bum Kon single is included. The person that recorded the single dug up the original tapes to remaster it and came across the other 20 songs that were recorded.

10. Who's idea was it to put the Korean mass murderer Woo Bum Kon on the front cover of the album? Who designed the cd cover?

Andrew: The bassist, Erik Oberhausen, has designed every Bum Kon record. Bob and Erik both liked the idea of using Korean propaganda imagery for the cover. Bob did the woodcut on the back.

11. What's your favorite track on Drunken Sex Sucks? What's your least favorite track?

Andrew: I can't think of a least favorite track. "Gay Rodeo" is sort of the silly song on the record but I like that song because it shows the band was young and just having fun. It also references and pokes fun at a close friend of the band at the time and a close friend of mine today. My favorite songs are probably "Giving In" which opens the CD, "Slow Death" which appears on the single, and "Reagan Sucks."

12. What are you current favorite bands?

Andrew: Some of the bands that make up 'the Denver Sound' are definitely making the most interesting music today as far as I am concerned. I am also very excited about the upcoming Blood Axis album. There is also a new record from an artist called Common Eider, King Eider that is about to be released that
I think is very beautiful. I like everything Yoko Ono does, too.

13. Have any hobbies?