Live 105's Aaron Axelson
by Jeffrey Kalmbach

Rasputin Manifesto: How long have you been w/ LIVE 105?

AARON AXELSON: 12 years

RM: So you’re Program director now?

AA: I’m music director and assistant program director. Sorry I lost my voice. I had Kasabian at my club last night

RM: How many BFDs have you been to?

AA: All of them. I help book the talent for BFD.

RM: What BFD stands out as a highlight for you?

AA: I really like what we’ve done the last 3 BFDs. Because we’ve changed the concert configuration where the festival stages, which feature a lot of exciting emerging talent, are the only things going on. It’s not competing with the main stage. So when the festival stage is over then we open (the main) stage and let people go in. It creates a cool focused, cohesive festival feel where you can get out there and see a lot of exciting acts and not feel like “oh no I gotta go to the main stage to see a band” . So I like the last 3 years. We’ve had some amazing talent. The Killers, the Bravery, Sleater-Kinney, Alkaline Trio, Hot Hot Heat, a lot of great acts that have broken off. Muse has broken off of the Festival stage. So I like that we’ve created a more artist friendly show. We have a lot of exciting emerging acts fused with some of the headlining acts who play on the main stage and once everyone’s done enjoying the day they sit down and watch the rest of the show.

RM: You are known for having an excellent ear for what’s coming out and what’s beoming popular. Who is here that you think is going to become huge in the coming year?

AA: I pride myself with this BFD more than any other because we had 7 local bands. 7 local acts on BFD this year! Flypside, an east bay hiphop group that has a song that we’re playing as a demo on the radio called “Someday”. They got signed to Interscope records and headlined the Subsonic tent, which was packed. Every Move a Picture is a great local San Francisco indie band. They have a bunch of major labels looking at them, watch for them. Lovemakers are on the main stage, east bay out of Oakland, really good. Kasabian obviously, it’s their first record, they’re on the verge of becoming a major rock band here in America. They’re one of the top rock acts in England but we’re helping to break them in San Francisco. And the reaction to their show tonight was amazing. BFD always prides itself on being a combination of embracing up and coming acts and established alternative rock statements.

RM: Where do you think BFD is going to be in 5 years?

AA: I really can’t anticipate 5 years, I think it’ll still have the same philosophy that (Disco) Sean and I put into booking BFD is diversity and finding an eclectic mix of Djs punk, rock, indie bands, and electronica all fused together. I thinks it has to paint a picture of what LIVE 105 is. BFD has to be a microcosm of what the radio station is. I don’t want to lean too heavy on one style. I always feel like whatever the time calls for the same philosophy will apply in trying to have a diverse festival. Whether we have Lyrics Born and Sleater-Kinney or Foo Fighters that’s something that we pride ourselves in. So it’s going to be a snapshot of LIVE 105.

RM: Who are you here to see?

AA: Obviously the Bravery are exciting because they’re a band that started in my club, Popscene. We started playing them before they were signed. They used to come out and play in my club. So I’m excited for them and the success that they’re experiencing. The cool thing about this year’s BFD is that there are a lot of bands that we’ve been there for since day one. Hot Hot Heat and Kasabian, Jimmy Eat World, are all bands that we helped break. Lyrics Born, Tegan & Sara, Alkaline Trio, are bands that we supported since day one. To me it’s exciting to see our investment pay off where we can find bands at an early point in their career and help cultivate a scene and have bands grow with the festival. Some of these bands are making their second and third appearance at BFD.

RM: How did you get involved in Popscene?

AA: I started Popscene about 10 years ago. I come from working in record stores. I used to work in a store in Berkeley called Mod Lang Records. I was the import/indie buyer and I just felt there was this scene that wasn’t being catered to. Kind of a Brit-pop/Indie/mod/60’s rock post-punk/dance club demographic. Popscene started to cater to that and it’s been running 10 years strong. Bands like Snow Patrol, Jet, Hot Hot Heat, Killers, Dandy Warhols, Cardigans, all played their first shows at Popscene. So it started when I was interning at LIVE 105 and I worked my way up the ranks as an intern. Then I started to do radio shows like Subsonic and Soundcheck and programmed the station also. Plus we’re all surrounded by pure passion for music. We all work together.

