By Rebekah Baldwin

Special to The Citizen

Teenagers far and wide are familiar with the age-old question, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Peachtree city native and Starr’s Mill High School junior, Brent Bouthiller, has decided not to wait until he “grows up” to start realizing his goals. At just 16-years-old, he has already played in several bands and started his own sound and lighting company, Rescue Sound Technologies.

Ultimately, Bouthiller will choose whichever option helps him to best follow his dreams.

Bouthiller explained that his ultimate goal is to be a successful musician with a production company on the side, but added that his realistic goal is to run a large sound production company, doing big events.

Presently, he is living his ultimate dream as a musician with a production company.

Bouthiller is involved with the band XO, the side project of two members of the nationally successful group Say Anything. Jake and Jeff Turner, who are also from Peachtree City, called Bouthiller about playing with them during their live shows.

He recalls getting out of school one day last April and having a voicemail from Jeff Turner.

“He was like, ‘Hey, this is Jeff from Say Anything. I have a question to ask you. You should definitely call me back.’”

It seemed too good to be true, and Bouthiller said at first he thought it might be a prank call.

The voicemail, however, was not the result of a prank phone call. Turner was looking for someone to play guitar and piano during their live shows, and had heard of Bouthiller because he graduated from high school with Bouthiller’s brother, Eric.

Bouthiller said he “kinda freaked out,” when Turner asked him to play with XO.

“I knew all the songs from XO anyway- cause I loved XO,” said Bouthiller.

Soon, Bouthiller was playing with a band that he was a fan of.

XO has not done a full band tour yet, but they have played several shows in the area, including a May 2008 show at the Masquerade in Atlanta, one of the biggest venues for alternative music in Georgia, and even gone as far as Alabama, according to Bouthiller.

XO. which has over 500,000 plays and 10,000 friends on Myspace, was not Bouthiller’s first experience playing in a band though.

Bouthiller started playing guitar in fourth grade and piano in seventh grade and has been in several other bands, including what he considers his “serious projects”- American Currency and Oceania. He also played a concert at Georgia Tech with his brother Eric’s band This Piano Plays Itself in November of 2008. They were the main support for another nationally known band, Mae, and played in front of a crowd of nearly 1,000 people.

Bouthiller doesn’t just want to be a musician. He also wants to run a production company, and he is doing just that. He started Rescue Sound Technologies, a sound and lighting production company, in the summer of 2008.

The inspiration for Rescue Sound came from two different areas.

Bouthiller would invite all his friends over to watch movies on the side of his house using a projector.

“I found out that I really like hosting parties,” he said.

Bouthiller’s projector parties were a big hit with his friends and made him think, “what if I got 300 people together? But we can’t watch movies. We could play music.”

This led him to the party hosting aspect of Rescue Sound Technologies.

The inspiration behind the concert sound and lighting area of the company came from going to local shows.

“I was sick of going to local shows and not being able to hear the music,” Bouthiller explained. “The bands didn’t seem professional, or sound the way they should.”

Rather than resigning to the fact that the sound and lighting is not as good at local shows as it is at professional ones, Bouthiller decided to do something about it. His aim is to help bands sound and look professional, even at the local level.

Bouthiller said he first had the idea in March, but after getting in a motorcycle accident he was unable to get the company fully set up with equipment and contacts until the summer. He already had some equipment, but saved up for the rest mostly by working with the theater department at Starr’s Mill High School.

Since its inception, Rescue Sound Technologies has done sound and lighting for several concerts at the Glenloch Recreational Center, one at X Playground in Peachtree City, sound for the church Peachtree Christian Fellowship’s summer youth retreat in Panama City, DJed many private parties and hosted one of its own.

Rescue Sound hosted its first party in January 2009 at the Rockspray Cabin in Peachtree City, and had a very successful turnout, according to Bouthiller.

“Brent throws the best parties around town. Every time one comes up I make sure to clear my schedule to go to it,” said Chelsea Barker, a junior at Starr’s Mill High School.

In a city without a movie theater or bowling alley, it is not uncommon to hear teenagers complain that there is nothing to do. Bouthiller’s parties provide a fun, safe environment for high school students to get together and have a good time.

Bouthiller provides security at the parties, last time it was his parents, to ensure that nothing gets out of hand.

The next Rescue Sound party will be on Feb. 13 at the Tyrone Depot. The party will be from 8 to 11:30 p.m. and is for high school students only. Bouthiller, along with another DJ, DJ Blanco, will be providing the music. The door charge is $8.

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