Aidan Mailley played bass or guitar for bands at local New York music venues — now, he’s stepping into the limelight. Mailley, a junior studying music business at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, recently released his debut single “Everything I Could Have Been” with his band, Passing Thoughts. He wrote the song while studying abroad at NYU Prague this past fall. Leaving his usual routine and environment gave Mailley new inspiration and motivation to finally go through with his own musical endeavor.
Although he has experienced a brush with musical virality in the past — a number of covers on his TikTok page lent to his band’s account, garnering over 275,000 followers — his travels invigorated him to write and release original content, building his image as an artist from the ground up. He could only take so much with him to Europe, but when packing his bags for Prague, he managed to lug his electric guitar. It remained glued to his hand during his time abroad.
WSN spoke to Mailley following his performance supporting bands Edgehill and Blush Boy at Nublu Classic, where he performed “Everything I Could Have Been” for the first time.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
WSN: How did ‘Everything I Could Have Been’ come to be in Prague?
Mailley: I had more time to write because the classes were a little less demanding over there. I would just be in my dorm room — when I wasn’t exploring the city — playing around. I just had my electric, and I think that caused me to write a little differently than I usually do, because I usually write on my acoustic guitar. But the riff for this one is very based on the electric’s sound. I wrote it at my desk in my dorm room. There was a mini studio attached to the dorm over there that I recorded in.
WSN: Were you influenced by Prague’s music scene?
Mailley: Yes and no. Prague has an interesting music scene, in that they have a phenomenal classical scene. I was taking one class that really took interest in that, and we went to classical concerts, which were really awesome. I learned a lot about Czech composers, who are fantastic. There is also a cool jazz scene over there that the same professor who taught the class is really involved in. He would take us to his jazz gigs… So yes, absolutely, Prague influenced me, but not in the way that you think. I was totally inspired by music that sounds nothing like what I make.
WSN: Did it make you see things differently about music in the States?
Mailley: Last summer, right before I went, I was in New York, going to so many rock shows, being around a lot of rock music, working for the management company I was working for at the time. I was working the door at Bowery Ballroom and selling merch at Mercury Lounge. I was around it so much that when I went over to Prague, I was surrounded by completely different music than I was used to. It made me look at what I had already known differently and allowed me to write better music, since I had been distanced from it.
Going from a very fast-paced period of time to one that was slower on the day-to-day [was different], because New York can be very in your face, go, go, go, and Prague definitely wasn’t. They have quiet hours after 10 p.m., where you’ll get fined if you are too loud.
WSN: How was stepping away from New York helpful for you and your musicianship?
Mailley: The song I just put out, ‘Everything I Could Have Been,’ is really about the summer I spent in New York before that and just being in the thick of it. I wrote a decent amount compared to how much I usually write, but there were only a couple songs that came out of it that I really liked. It was also just that I had enough time to be separated from it — I had enough time to miss New York that I could write this song about it.
Contact Caia Cupolo at [email protected].