Andrew Mills – Techno Identity, Emotion, and Global Ambition on the Virtual Sessions presented by The DJ Sessions 12/2/25

From Bari, Italy, rising techno artist Andrew Mills shares a story rooted in discipline, passion, and cultural identity. Beginning his journey at nine years old and learning to DJ on vinyl under the mentorship of Frankie Polaris, Andrew built his foundation through technique, repetition, and a deep respect for the craft. His artistic identity combines cinematic intensity, hypnotic rhythms, and emotional storytelling, reflecting both his Albanian and Italian heritage.

 

As a producer, Andrew takes pride in crafting tracks that reflect a raw, powerful energy. His upcoming release Mescaline showcases his evolving sound and marks another milestone in his journey with Origami Management, who have helped guide his career and connect him with labels worldwide. With more than a dozen releases spanning techno mainstage, raw, and hypnotic styles, he views each production as a chapter of his personal and artistic transformation.

 

Onstage, Andrew becomes a different version of himself. Reserved in daily life, he unlocks emotion through music, feeding off the crowd’s energy while delivering sets designed as immersive journeys. Memorable moments, such as playing an unreleased track for the first time at Ministry of Sound and watching the crowd erupt, fuel his dedication to long hours in the studio and international travel.

 

Despite a demanding schedule, he remains grounded through family, cultural pride, and the desire to bring his sound to countries where techno is celebrated as a way of life. For Andrew, each trip is a mission: to grow, evolve, and share the story behind every beat.

Topics

0:10 – Early beginnings with DJing and discovering electronic music
1:48 – Training on vinyl and shaping his artistic identity
3:15 – Describing his sound and emotional intensity
3:54 – Techno as his core genre and connection to substyles
6:19 – New track releases and work with Origami Management
8:48 – Most memorable productions and creative milestones
9:37 – Playing unreleased music at Ministry of Sound
11:44 – ADE experiences and expanding international opportunities
17:14 – Challenges of touring and cultural differences in techno scenes
20:14 – Top labels influencing his sound and career direction

Connect with Andrew Mills

Instagram: https://instagram.com/andrew_mills_dj

[Darran]
Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the DJ Sessions Presents the Virtual Sessions. I’m your host Darran and right now I’m sitting in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington, and coming from all the way halfway around the world, Cambari, Italy. We have none other than Andrew Mills on the show today.

Andrew, how’s it going? Hello everyone.

[Andrew Mills]
Hello to everyone.

[Darran]
Hey, you know, it’s awesome. I know I got to preview you and see a little bit of your work before we met. I know we’ve been trying to get this interview in for a little bit, but I saw you over at ADE playing with the Origami team.

We’re going to get into that a little bit more in this show, but, you know, if you, you’ve been playing since the age, was I, did I read it right? Since the age of 12?

[Andrew Mills]
Yes.

[Darran]
Wow. I mean, you already look pretty young. So…

[Andrew Mills]
No, I started at my first time to listen to music at nine, nine years old. And I started at 16 years to play with my small console, with Hercules, Hercules console. It’s a toy.

And a little bit more lesson with my tutorial on YouTube, on the social media. And I, my first, first walking to the music, electronic music and the DJ set and the music remixes and many more.

[Darran]
And did you start DJing first and then go into producing or was it DJ and producing at the same time?

[Andrew Mills]
DJ, DJ first. I, I have started the lesson with my, my master. His name is Frankie Polaris.

And he’s the most important DJs of, of my, my country. And I started the lesson with him. And I started to the vinyls with the techniques.

It’s more difficult techniques and vinyls. For the first time for me, but there is more important that this training to representing my, my figure, my artistic figure, into the time, into the travel of the electronic music.

[Darran]
You know, it definitely, I mean, obviously you see the memes all the time of people saying, you want to see a real DJ, put these in front of them. You know, a lot of people, a lot of people confuse me. I could understand why they always think, because I tell them I produce a show called the DJ sessions.

