Artist Interview Featuring Trance Prodigy Andrew Rayel

During Halloween weekend while there was a plethora of debauchery to get yourself into, we here decided to try something different and have our artist interview virginity taken! We had the honor of interviewing Andrew Rayel, a huge name in the trance music scene signed under Armada Music label and praised for being the future of trance music by Armin Van Buuren himself. Andrew Rayel (whose real name is Andrei Rata) is just 25 years old and has already achieved wildly successful musical heights, headlining internationally renowned music festivals such as ASOT Ultra, Tomorrowland, and Stereosonic. He is originally from Moldova and began making music when he was just 13 years old. With oodles of hit singles and tours under his belt, he most recently turned his focus to achieving a life-long dream of launching his own music label inHarmony this past September. We caught up with him before his set at Wynwood Fear Factory and had a fantastic time interviewing him and watching him perform. Andrew Rayel’s sets are bursting with his enthusiasm, he does an amazing job physically getting the crowd pumped up and enjoying his electrifying beats. Check out his most recent release “Mass Effect” before heading into what transpired in our interview below, it’s an absolute banger!

Keeping in the spirit of Halloween, we would like to know if you’re dressing up in a costume this year?

Rayel: “I did not dress up completely, where I come from in eastern Europe (Moldova) we do not have this tradition, but I am wearing my superhero, this is the logo of my new label on my shirt on the front and back. So it’s a little bit of the Halloween, not one hundred percent but I promise next year I will be fully dressed!”

Talking about your label, you have worked on it for so many years! What made you decide that you were ready to fully pursue it?

Rayel: “I finished my second studio album this year this past May called Moments, I was working on that for the past two years and I was very busy with the album, it was my sole focus at the time. About a month after I finished it I also put together three new tracks. At that point I realized I didn’t want to release straightaway because it would be too much music and confusing for the fans. So I realized I was feeling very productive and good about my work and so I decided this is the moment I would put all that new music on the album and also get new artists and start promoting them and creating the inHarmony music family and growing together.”

If you had the chance to sign any artist to your label, who would it be?

Rayel: “Of course I would love to have Armin, but since inHarmony is on his label, it cannot be. We are all one big family over there but I respect and enjoy so much more music then just big names. I would love to have David Gravell, William de Roo, ending up with Dash Berlin, W&W, everybody! I have a very wide spectrum of musical tastes and aspirations.”

You have been making music since thirteen years old. Starting from when you released your first single in 2010, how has the trance scene landscape changed? For better or worse?

Rayel: “Yes, I feel it’s changing completely. It’s constantly moving on and evolving as different sounds are being combined with the trance music. I don’t think it’s for the worst, it’s only for the better because for me personally I get tired of the same sound if I listen to it for a very long time so I need new things. But I still love trance music a lot, so I like that a variety of elements, genres, and sounds have been created. At first there was only trance music, then there was tech trance, uplifting trance, vocal trance, and all these other sub-genres that have spread like a virus. For me, the more music the better and it’s all about those melodies and harmonies.”

For our last question, we are dying to know the inspiration behind your inHarmony label logo?

Rayel: “The first idea behind the logo was to create a superhero character that would bring harmony into the world through music. So there is Superman and then there is my superhero that brings joy and his superpower is to bring harmony to people when they are desperate or sad, and spread happiness into people’s lives through music.”