SF Bay PopFest Set to Take Over Bottom of the Hill This Week:
Art Credit: Kik Petiford
Bottom of the Hill is well known for having hosted internationally recognized acts long before they gained fame. The luminaries who have played at the legendary 300-cap punk venue—the best music site in the world, in this writer’s opinion—include the Strokes, Oasis, Alanis Morrisette and Green Day, among countless others.
While it has duly earned its reputation as a good-luck charm on the way to world renown, Bottom of the Hill’s most impressive feature is its long-standing commitment to incubating and supporting local groups. Many new bands struggle to get on the bill at their favorite local haunt, but Bottom of the Hill has always favored an open-door policy.
No band is more illustrative of that supportive approach than The Aislers Set, one of San Francisco’s most iconic and revered groups of the past three decades. A successor group to the Albuquerque noise-pop project Henry’s Dress, The Aislers Set was powered by the songwriting prowess of founding member AV Linton, and after the band established its base in San Francisco in the mid-90s, Bottom of the Hill became its second home.
“Bottom of the Hill was incredibly supportive of the band in those early years—I think we played there 22 times,” said Alicia Vanden Heuvel, The Aislers Set multi-instrumentalist whose other band, Poundsign also played more than 20 times at the venue. “There were never any restrictions on how often you could play there, it was led by women and there were no corporate ties at all. It was all very refreshing.”
With their long, intertwined history, it’s incredibly prescient that The Aislers Set will return to Bottom of the Hill as part of a headlining billing at this year’s SF Bay Popfest, a four-day gathering from August 20 - 23 featuring some of the best indie pop bands in the Bay Area and beyond. It will be the first full-band performance in San Francisco from The Aislers Set in 12 years and it will happen during the swan-song year for Bottom of the Hill, which announced that it would be closing at the end of 2026.
Originally staged in the 90s and early Aughts by local mainstays Mario Hernandez of Kids on a Crime Spree and Riley Riley from Artsick (among a few others), the rebooted SF Bay Popfest is the brainchild of numerous contributors, including Vanden Heuvel, Slumberland Records founder Mike Schulman and Hernandez and Riley again. The collective were all involved in the The Oakland Weekender, another locally focused music fest held in the East Bay for a few years, and after discussing a successor to that event, the group decided to revive the old SF Bay Popfest moniker.
The lineup features a number of bands working with Speakeasy Studios—the label and recording studio managed by Vanden Heuvel—and Slumberland, but there are plenty of other acts, such as the Texas-based Paper Jam and the LA group Pillow Fight, who are not part of either outfit.
“I’m not opposed to doing a label fest, but we really didn’t want to make this just a promotional device for us,” said Schulman. “This was about celebrating bands who are making exciting, interesting music right now.”
The group behind SF Bay Popfest planned the gathering for more than a year. There was talk about reviving Black Tambourine, Schulman’s legendary lo-fi indie pop act that was Slumberland Records’ first release, or Henry’s Dress, but ultimately, logistical challenges dashed those efforts. Schulman has known both Vanden Heuvel and Linton for more than 30 years, so asking The Aislers Set to top the bill seemed like the most logical alternative.
“The Aislers Set is everything I love about music,” said Schulman. “So to me, the idea of seeing them play at Bottom of the Hill again is so unreal to me. I’ve seen a lot of fucking bands over the past 50 years or whatever, but the Aislers Set shows I’ve been to are right there up with the musical experiences I’ve ever had.”
While The Aislers Set will be a highlight, SF Bay Popfest is so much more than a one-band showcase. Tony Molina, himself an iconic Bay Area figure, will headline the first night of the fest with his band on Thursday, getting support from acts like Galore and Monster Treasure. Dear Nora, a staple of the indie pop scene for decades, will lead the billing for Satuday night, with support from Slumberland bands like the Jeanines and the Kitchenettes. The Aislers Set will take the stage on Friday night and the Sunday matinee show will be headlined by local janglepop heroes The Umbrellas.
“I’ve played a lot of musical festivals where I was like, one of six women, or you see like one LBGQT band playing, so we really tried to be inclusive and intentional about the lineup,” said Vanden Heuvel, who, in addition to her Aislers Set duties, will also play with her other band, Remedy and Wren on Sunday. “I know this is going to be a really friendly festival—I expect to see plenty of people in backpacks here—no macho stuff. But, it will also be super punk and super heavy and DIY.”
There is no better venue to host a festival aspiring to that appeal than Bottom of the Hill, a magical place for all those on the fringe. When the group behind SF Bay Popfest first started planning to have the event at Bottom of the Hill, they had no idea the club would be closing imminently. Vanden Heuvel said she originally reached out to club co-owners Ramona Downey and Lynn Schwarz about booking a four-day gathering at the site, and was immediately greeted with an enthusiastic response.
“Ramona and Lynn were basically like, ‘let’s do it, throw a bill together,’” said Vanden Heuvel. “And then they told me about the club closing, so this would kind of be a bon voyage for Bottom of the Hill too. No place has been more supportive of bands like The Aislers Set, like Henry’s Dress, like Poundsign—like countless others in our position—than Bottom of the Hill. So, this is going to be really special.”
Show Details:
SF Bay Popfest
Where: Bottom of the Hill
When: August 20 – 23
Tickets: All shows sold out, except Sunday matinee. Tickets for that show are available here.