Alicia Vanden Heuvel: A Bedrock of the Local Music Community
Few community ecosystems are as combustible and volatile as the ones surrounding local musicians.
Even during the best of times, before artistic endeavors had been commodified and marginalized by ravenous market forces, eking out a viable living as a full-time musician was a perilous act—an existence seemingly always threatened by an unscrupulous landlord or one unexpected illness. Cities that acted as magnets for creative types also inherently drew in other outside interests—ones with deeper pockets and different ideas for urban living—leading to ever-increasing rents and gentrification.
San Francisco has long been viewed as a test case for such conditions, yet despite the ever-changing nature of the city, it has continued to host engaging and vibrant musical scenes throughout its history (it’s really not even worth entertaining the tired, hackneyed statements arguing the opposite.)
To sustain something so powerful, yet also fragile, requires a communal spirit. These groupings do not survive on happenstance. They require dedicated, selfless and passionate advocates—people like Alicia Vanden Heuvel.
A lifelong musician who’s played starring and supporting roles in countless bands, Vanden Heuvel is also a producer, engineer and label owner—the rare someone who can provide insight about both esoteric recording techniques and the byzantine nature of the music business.
Since 2022, she has been managing Speakeasy Studios SF, a record label that caters to local artists. It bears the same name as the recording studio that she’s operated since 1996 (with a few breaks here and there.) The recording studio is donation-based for the musicians who work with Vanden Heuvel.
“I try to be very intentional with my work—I really admire the idea of being of service to others,” said Vanden Heuvel. “It’s a very challenging time right now, and I’m just trying to foster some sense of hope by helping out other musicians. I want to be able to help—to make things just a little bit better and easier for my community.”
Running a label and recording studio seems like the logical next step for Vanden Heuvel, who’s been involved in music for nearly her entire life. Growing up in the small town of Desert Hot Springs near the Mojave Desert, Vanden Heuvel was raised by a musical family. By the time she was in high school, she was eager to share her considerable keyboard skills with the nearby bands, but since many of them were of the stoner metal vein (think Kyuss), she didn’t quite match their needs.
In 1992, she enrolled at UC-Santa Cruz, and quickly found a more like-minded group of compatriots, which included Becky Barron and Stephen Vesecky. Together, they formed Poundsign, a wistful, dreamily lo-fi pop group. That outfit attracted a dedicated cult following, and helped set the template for so much of the sound that Vanden Heuvel would explore in the future. Employing skills that she was honing at the time as part of her film school studies, Vanden Heuvel took on production responsibilities for the band—her first foray into the kind of studio roles that would be her trademark. Poundsign also afforded Vanden Heuvel a precocious insight into what dynamics are necessary to make a band work.
“I feel like what I really studied in college was how to be in a band,” said Vanden Heuvel. “One year we toured the States in Stephen’s Volvo and the next year we went in my Ford Escort. “We would map out our tour based on wherever we were playing on college radio stations. We ended up playing with a lot of punk bands at that time, which was interesting, since we were a pop group. But it was an incredible experience to be doing that at such a young age.”
After graduating from college, Vanden Heuvel moved to San Francisco and linked up with AV Linton, a talented songwriter then playing in the noise group Henry’s Dress. With that act winding down, Linton suggested forming a new band with Vanden Heuvel, a group that eventually became The Aislers Set.
Celebrated by luminaries such as British DJ John Peel, The Aislers Set acted as a staple of the legendary Oakland label Slumberland Records and evolved into a massively influential band. The group’s janglepop sound—shaped in large part by Linton and Vanden Heuvel’s’s production skills and multi-instrumental talents—still looms large in the San Francisco scene, with bands such as the Umbrellas and Chime School citing them as influences.
With The Aislers Set going on hiatus in 2003, Vanden Heuvel continued to play in an array of different San Francisco bands (Dirty Ghosts, Brigid Dawson & the Mothers Network, and Magic Trick, to name a few) acting as a bedrock of an ever-evolving and shifting music community. She also opened the doors of her self-made studio located in the basement of her (rent-controlled) apartment, providing an oasis for bands looking for affordable technical insight and support.
“I never wanted to charge anyone to use my studio,” said Vanden Heuvel, who mentioned that donations are always welcome, as they help with studio upkeep of the analog equipment. “I view this as an extension of my artwork. We usually have a conversation beforehand about how this is an artistic collaboration. It’s the same thing as painting a mural together.”
Over the years, Vanden Heuvel has lent her professional production skills to countless Bay Area artists, including Dawn Riding, Anna Hillburg, Yea-Ming and the Rumors, Andres Miguel Cervantes, The Telephone Numbers, Ryan Wong and Josiah Flores.
Since expanding those efforts to include the Speakeasy record label, Vanden Heuvel has moved beyond providing technical recording wizardry to receptive local artists. A bespoke operation, Speakeasy is a band-focused label that provides much needed one-on-one support for its roster, which includes many of the aforementioned names, in addition to acts like Jacob Aranda, the Lost Days and revered Bay Area pop master, Tony Molina, who is also Vanden Heuvell’s husband.
As an industry veteran, Vanden Heuvel also educates her clients on complex business intricacies, urging them all to own their master recordings and to be aware of the various royalty groups they need to belong to in order to collect song payments. She’s also just a huge fan of music, and that dedication is not lost among her collaborators.
“Alicia's been a supporter of Galore since the beginning—just her presence in the front row singing along to our songs would be enough to encourage the hell out of us, because we're such a fan of her and her music,” Ava Sayaka Rosen, guitarist and vocalist of local indie rock band Galore, who are set to release an album through Speakeasy next year. “To be able to work with her now on putting out a record is a revelation because of the way she guides us with full transparency and a true sense of care and collaboration through the process. She even demystified the 5 different royalty buckets using condiment bottles and saltshakers”
Ainsley Wagoner, who also plays in Galore in addition to recording solo work under the moniker of Silverware, offered similar sentiments.
“DIY music is such a grind, and those who have been at it for decades (like Alicia) can understandably get worn down,” said Wagoner. “But somehow, Alicia is incredibly positive and generous - alchemizing all her experience as a player, songwriter, engineer, and producer into supporting other people's projects whether it's as a band member, record label owner, fan, or mentor. She's the real deal, and there are very few who carry themselves with as much integrity, warmth, and love as she does.”
Despite all the joy it offers, music can be a slog for those who inhabit its professional universe, particularly in San Francisco. Fortunately, practitioners like Vanden Heuvel are around to help ease those burdens and ensure that everyone gets to revel in the wonders of the artform.
“I have been living here since the 90s and I have witnessed so many changes,” said Vanden Heuvel. “It’s important to recognize that it’s not easy to live here. I try to be as active as I can be to help people succeed in this city that I love. I don’t have all the answers, but I try to help where I can. And I still have so much hope for this place.”