Andrew Rayel

YOU’VE BEEN SUPER BUSY LATELY RELEASING SOMEFANTASTIC NEW MUSIC AND OF COURSE, TOURINGAROUND THE WORLD.

Andrew Rayel: I have been busy! I’m very happy about that, though. I don’t like to sit around. I like to keep myself very busy. I have a lot of new music out also – mostly on my label, inHarmony Music. I’ve been focusing on this project a lot. We started it in September 2017, releasing about a track per month of my music. Then we got to releasing two tracks a month and now we are moving to three tracks per month, so there’s been a lot of good material coming my way and it needs to be released and shown to the world. There’s a mix of tracks of my own, as well as tracks from very talented producers that we are currently working on.

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT FILTERING THROUGH ALL OFTHE SUBMISSIONS YOU ARE NOW RECEIVING? WHATCATCHES YOUR EAR AND MAKES YOU THINK “WOW!”?

AR: We have a great A&R rep from Armada who will send us submissions. Most of the time the submissions go to my brother, Pavel, first and he will check to ensure it’s the type of track we are looking for. We get so many submissions! My brother will select the top candidates that are submitted and send them to me to discuss. If there is a track that I like the sound on but know maybe the producer is still a little young or needs some more experience but overall is something we can work with, I’d likely contact the producer and finish the last 30% of the track in my studio. Maybe I’d add some instruments or mix or master it again to get the right sound. I wouldn’t ask for credit for doing that even – it’s just about releasing quality music on the label. This doesn’t happen often though because most of the time I’m working directly with the more experienced producers in the industry today.

For the radio show, my brother and I also work together on this project. He helps me to select the music weekly, so he will send me about 50 tracks to choose from to create that week’s episode and from them, I will choose about 22-24 tracks and make the actual playlist. I trust his vision because we grew up surrounded by the same type of music.

WE KNOW YOU WERE FEELING A BIT UNDER THEWEATHER WHILE ON TOUR RECENTLY. LOOKS LIKEYOU’RE ALL BETTER AND BACK IN ACTION?

Andrew Rayel: Yes, last year was not very successful in terms of health. It seems like every time I went back on tour I had an issue and had to visit the doctor. The worst thing was probably the surgery on my nose to alleviate an infection. This all started around Miami Music Week of 2017 when I had three wisdom teeth removed. So I’m very happy to finally be healthy again!

YOU GREW UP IN THE SMALL COUNTRY OF MOLDOVA.WHAT’S IT LIKE RETURNING THERE? ARE YOU A VIEWEDAS A CELEBRITY THERE?

AR: A lot of people there know me, for sure. Sometimes it gets a little hard to walk along the streets there because people will recognize me and stop me. I have big shows over there and billboard advertisements so I’m recognizable even if you didn’t know me through the music. So trips to the market include pictures with fans while I’m waiting in line with my groceries. I’m also lucky that we were able to bring the 100th episode of Find Your Harmony to Moldova – we are doing a special live celebration at the end of April. We will be broadcasting live so the rest of fans around the world can also join in and watch online.

WHAT DO YOU HAVE NEXT IN THE WORKS FOR 2018?

AR: Summer is coming so that means all of the bigger festivals are on the way also. I’m going to be doing Tomorrowland mainstage again this year on the first weekend, as well as the A State of Trance (ASOT) Stage the following weekend there. As always there will be plenty of new music coming out, too!