They think that I’m a DJ and I’m like, no, no, I don’t know how to DJ. I just, I just play one on TV, you know, but you know, I can get up there and jump around and bounce and make it look like I’m doing something, but no, it’s the part, it’s the part of dance floor. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. So if you could describe your music in three words, what would you call it?

[Andrew Mills]
Okay. So my music is intensive, more intensive, style of the cinematic to impress the listeners into put you to the travel and the journey of the music. It’s a sensational emotion and you are a strong result for the listeners.

[Darran]
Awesome. You know, and what would you say your genre that you play? What lane would that be in?

[Andrew Mills]
Principally, principally the genre is for me is techno. My music subgenre is, is a main stage, a raw and a hypnotic.

[Darran]
Okay. Okay. Awesome.

You know, it’s, it’s, it’s very interesting that the number of genres that are out there now, when I grew up, it was like house and techno, you know, and now you have all these other genres. Something we just put up on our website recently is our DJ ranking system. It takes the top like 23,000 DJs in the world and ranks them all.

And then it takes a look at snapshot of the top 100 DJs and says what they’re, what country they’re from and what genres they’re playing. And we like get to update that data every year. We got the 2024 data for 25.

Can’t wait to get the 2026 data for 2025, but it’s just a really neat thing to go look at. And eventually we’ll get it so you can, you can scroll through and see who on this, who, who’s been on our series by clicking their name. It’s kind of really cool.

Something a little bells and whistles, but it’s just nice seeing the shifts in the trends and how the pie chart goes back and forth and ebbs and does that.

[Andrew Mills]
So it’s important for the different genres with a particular song or a particular sound different to any genres.

[Darran]
Well, you know, it was like, I was in Berlin last year for Rave the Planet, working with Riverside Studios. And I asked them what, what nightclub, what’s the best nightclub to go to in the sense of things from where I was located right by their studios at the Enhau Hotel. And they said, well, what kind of music do you like?

I’m like house. And they’re like, there’s over 500 nightclubs in Berlin. There’s probably one house night.

[Andrew Mills]
It’s more difficult to find the club with the playhouse music in Berlin, but Berlin is the homework, the house of the techno music. So this is generally representing the name Techno Berlin.

[Darran]
Totally. And you also produce tracks as well. And what’s the most recent track you’ve released?

[Andrew Mills]
So I have 11 to 12 tracks released and I have actually one unreleased track to exit on all digital platforms on the 29th of December. Oh, congratulations on that. Thank you so much.

And on the 26th of November, it’s out on all digital platforms with a label, American label, called Pickle Poppings, a label to uprise music. The name of the song is Space.

[Darran]
Space. I saw that. I was looking at your socials.

I thought it says space, but then what’s it say right below? I don’t have it committed to me. It says space out here or something like that.

No, I, I, I have this name to space. Uh, I’m going to pull it up right now.

[Andrew Mills]
Yes.

[Darran]
Cause I was looking at that. I saw it on your Facebook and, uh, uh, hang on. I gotta look at this video because I thought the name of this, I thought it was space.

I thought, so it’s space and then below it, it says out now. So I didn’t know if the name of the track was space out now. Now that you just said it’s just called space.

I was a little confused. I wasn’t sure on that one, but yeah, I thought it was like, that was really cool. So congratulations on that.

It’s going to be awesome. Now you said you were releasing it in the States, but you’re releasing it internationally. Is that going to be through Origami and one of the Origami labels?

[Andrew Mills]
Uh, yes, yes. To collaborate with the Origami management. And, uh, we have, uh, helped me to finding this label to representing the, the genre, the genre of my music.

[Darran]
If you had to pick out of the productions that you’ve done so far, and I get this question all the time. So I just got to ask it. Cause people say, you know, what’s your favorite episode?

