If you've ever been curious about how electronic instruments like drum machines, synthesizers, and samplers work, BOOM Club is here for you. The new Arts Organization is set up inside of a railcar on the American Tobacco Campus every weekend through the end of July with dozens of both vintage and modern synthesizers and other electronic instruments for people to experiment with.
Whether you're a seasoned musician or you've never touched an instrument in your life, BOOM Club, short for Building Our Own Music, is a space to both create, learn and even record yourself. Throughout the residency, BOOM Club will also be offering workshops and performances from both local and nationally known artists.
Along with Sean Thegen, Rachelle Sickerott and Nick Williams are two of the founding members of BOOM Club. WUNC music reporter Brian Burns caught up with them recently inside of the railcar to learn more about the club's mission.
Tell us about BOOM Club.
Nick Williams: BOOM club is an electronic music clubhouse where we've gathered a universe of musical instruments from the last 60 years into one place. We want people to come and play them and touch them and move the faders and turn the knobs and hear all the possibilities and just play and experiment. And if they'd like to, we'd like them to record themselves and sample these instruments and use them in their own projects. We want people to do whatever they want with these instruments, and we're still sort of figuring out what the possibilities are.
The thing about electronic instruments is that they're designed to be used by non-musicians. If you can count to 16, you can use a drum machine. They can be intimidating to look at with the lights and switches and everything, and they can be a little expensive too, which is ironic, because they're designed to break down barriers to creativity and not just make electronic music, but aid in the creation of any kind of music or sound design or sound art. And we're so passionate about that, that we wanted to gather it all in one place.
What inspired you to start this?
Rachelle Sickerott: My background is in the arts and event planning. I was the co-director of a venue here in Durham called The Fruit for a few years. And for those who aren't familiar with The Fruit, it's pretty well known for throwing a lot of large parties, raves, and other electronic music events. I really got immersed in that world and just loved the community, loved the creativity, and then having the experience of seeing people come to a show and just be moved, it feels so special to be a part of that with someone. I've always been interested in making those experiences accessible to people, and that is very much what inspired me to create this.
Nick, tell us about your background a bit.
Nick Williams: I co-founded The Pinhook in 2008 and that brought me into the music scene here. That's how I met the people with whom I formed my first band. Once I joined the local music scene I gained a quick sense of mutual support and celebration, and as I've gotten older and had kids and stopped going out late at night, I noticed I was missing those experiences and that's what we're trying to bring with BOOM Club.
BOOM stands for Building Our Own Music, and the club is meant not so much as a nightclub, but more like a chess or D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) club. It's a place where people can gather in an environment of mutual support and appreciation and just bringing that spirit of creativity and community.
Tell us about this space we're in for your residency.
Rachelle Sickerott: We're on the American Tobacco Campus in what they call the railcar. We've been calling it the BOOM Caboose and the Electric Choo Choo.
The story I got is that they brought it from a rail yard in Washington State via train, and have been wondering what to do with it ever since. We came to American Tobacco and told them we wanted to throw one event, and they were like "why don't you just move into the train?"
The contrast of this space is perfect for us, because it's honoring the past and also ushering in the future. When you step into the train you get this experience of a very rich history, but you're also touching all these modern and futuristic instruments while you're here.
What are your goals for this residency?
Rachelle Sickerott: The main goal while we're here for the next few months is to introduce ourselves to Durham. Beyond the residency, we are looking for a permanent home so we're hoping this will help with that mission. Right now we're hosting lessons, workshops, and performances for free, and we're hoping once people get into what we're doing we can build something bigger that's also sustainable. The artists we've booked these three months are artists that represent our mission to make these instruments and knowledge of them accessible.
What do you hope people walk away with when they leave here?
Nick Williams: I want the general public to walk away from BOOM club saying, "Isn't it amazing that we have this thing in our town? This weird project that's run by local weirdos that nobody else has, unless you're somewhere like New York or Los Angeles or Berlin or London or Melbourne. It's something that's grown out of community and I want people to see that and be proud of it.
And we want local artists and musicians to look at us and say, "That's a resource that we have that maybe other scenes would not have, and it's something that we're going to use to make our own sound or our own vision really unique."
