Interview Avi8: euphoria from Scotland!

By Hard News 06 April 2016

This young Euphoric Hardstyle Producer/DJ from Scotland, Avi8, has kicked started his career by signing at Gearbox Euphoria and accomplished a lot since then! He’s known for producing tracks that are somehow dreamy, contain emotion, and still have that drive and kick that makes a crowd want to dance their worries away. Although he’s a Euphoric Producer/DJ, he likes to experiment with other genres of Hardstyle and explore the boundaries of his music, which is why it’s always exciting to see what this talented artist has come up with for new releases.

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview!

To start, we’d like to give the readers a chance to get to know you a bit. Could you tell us a bit about yourself?
Thanks for having me! Well, I’m Scott (Aka Avi8), I’m 20 years old and I come from Greenock, Scotland. I work full-time as an apprentice electrical technician and I produce music as a hobby. I started producing music around the start of 2012 and I have been producing under my ‘Avi8‘ alias since 2014. I mainly produce euphoric hardstyle but I also produce and experiment with a lot of other genres although I don’t put a lot of it online. Its always good to push your own boundries!

Could you describe how you’ve gotten into music and (Euphoric) Hardstyle in particular?
Its strange actually, I never used to like hardstyle, it all sounded the same to me, until I heard Headhunterz – Scrap Attack in 2009, and since then I listened to more and more and now, here I am! I always preferred listening to the more euphoric artists, such as Wasted Penguinz, Brennan Heart & Coone. In 2012 I decided that I wanted to create my own music and do my best to share it on a worldwide scale. By this point, I knew exactly where I wanted to be and what feelings I wanted to give people through my own music someday, so I got to work straight away!

How have you gotten from that moment, to where you are today together as an artist?
A lot of sleepless nights, hard work and countless experiments! Investing in new equipment like studio monitors and such was a massive turning point as well, this allowed my productions to take a big leap in quality. Like all other artists, I’ve put nearly all of my free time into producing & looking back to where I was 2 years ago, I never imagined that I would be in the position that I’m in just now.

You’ve been signed with Gearbox Euphoria and Pure Bookings for a little while now, what’s that been like for you?
It was a massive leap in my music career. I see Gearbox as the most exciting and fresh label around and I’m honoured to be a part of it all. The amount of work that everyone puts behind it is nothing short of incredible. Everyone at the label supports each other and there is always feedback being fired about everywhere in the group chats haha! Gearbox is really where you wanna be and I look forward to releasing a lot more music with them!

What does Hardstyle mean to you?
Everything. Hardstyle is such a massive part of my life, and it has been for such a long time now! One reason I love it so much is that it theres something for everyone and something for every mood. And quite frankly, I’m honoured to be a part of this amazing scene!

Who inspires you and why?
Well, the whole reason I started producing was because of Wasted Penguinz, and how much their music inspired me. And even after all this time, they never disappoint in my opinion! At this stage, I’m inspired by all kinds of artists, even non-hardstyle artists such as MitiS, Rameses B and EMBRZ. Within the hardsyle scene, there is really too many to count who inspire me!

Could you describe your own style in music?
I try my best to make the most melodic, uplifting and emotional music that I possibly can. I also love some cheesiness in there as well haha! But yeah, theres nothing better than hitting someone elses feels with my music, and thats what I always aim for. When I make a track, I spend most of the time working on my synths/leads and melodies. Followed by creating the atmosphere around it. Melodies are probably the most captivating parts of Euphoric Hardstyle for me, and I always aim to make it as emotional and as uplifting as I can.

What music does that for you, hitting the feels?
All kinds of music. Of course Euphoric Hardstyle hits the spot every time for me, I also love listening to Chillstep, Trance and Melodic House. Those are amazing genres to take inspiration from. Most times, I’ll try to merge aspects of Chillstep with Hardstyle, especially with the atmosphere.

How do you feel your style of music fits in the Hardstyle scene as it is today?
Thats a hard one, because I’m not entirely sure. Raw Hardstyle is taking the scene by storm at the moment. Although I love raw, it’s a shame to see the decrease in interest for Euphoric Hardstyle at events. Many new, exciting raw acts are being given the chance to perform on the biggest festivals/events at the moment, but there doesn’t seem to be as much confidence or room at big events for upcoming Eeuphoric producers. Which can be quite demotivating at times. There’s always going to be thousands of people who will listen to it at home, but I just hope that we’ll see big party organisers take more chances with the new generation of Euphoric producers in the future!

We know you like to experiment with different styles of music too, what kind of music have you been experimenting with and do you feel that influences your Hardstyle productions?
Well, I make the occasional raw track from time to time, and I also like to produce Chillstep. Like I said I never usually put these online but I feel that experimenting with different genres does help to boost inspiration and creativity for my Hardstyle productions. Chillstep is all about the atmosphere, and I usually try to make the ‘slow’ parts of my Hardstyle tracks as atmospheric as possible. Big pads, warm basses and good vocals will always be a winner.

What’s your greatest ‘Hardstyle/music memory’?
It’s got to be when Atmozfears premiered ‘Release’ at Qlimax 2014. Theres absolutely no words to describe the atmosphere in the GelreDome at that moment. Also my first time at Defqon.1 Festival last year was mind-blowing from start to finish. And on a personal level, when Cyber premiered our collab ‘Emptiness’ in a club here in Glasgow while I was in the crowd. Goosebumps all over…

Greatest tracks ever made?
Wow, thats a hard one. For me, I’d need to say Headhunterz & Wildstylez vs. Noisecontrollers – Tonight (Alpha² Remix), Wasted Penguinz – Stay Alive/Anxiety/Melancholia, Sylence & Cyber – Each Other and Noisecontrollers – Summer In The City (Part 2). But to be honest, I’d be here all day naming them if I could haha!

Who would you like to work with?
Loads of artists, from all over the Hard-Dance spectrum. I’d love to work with Atmozfears, Wasted Penguinz and Adrenalize. I’d also love to work with other artists such as Splinta and Audiofreq. As much as I love euphoric, emotional melodies, I just can’t get enough of big techy kicks right now!

What things do you aspire to accomplish in your music career?
Simply, to reach as many people as possible. I do have a lot of big goals such as playing festivals like Defqon.1 and such, but that’s something I can only dream about at the moment so realistically, I want to keep providing as much new, quality material as possible and for my music to reach as many people as possible.

What can people expect from you on short term? Any upcoming gigs/releases?
I have my first gig here in Glasgow on the 23rd of this month. I also have a few other gigs in Glasgow coming up but nothing international. It’s a dream for me to play in another country! As for releases, my new EP containing my tracks ‘The Forgotten Star’ and ‘The Light Inside You’ has just been released, and has had such amazing support already which I can’t thank everyone enough for! I’ve been working my ass off on new tracks, I’ve got around 4 new tracks finished/nearly finished, a collab with MKN in the works and I’ll be starting to work on an exciting new collab with someone who people have been asking me to work with for ages, and I can’t wait to hear the end result of it already. Exciting stuff! So yeah, you can expect a lot coming up from me.

What’s the best advice you’ve gotten about starting a career in music?
‘Work hard in silence and let success make the noise.’ Simple and effective. For me, the best kind of advice is simple advice. So I’ll continue to work my ass off in silence, and I look forward to seeing where the rest of my journey will take me!

Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans and our readers?
Of course there is, and the main thing I’d like to say is THANK YOU! All the support I’ve received in the past 2 years is absolutely insane, and I really can’t say ‘thank you’ enough. Like I mentioned before, I’m working so hard on many new tracks at the moment and I can’t wait to get them out there!