I’m like all 2,734 of them. You know, but if I, if you had to pick a production, that is your most favorite one or most memorable one that you just loved releasing, it doesn’t have to say it set the bar, but just said, I was glad to collaborate or work on that track and release that track. Do you have one that comes to mind when I asked that question?

[Andrew Mills]
Um, I don’t know. I think so too. This particular, uh, name of the track I chose to, uh, representing the, each sound of the track.

And so this is a, I think so to Origami is a wonderful, most significant part of my current journey. And this partnership has been essential not only for the strategy, but also for building a professional foundation around my career.

[Darran]
Where’s the weirdest moment you’ve ever heard one of your own tracks play.

[Andrew Mills]
Oh, okay. Um, it’s a, it’s a nice question. So, um, the most important things for me when I play my tracks is the response to dancefloor.

For example, my first time in London at the Ministry of Sound, I played my first unreleased track, uh, called The Way of Your Life. And this is the title is represent, represent me to a journey starting with, uh, to Origami. And, uh, when I was, uh, the, the play this song on the first time, uh, the dance floor is, is very crazy.

And, uh, it’s more, it’s more, more difficult for me to, uh, the, the, the emotive, emotive response. And, uh, it’s more, uh, it’s more happy for, uh, for this.

[Darran]
Hmm. Yeah. I saw that you did play Ministry of Sound.

That must’ve been quite an accomplishment. Um, I mean, I, I still have never made it there before. I would love to make it over there sometime, you know, and, and, um, you know, I, I do have the international traveling bug in me, you know, after being to Amsterdam twice and then following up with Berlin.

And then this year I didn’t get a chance to go anywhere, but I am planning a bunch of trips, uh, at least four trips to the EU and two trips to the UK minimum. Um, and, and one of those stops is definitely going to be in Rome or wherever I need to pull the resources together to work with you and the Origami team and put everything together. It’d be pretty awesome.

Super excited for that. Um, when it comes to traveling and doing shows, uh, you recently were just at ADE, as we mentioned at the top of the show, you know, how was ADE this year? Was that your first time?

[Andrew Mills]
No, it’s the second time to ADE, the first time in 2024, also with Origami and, uh, I play only on the 50 yards club to Origami showcase. Uh, over, over the years, uh, I, I working a lot of my tracks of my profile and, uh, of my career and, uh, this year at this ADE, uh, 2025, I have a lot of opportunity, uh, also thanks to Origami in the, in the pre-stage and more clubs who want to know.

[Darran]
Nice. And there is a lot to do there. Um, how usually we, we have a pattern when we go there.

It’s, we, we usually land on Tuesday, get settled in, do work on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and then take off at Friday night. It’s Friday night’s out, Saturday night’s out, Sunday, it’s go check out the city, Monday, it’s usually a late night flight. So we can go do something in the morning and then get to the airport and fly home.

Um, it’s like a 14 hour flight for us. So, you know, yeah, usually a layover in Iceland. The last, the last time we went, there was a layover at Heathrow on our way in, I think Iceland, I reckon that was a, was a coming back, but you know, I like it.

I like traveling. I mean, I, it was, it was awesome.

[Andrew Mills]
It is my two passion, music and the travel. Yeah. For me, it’s the best matches.

[Darran]
Exactly. And I do want to say thank you because you were part of the Origami team. We got a number of exclusive mixes from you guys over there.

I was very impressed to get those. Those are up on our site right now. And, uh, we’re super excited to get those exclusive mixes.

I know we’re going to be working with the Origami team a lot closer, uh, in the future, especially for 2026. Now, when you say you like traveling and you like music, when you go to these foreign countries and travel to play, do you get time off to go explore the culture of the countries or is it like, I’m in, I play, I’m out?

