Seventh Circle Music Collective-an Interview with Aaron Saye
by Tim Wenger
photo credit: Adam Hughes, Silver and Cold Photography
Seventh Circle Music Collective, at 2935 W. 7th Ave in Denver, has become a hot spot for DIY all-ages shows across a variety of genre lines. Everything from young locals playing their first show, to punk legends like Agent Orange, has graced the stage. Aaron Saye, the man behind the scenes, has been making it happen since he took over the former Blast-O-Mat space in September of last year. The venue is volunteer-run, and is always accepting new smiling faces to help run the operations and keep Denver’s music scene out of the corporate gridlock of doom.
Colorado Music Buzz caught up with Saye at the infamous Candlelight Tavern on South Pearl Street, where this ever-responsible reporter enjoyed a delicious PBR while Saye sipped enthusiastically from a bottle of water. Saye, in addition to running the venue, has accumulated one of the, if not THE, best collections of concert footage in the state, all done by his own passionate hand. He shared his infatuation for music and the music community in Denver along with some of his best stories from his time served as a Denver’s biggest music fanatic.
CMB: How did Seventh Circle Music Collective come to be, and how did you become El Hefe?
AS: Seventh Circle wouldn’t exist without Blast-O-Mat. Blast-O-Mat started as far as I’m aware in 2006, maybe late 2005. I wasn’t involved in it in the beginning, but it came to my knowledge as an underground DIY punk rock venue. I went to shows there whenever something would peak my interest, and they started becoming more and more frequent. I got more and more interested in the stuff they were booking so I just became more of a regular. By spring 2010 I started volunteering there as somebody helping run the shows, running sound, doing door, whatever the case may be. After a couple years, in July of 2012, the guys in charge announced that they were going to shut it down and move on to something smaller and more manageable that they could focus on running, and it would be easier than running Blast-O-Mat had become. I said, ‘Would you be down to put me in touch with the landlords of the property? I would love to try and keep the venue going, whether it’s Blast-O-Mat or something new.’ They said, ‘Sure, we’d appreciate if you change the name because Blast-O-Mat is our thing.’ So I got in touch with the landlords and took over the lease as of September 2012. I put the word out to the Denver music scene that I was taking it over and I was going to do more shows more often, and I needed help running it. A ton of people came out of the woodwork from every little subculture. Everybody that is involved was really enthusiastic about it.
CMB: As far as booking out-of-town bands, do you hit them up or do you let them come to you?
AS: I have been letting them come to me. It’s been astounding how many bands have come to me about it. I would say it’s about half-and-half as far as people who booked at Blast-O-Mat before. The other half is people who have not heard of Blast-O-Mat before, or touring bands who have not been to Denver.
CMB: How did you get into music? What hooked you?
AS: If you want to go back to the very beginning, the first show I was ever at, it was friends of my parents that had a classic rock cover band that was playing at a campground. I had never experienced live music before, and the volume and energy was such a new thing. I got into actual rock music later on, and discovered punk rock after that through Blink-182. I was in 8th grade, and that was the thing that everyone in my school had discovered. From there, I discovered the smaller punk-rock bands. The first Warped Tour I went to was in 2002 with the sole intention of seeing Bad Religion. I went to the show, and discovered so many bands that day. I held that day as the best day in my life for like five years until something topped it. The first small show I went to was the Misfits at the Ogden with Qualm and the Stuntdoubles in September of 2002, and then Flogging Molly played the Ogden after that. I started going to the smaller shows and it just ballooned out of control from there. I fell in love with it and with the experience of being an audience member.
CMB: Talk about how you got into filming and some of the best things you have filmed.
AS: How I got into it was a band Throw Rag. They opened for the Supersuckers at the Gothic, and I went specifically to see Throw Rag. I had made my own shirt of their album cover, and they were like, ‘What! This kid did that?!’ and were all stoked. I just kind of became friends with those guys over the next couple times they came to town. The following April they came to town again with the Mad Caddies. My friends and I in high school thought we were filmmakers and we were running around with camcorders making a movie. We had written in a scene in our movie for Throw Rag to act in, not having contacted them or anything. We were just like ‘Whatever, they’ll probably do it, they’re good dudes.’ So we showed up to the show all early and asked if they would do it. They were like, ‘Yeah, do you want to do it after the show or do you want to do it onstage, or what do you have in mind?’
We were like, ‘We were thinking afterwards.’ It had never even crossed my mind to try and film a show. They hooked it up with a video pass and made it all official and stuff. We didn’t have a tripod or anything; we just switched off holding the camera with our arms back by the soundboard. It ended up sounding really good so I made a live CD out of it. I filmed them again when they came back in August of 2004.
In September of 2004 this local band called the Allergies had started to play more often. They were kind of my entrance into the local punk scene. They didn’t have any recordings or anything so I was like, ‘I’m just going to bring my video camera to the show, shoot the show, then make a CD out of it so I can listen to you guys more often than seeing you.’ From there, it slowly got to be more and more until now, if I’m at a show and I’m not filming, chances are the band or the venue have told me that I can’t.
Before Gogol Bordello blew up all big, I filmed them at the Aggie and the Bluebird. Then they came again and they sold out the Gothic, and that is probably one of the greatest shows that I have on tape. I shot that Descendents show at the Fillmore (in 2012). That’s the only headlining show at the Fillmore that I’ve shot.
CMB: What makes a great live show great, and not just another band playing another set?
AS: I don’t tend to focus on the show as much as the music. If the music is average, then I guess the live show needs to compensate for that. There are some bands who will just stand there and play but it will send chills down my spine and just blow my mind because they are just such good musicians. I think the music should speak for itself.
CMB: What are you listening to these days?
AS: I was just listening to Ozzy Osbourne in the car on the way down here. I have been an Ozzy fanatic pretty much since I discovered rock music. That was my entrance into heavy metal was Ozzy. Other than that, I’ve been listening to Ghost a lot. They are a newer band from Sweden. Their whole schtick is that it’s like a satanic mass. It’s hilarious. I’ve always got Ghost of Glaciers spinning. Them and Native Daughters are two of my absolute favorite locals. I’ve been on a real post-rock, post-metal kick lately.
CMB: Is their anything else you would like to do with Seventh Circle?
AS: I’m pretty happy with where it’s at, honestly. I like the fact that we fill that void for the smaller bands that are only going to draw out fifty people or so. With us, because it’s an all-volunteer thing and we work off of door splits, we can afford to bring in these bands and give them a place to play. Between [us and the other DIY spots in Denver] we fill that void for that market and I really like that. We get to have these local fifteen-year-old punk bands play their first show at our place, then send them over [to the bigger venues] after they get good enough. It helps the whole scene in general. It gives them the opportunity to play their first shows without having to go out and sell those tickets to their friends and family for $15, which none of that money they get to keep. That pay-to-play crap has always irked the hell out of me.
It’s important to me to keep it all ages too, because that’s when the music scene is thriving is when these kids are 15 and 16 and just discovering music.
What I always wanted it to be is to model it after that 924 Gilman in Berkeley where Green Day and Rancid and all those bands started. I wanted this to be the 924 Gilman of Denver, where there are shows every weekend and sometimes kids will just show up because there is something going on. That has started to happen, and I am elated.
CMB: Where do you eat after a show?
AS: My house.
Online: facebook.com/seventhcirclemusiccollective
Category: Buzzworthy
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