Inside BOOM Club, the atmosphere is tranquil.
Synthesizers and keyboards line the walls of the space with a low static hum that flows through the air like a siren call, beckoning visitors to explore the unlimited sonic potential of the electronic instruments on display.
Durham’s “Build Our Own Music” (BOOM) Club–founded by Rachelle Sickerott, Nick Williams, and Sean Thegen– is as much for the novice as for the nerd. Unlike traditional instruments, the machines in the space don’t require years of music theory or an understanding of scales and pitch. To start, just press a button or twist a knob and see where the soundwaves lead you.
The first iteration of BOOM debuted as a one-day pop-up event at the Fruit in fall 2024. Williams said the club moniker is more “afterschool AV club than country club. He wants BOOM Club to be a place where “freaky, semi-disreputable but open-hearted” people can come and leverage the space’s resources to learn and experiment with all kinds of music and be part of an inclusive music community.
“It’s really hard to be a professional musician,” Williams said. “It’s almost impossible for most people, and we can’t really change that, but we can create a place where people can be seen and appreciated and part of a local musical culture. Because once you’re a part of something like that, nothing feels better in the world. It feels so good to be a building block in a local culture.”
It’s really hard to be a professional musician. It’s
nick williams, co-founder, boom club
almost impossible for most people, and we can’t really change that, but we can create
a place where people can be
seen and appreciated and part
of a local musical culture.”
The space opens at 600 Foster Street, inside the space formerly occupied by PS37, on March 6. It offers day passes and long-term memberships for folks to access the instrument library; higher tiers include tutorials and workshops, as well as entry into BOOM Club events.
Aspiring Triangle-area musicians can apply for discounted and free memberships.
Last summer, BOOM Club set up in a defunct train car at American Tobacco Campus, affectionately called “Electric Choo-Choo,” with dozens of synths for passerbys to experiment with. Acclaimed artists like Suzi Analogue also hosted workshops on the craft of making electronic music, as well as its history and subcultures. Recently, the team hosted a “modular 101” workshop in Durham and at North Carolina State University. BOOM Club’s new space will allow them to expand those offerings, with artists already lined up to provide expertise.
Sickerott has spent much of her career curating art as a public art coordinator with the city of Durham and as an event promoter. Several years ago, she decided she wanted to experiment with music, but accessing the necessary gear, which can cost hundreds if not thousands of dollars, was a barrier to entry. Founding BOOM Club was her way of breaking down those barriers for herself and others.
“When I was thinking this through, before we started, I was like ‘that would be great for me, too,’ and it has been,” Sickerott said. “This is a place where I have learned so much and continue to learn what I want to do with these instruments.”
Sickerott serves as a gadget translator of sorts for other folks who come to BOOM Club with little technical knowledge, helping guide visitors from a place of equal footing.
“When someone comes in, I say, ‘Feel free to just play with it. Let’s explore this together right now,’” Sickerott said.
A majority of the synths and keyboards belong to the BOOM Club team, with a few vintage instruments also on loan from Alex Maiolo, a Chapel Hill-Carrboro native and longtime friend of Thegen and Williams’s. Unbeknownst to Maiolo, who recently moved to San Francisco, his gear might have found a new permanent home. (“This is a good time to announce that we’re never going to give it back,” Thegen jokes.)
Thegen and Williams are veteran performers in the local music scene. Williams was one of the original co-founders of the Pinhook in 2008 and has played in numerous bands around the Triangle. Thegen hosted his own radio show on WHUP from 2015 to 2017, and performs as a DJ and musician under the moniker Ultrabillions.
The two men met at a concert over a decade ago. Thegen said he couldn’t help but notice Williams’ “Fuck Buttons” band shirt and was surprised to meet another fan of the obscure British electronic duo.
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Thegen and Williams’ interests are shared by a flourishing electronic music scene, one which was particularly robust a decade ago. Raund Haus, a Durham-based DJ collective and music label home to a roster of elite sample mixers, button mashers, and knob twisters, emerged in 2016 as one of the forerunners during that creative boomlet. Artists from the label routinely performed on stage at music and technology festival Moogfest, which relocated from Asheville to Durham in 2015, before halting in 2019. The festival’s four-year run gave Triangle artists an elevated platform to showcase skills for an international audience.
On a recent Saturday afternoon, BOOM Club and Raund Haus teamed up for a friendly beatmaking competition before launching into the Raund Haus 10th anniversary party later that night.
Raund Haus cofounder Nick Wallhauser and Thegen previously collaborated on a series called “Micromachines.” He called BOOM Club’s move into the old PS37 space “a perfect fit.”
You don’t have to have being
sean thegen, co-founder, boom club
a professional musician as
your goal. I like to play basketball. I’m not trying to make the NBA, but it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy doing it.
“They’re trying to cultivate a community and give it a home base for people to come and experiment and have access to things,” Wallhauser said.
Music, like any other subculture, can be intimidating to those on the outside looking in. BOOM Club was founded to defuse any air of exclusivity, Thegen said, as well as to reshape notions of what electronic music is.
“My real dream would be some 12-year-old comes in, samples a mini Moog on their iPhone and makes music we’ve never heard of,” Thegen said, adding that he wants to get rid of “some of that barrier of what electronic music is.”
“Last time I checked,” he continued, “Any recorded music involves microphones and electronics, so unless you’re playing a banjo in a forest, you are involved in electronic music.”
He imagines many of the folks who visit the synthesizer clubhouse won’t necessarily be aspiring full-time musicians, but also hobbyists and enthusiasts nurturing their creativity.
“You don’t have to have being a professional musician as your goal,” Thegen said. “I like to play basketball. I’m not trying to make the NBA, but it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy doing it.”
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