[Andrew Mills]
Uh, yes, for me, I don’t have, I don’t have the countries, uh, typically to, I play with my DJ set, but, uh, I, I love so much, uh, the country with the, is that we have the culture of music, especially of techno music. And this is more important for my career and for me, because that is part of my journey starting to another opportunity to display in this, uh, in this place. Uh, unfortunately in my country, techno music is difficult to listening, but, uh, I don’t, I don’t, um, for, uh, for these opportunities, more important with Origami to traveling around the world to bring my music around the world.

[Darran]
Yeah. It, it, you know, that I, like we said earlier at the top of the show, you know, Berlin’s going to be definitely known for tech now, you know, and that’s, that’s, that’s hard. You know, it can be a little difficult when a genre, even on, even in the city I live in Seattle, you know, we used to, when I was going out, um, trance was just huge.

And this is like in the late nineties, early two thousands. Trance was the big thing. House was still there.

House had a very strong part. Yeah. Techno was just, it didn’t, it never caught on.

We have drumming. So I went like drum and bass, drumming, drum and bass, techno, techno house trance. And now I guess what’s, what’s the big tech house is probably the biggest genre that’s out there now.

I would say, um, you know, or, I mean, and then you got the rhythm, you got rhythm. Oh, I mean, gosh, don’t get me started on the whole Wikipedia page on the classifications of electronic dance music. I have to tell people when they come to play my show and be a resident DJ, I said, use this page, but you can only use the main topics.

None of the subtopics. To me, it’s always going to be drum and bass, but you got liquid drum and bass or trance and you got side trance. And it’s like, Oh, okay.

Like, okay. But it’s beautiful. Cause years ago I saw this, um, it was like a chart somebody had and it shed house music here, trance music here, but then it branched off the house music and it showed how it branched off and how much influence it, this genre of music had on these other genres of music that then branched off to these other genres of music.

It was a really cool kind of like very organic flow chart of how all the music was really how it was all there. It’s really, really awesome. I wish I could find that again.

Probably just look up, probably type it in the chat, GBT and said, find this flow chart for me. Like here, are you talking about this one? You know, while you’re on tour and you’re out there touring these countries and having fun and traveling, what’s the most difficult thing to deal with?

[Andrew Mills]
But the difficult, uh, I don’t know, but, uh, I saw when I play my own tracks, it’s a completely different feelings compared to playing anything else. And the disease to application or the other countries to, uh, I played. So for example, I, for the first time, I played in Ibiza.

I don’t play techno, but in Ibiza, uh, uh, it’s more, uh, more listening tribal house, uh, and the disease is, uh, for a real, uh, real, um, I’m feeling a real mix of pride, adrenaline, responsibility to this, uh, space. I play DJ set. Um, so it’s ability because my music represent who I am as an artist.

And when the crowd responds, when I see the people losing team seven tracks, I built from zero. It’s one of the most powerful sensation I ever felt. Uh, who these, uh, this opportunity for another countries, you have the culture, music culture to different countries to countries.

And so, uh, for the, for the first time, uh, the, uh, I, I have so happy, more happy for, uh, because the, the techno music in, in Amsterdam is a techno culture is, uh, uh, a religion say that. And, uh, and so for me is a more important to this part because I think so every trip is like a mission. I, I’m not just, just moving from one place to another.

I’m carrying my identity, my sound in everything that we have, uh, by inside the school. When I, when I arrive in a new city or a new country, I feel grateful and hungry that’s food because people are giving me space to express myself hungry because I want to live a real life, a real impact. And, uh, every flight, every hotel, every stage teach, uh, teach me something.

This is for more important for me and for my career.

[Darran]
You know, and, and, uh, other than origami management, the labels that are under origami management, the umbrella there, what are the current top five record labels that are putting out quality releases that you kind of say, I go with them all the time, or I check when they got something out, I listened to it. You have five top labels that always come to mind when you’re searching for music for your, for your sets.

[Andrew Mills]
Uh, for me, uh, it’s, uh, my priority is, uh, Pyro Records. Uh, why Pyro Records? Because, uh, is the first, really the first, uh, label to, uh, to change, uh, the, the way of, uh, of my career.

