Introduce yourself
What’s going on, my name is Aidan, but I produce under the name Boathouse.
How was life growing up?
Growing up was cool. I grew up in St. Louis Park, a very suburban feel, which is crazy to think about now, living in this big city like Chicago. It was great though, I wouldn’t have wanted to grow up any other way.
When did you begin to witness you had creative talents?
When I was real young I started to play the piano, but stopped around 10-11. As I got into Jr. High I joined band and played in the percussion section because I wanted to be a drummer. You actually needed piano experience to be a percussionist in the school band. Up until my sophomore year of High School I was in band and then I started getting into Hip-Hop. With Rhymesayers being in Minneapolis, I got into guys like Atmosphere, Aesop Rock, Brother Ali, and Eyedea & Abilities. For my 16th birthday I got two Technics 1200’s and the rest was history from there. I spent days and nights in my room watching youtube tutorials and teaching myself how to scratch.
Before we get into the music, talk to us about the meaning of the name “Boathouse”
In High School my friend Jack and I were designing clothing and figuring out names for clothing brands. One day we were in the car throwing out names and Jack goes, “Boathouse seems kind of cool, maybe you should use that as your producer name”. I thought it was kind of tight and I started using the name on Soundcloud and Twitter. At that point it had no meaning I just liked the name. Over time, as I started releasing music, the name started to fit the music I was dropping. I don’t like to put myself into a box, my style is constantly moving. Boathouse is a floating home where no particular location is permanent and that’s what I look to create with my music.
What caused the move to Chicago?
I moved to Chicago after highschool to attend Colombia. I thought Colombia would be cool because it was a way for me to attend college and major in what I actually love which is music. Colombia ended up being a great fit for being a creative school in general.
With the transition to Chicago, did you start to see a progression in fans/followers of your music?
At that time it was hard to say because it was still early. I was more so focused on promoting myself via social media. Eventually over time after staying consistent, I started to see an initial following and it has continued to increase over time.
How do you then begin to get involved with the people over at Closed Sessions?
In my third year of college, my roommate had an internship at Closed Sessions. I already knew about Closed Sessions and Soundscape, but I asked my roommate to talk to Mike Kolar about the possibility of me getting an internship or a job at the studio. He talked to Mike and Mike set up a meeting for me to come in to interview for an internship. A few days later I got a call from Mike saying he wanted to take me in as an intern. Each day I came in as intern I put my head down and soaked up as much knowledge as possible. After six months as an intern and hanging around, I quickly became a useful piece of the puzzle over here.
Why do you think Closed Sessions important to Chicago?
I think Closed Sessions is one of the most unique situations. Here at Closed Sessions they really look out for you, they help with management, studio distribution, and marketing. They cover all aspects of what an artist needs early on in their career. Mike and Alex have been around doing things for the scene and really helped create the Internet era here in Chicago and it’s amazing to be able to learn from these guys.
Before we talk about your new project, tell us how you met Man cub. Why did you guys decide to link up to do this project?
Man Cub was the front man of a band called Brother Star Race. Their manager at the time was a friend of Mikes and they reached out to Mike to record and produce their EP. They came by for about a month to record and finish up the project.
The band broke up and he approached me with a solo project he was working on, but he didn’t want it to be rooted in a band. We talked about ideas a year ago and we started to link for studio sessions. With spending so much time together in the studio together, we felt like we should drop this project as a group. Our friendship grew very natural and he is very talented, everything ended up just working together perfectly.
Today you release a new project called Feel The Love. Talk to us about the inspiration behind this project
With this project we wanted to showcase the importance of love. We are currently going through tough times in society and not focusing on the importance of love, and with this project we wanted to bring Love and its importance back into discussion.
(photos by: Cooper Fox)
What is your favorite track from the project?
It’s hard to say which track is my favorite, but I’d say Feel The Love is up there. When you’re making the album, every song goes through so many different stages. You lay everything down in its beginning stages, then you might lay something new down and now something from a while back doesn’t sound quite right, so you tweak it. All the way up to the mastering stage, Feel The Love was one of the strongest songs on the project we had structure wise. Once everything was mixed and mastered, it all leveled out, from track 1 to track 3.
Can we expect more projects from you guys?
Yeah, most definitely. We just linked up last week and started recording vocals on other beats. I don’t see “Feel The Love” as being our last project together, we have such good chemistry it would be a waste to stop making music together.
When it’s all said and done how do you want to be remembered?
I want to be remembered as more than a DJ, or a producer, but as an artist myself. Breaking down boundaries and pushing artistry forward is something else I want people to remember me by.
Written by: Nicholas Rud
Chicago Creatives 