Aidan Scheuren is a former Sheboygan musician now based in Milwaukee. Drumming for his band Superglue, Scheuren came to the city to work on new projects with members of Chapped Lips and Bronco. Aside from drumming, Scheuren has dreamed of creating his own pop-punk solo project. With the help of other artists in the Midwest, Scheuren will debut his new solo album Violence & Valentines, in February as Aidan Valentine.
We spoke to the artist about the new release.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
How did you get started in the Milwaukee music scene?
So I’m originally from Sheboygan and I’ve been playing music since middle school. I started playing with my band Superglue and we got a big break playing the Chapped Lips debut album show. Chapped Lips are really big in the scene here, but started out in Sheboygan too, which is how we connected. Playing with them introduced me to a lot of different bands here in Milwaukee and let me build relationships with a lot of people here, which helped a lot with trying to collaborate with other artists.
You started off as a drummer. Did you always have a side project, or is this a new thing?
I always wanted to have a side project, in middle school I actually wanted to make EDM music. When I joined a band as a drummer I just got this feeling to start playing guitar and lead a band. Superglue has always made music that’s more like Smashing Pumpkins or Deftones, it’s more like grunge. I always wanted to make music that’s different from that sound and more like pop punk.
I recorded an EP in my basement as an experiment last year. I wanted to see what the experience would be like and if I could even do it. I took the music off streaming, but I learned a lot about the business and creative side of things when it comes to music. This year, I started working with Rayven Burdette from Lake Drive, another Milwaukee band; we started writing more pop punk songs together. The project turned into a big collaboration with a bunch of other people such as Snow from Footballhead, Noah from Paper Trail, and HAYDEN, a pop punk artist from Chicago. I got a bunch of people together from the Milwaukee and Chicago scenes to create Aidan Valentine. I think of it as a band with me as the front-man.
What was it like transitioning to being a front-man?
With Superglue and other bands I’ve always just been a drummer. It’s hard sometimes trying to provide input and emotion into the songwriting process, because it can feel limiting being a drummer. I can hit the drum hard and show that I’m angry, but I can’t really show off any emotional depth and experience just by doing that. I’m using this project to express my emotion, instead of building up a band where the people writing songs can express their emotion. Being a front-man can also be intimidating, as a drummer the attention is rarely on you. With this project I have to create a persona to make the music more marketable and be more of a central figure, but that’s definitely an insecurity of mine. It’s an obstacle I know I have to overcome.
Where did the name Aidan Valentine come from?
I remember thinking that I needed some sort of name to perform under. You can’t really market Scheuren, which is my last name. I remember sitting in my college psychology class and I just came up with the name Valentine. There wasn’t a lot of depth involved; it was just a name, but now there’s a lot of references to Valentine within the album.
What are some bands that influence the album?
So I think anyone you talk to about influential pop punk music would say Blink-182, which is true for this project. Green Day, My Chemical Romance and especially The Killers are also influential. There’s a lot of guitar heavy songs in the album, but there’s also a lot of synth heavy pop songs that are reminiscent of The Killers. There’s little details in certain songs that I pulled from all kinds of artists, but I want this album to show off the different music I’m personally into and how it all connects.
You just released your new single, “Hypocrite.” What’s next?
The next release is a single coming out on Jan. 10 called “Don’t Go,” and there’s going to be a rap feature on it as a remix, which will be really fun. The album itself, Violence & Valentines will come out around the middle of February.