Uh, for the first time, uh, I produced it with a track with Techno Mainstage, Solid Overdrive, uh, the name Overdrive to, uh, be a part, uh, to, uh, um, a plugin of music production and, uh, a technique for, uh, for the production. Uh, so for me is the, for the first position is, uh, is Pyro Records. So second position, Gold Lizard Records, because I have, uh, uh, released two tracks, Porpoise Dominic and Sonic Community.

Sonic Community is, uh, play, I play for the first time in the NBA before, and, uh, I just signed my first contract of, uh, discography to the Gold Lizard. And the another one is, uh, for Dragon Records. Dragon Records, I have played and are releasing, uh, to my track to represent myself, uh, the better because, uh, I, I realized, uh, the Vivectis is, uh, a more important release for me, uh, because, uh, to, uh, to thank you of, uh, of this release, uh, uh, I have the more support from, uh, high profile artists, including, uh, Blaster Decks, Dimitri Vegas, like Mike, uh, and Jamie and, uh, other respect names in the industry. Uh, for the last, but not, it’s not for the last, uh, it’s big recordings to open my career to, uh, American, uh, uh, American listeners and, uh, American age of, uh, of the music.

[Darran]
Now you’re also considering opening your own label as well, correct?

[Andrew Mills]
Uh, uh, yes, yes.

[Darran]
Or have you already done that or you’re looking into it? Uh, no, I, no, I, you know, I, we over here at the DJ sessions a few years back, um, we’re talking about the possibility of opening up our own label and I looked at it and said, that’s a whole nother company in itself. Uh, the amount of music I would, first of all, what direction are we going to take?

What’s our sound? Then are we going to only produce in-house? Are we going to open it up to take submissions?

If we do take submissions and I’m getting 200 submissions a day, no, let’s just say a hundred submissions a day. And I have to listen to a hundred songs or tracks a day. Now I’m not a DJ.

I don’t really have got the magic button, how to go through a thousand songs and be like, good, good, bad, good, bad, good, good, good, bad, good, bad, good, bad.

[Andrew Mills]
It’s a really hard work.

[Darran]
I would, I would, I would have to, I would feel guilty if I didn’t listen to somebody’s entire track. I mean, okay. If I listened to it in like the first minute and I’m like, Oh no, no, no, no, not our sound, not our sound.

But I mean, if I filtered it out and I had a hundred songs that were the sound we were looking for, and then I had to listen to the whole thing all the way through and a whole thing. And these are like three, five minute track, three to five minute tracks. Let’s say, you know, that’s three, that’s almost 600, six hours of music a day that I have to, that I want to be focused on and listening to.

And I’m like, no, no. It just, it just dawned on me that I wonder if there could be something in AI that I could program AI to say, this is the sound I’m looking for. So then when a track comes in, it automatically processes it through AI and can either accept it or reject it automatically.

So I get it all filtered down through AI. Maybe I just got onto something there. Okay, cool.

No, but it was going to be another daunting task. So one of the things that I’ve scaled it back a little bit, and instead of doing a label, we’re really excited that in 2026, we’re going to be launching a new music section on our site, not a store, but a section that we’re going to be rolling out here. I’ve already done the beta testing that and we’re super excited because, you know, we want to increase the visibility for artists even more as like you coming on the, on our show and doing an interview and doing an exclusive mix and giving the opportunity to put your music and then have it direct out to wherever you want people to purchase or get your music.

But we were just offering that as a place that people can come do it on top of that, adding in a radio station, internet radio station player as well. So we can start syndicating shows and putting stuff into our weekly mix and then curate shows with the artists that are on our site as well. Lots of cool stuff coming out here.

And so, but even just the daunting task, I said of a DJ, I remember somebody told me when I first started the show and I said, how many hours a day do you spend looking for music? And the kid goes, two to four. And I go, every day?