RM: What’s your current favorite act?

AA: A band from New York called Joy Zipper just put out a great record, a cool folkie indie rock combo. The Ravonettes’ record is really good. The Foo Fighters double record. One side is rock tracks, the other side is acoustic. The new Coldplay is great. New White Stripes is really good. And there are a lot of exciting up and coming bands. Soundcheck on sunday nights 8-10 is a good showcase.

RM: Working at a record store I have seen a direct correlation between what you play on Soundcheck and what people buy.

AA: I grew up in the East Bay and I grew up listening to LIVE 105. The music director before me was a guy named Steve Masters. I remember listening to his shows and the impact that he had on me growing up. I used to hear bands and write them down and go out and buy them. So for me to be in a position where I can turn people on at LIVE 105 is a major vehicle. To turn people on to new music, it’s a high. I still have just as much passion and drive for doing it as I did 10 years ago, I don’t think I lost it. I still love it, it’s like a drug. It’s an insatiable appetite to find new music. It’s fun to submerge yourself in the lifestyle in the Bay Area, which is the most amazing place to live because San Francisco is such a great open minded musically precocious demographic that I’m able to break bands. That’s why LIVE 105 was the first to play Radiohead, because I had an audience that loved when I was playing the import. Or Coldplay or Arcade Fire or the Bravery or Fischer Spooner or Lyrics Born. The Bay Area is a great haven for people who are open minded and are also hungry for new bands. I’m just more of an extension of the bay area. I’m just a person to help cultivate what’s already there.

RM: If you weren’t working at LIVE 105 what would you be doing?

AA: Since I was 16 the only job I ever had was working in a record store. I’ve been working in record stores my whole life. This is what I’m supposed to do in life. I’m lucky enough that I was able to do college radio and intern at record labels and intern at LIVE 105 and do a bunch of things to help find my career path at an early age. I love it. I love what I do and I can’t fathom not doing anything in music.

(at this point in the interview the lead singer of the Kaiser Cheifs walks by with a pile of fresh laundry)

See, we’re a full service radio station. Kaiser chiefs can play, we play their records, and do their laundry.

RM: They were so nice. They were definitely the nicest people I’ve talked to all day.

AA: One of the ultimate rewards is finding a band that you love musically and finding out that they’re cool as fuck. That’s the best. When bands are assholes it’s really disheartening. I don’t want them to kiss my ass. I just want a level of mutual respect. Some of the nicest bands: the Killers, Hot Hot Heat, Dave Grohl, Mike Ness, these guys are friends of LIVE 105 and it’s a cool symbiotic relationship. It’s exciting when you can do things and we can help out with records and we can help break bands and they can do these shows for us too. It’s a cool relationship. It’s really special when the bands are cool and want to be part of the audience and not stand offish. When they want to sit at the autograph table for an hour and walk through the crowd and meet people. That’s one of the things that we pride ourselves in at LIVE 105 is that we don’t want to be that Ivory Tower, unattainable, corporate radio station. We’re part of the city. LIVE 105 is programmed by the most amazing music kids I’ve ever worked with. Sean Demery, myself, Disco Sean, my producer who works at KALX, Party Ben, Madden, the whole station. It’s not a poseur setting, we live the lifestyle. Everyone I work with are at shows. They’re at record stores buying stuff and that’s the thing I love about this radio station. We’re living what we’re preaching.

RM: What I like about the station are the personalities. They’re all regular people who as a listener I relate to.

AA: That’s probably the most flattering form of feedback. Growing up listening to LIVE 105, a great heritage radio station one of the oldest stations in the format. When LIVE 105 signed on in 1986 there were only four alternative stations in America. Now there are over a hundred alternative radio stations. So we were growing up listening to great personalities like Big Rick and Roland West and Lisa Car and Steve Masters and Alex Bennett and all these great personalities. I think we’re trying to inject that back in by having real cool personalities and djs that are out living the lifestyle and going to shows.