He goes, every day. And I went, even just two hours a day. I’m like, I get nothing done.

I mean, if I had to sit down and go, okay, go through this, go through and this is, this is in 2010, I was having this interview with the gentleman. So I can’t remember where people were sourcing tracks back then off the top of my head, but I don’t think Beatport was out then. They were getting some, I’m sure there were many digital download sources you can get tracks from, but the point is, is that maybe Beatport was out.

I should know this, the answer to that question, but again, I’m not a DJ. I don’t know this stuff. So, but yeah, it’s just, it’s, it’s, do you, are you doing the label just to release your own tracks or are you looking to people as well underneath your umbrella?

[Andrew Mills]
So, it’s more, it’s more prolific to this, this opportunity, but for example, me, I spend my time, it’s, it’s very hard because to 10 or 12 hours a day, per day, and these hours spending to production, music selection, DJ set, radio shows and many more with the, I’m completely immersive into the music. It’s not, it’s not for, for me, it’s not difficult, but for me, it’s a pleasure. And I think so, I think so, to take with another, within production, whether I stand in my, my release of track or I produce with a track, I take the only one sound to shift a genre or sub-genre.

One small element, a text or a rhythmic idea, I think, can completely change the identity of track. That’s, that is the magic of electronic music, details matter. So, a single sound can turn raw techno, raw techno track into something hypnotic, tribal, cinematic, or even melodic.

And this is, this is question to put around the spending a lot of hours. It’s for me, it’s a pleasure. So for me, because the music is my passion, first passion.

And this hour is more or less for me. Today is 36 hours, it’s better for me. Yeah.

[Darran]
Yeah. You know, it just, it is a lot of people don’t understand, especially even searching for music, but then also producing the music. You know, a lot of times I ask people, you know, producing music, you spend countless hours sitting in front of a computer, sculpting your beats.

And, you know, I ask people, well, I sat in this chair when I got back in this chair. Remember, I think I told you before the show started, I had, I was on a hiatus for about eight and a half months. And I, I was down to about 165 pounds.

I got back into this chair in May and within three months, I was at 197 pounds, you know? And so I asked, I often ask people, what do you do to stay fit? What do you do to stay engaged rather than just being in this chair all the time?

I mean, you don’t, people don’t understand. I’ll sit in this chair from 7.30 in the morning till 6.30 at night. That’s 11 hours.

I mean, of course I’ll get up and go to bed. I’ll walk around, I’ll do stuff, but I mean, I’m sedentary, you know, and I just got to remember, I’m getting my new Apple watch tomorrow though. So I’m hoping when I get the brand new ultra Apple watch, I’ll set up a fitness program that’ll say, stand up now, move now, walk around and start doing some stuff and set some goals.

But how do you keep yourself healthy or, you know, sitting in the chair and not just glued to the chair all the time? Do you have a routine that you do that gets you up and out or anything you’re active in other than just music production and performing and DJing?

[Andrew Mills]
So, to this hour, I spend two every day fully immersed in music and I’m not just in production. I, on average, do 10 to 12 hours per day, but this is my life because each hour I dedicate to producing or producing or mixing, studying sound or practicing my sets. It’s an investment to creating something to unique, different sound to another.

Something that truly represents my identity as a DJ and as a performer. It’s not a job for me. I don’t consider it a job.

I consider this is the opportunity, the opportunity to talk about me on my Instagram. And this is very important because the music is incredibly detailed, from selecting the right beat, bassline or synth, to design texture and effects. And when I perform my own tracks live, it’s a completely different feeling.

I do improvements in the studio, for the first time in the studio, and who I instruct, like me, through this place. It is on the dancefloor. This experience is deep with the connection to the music and the crowd.

So, every drop and every build-up, in general, every moment of the tension is like telling a story. And I share with everyone the experience in every room of the world.

[Darran]
You know, that’s a lot of power of influencing people and definitely making a lot of people get on the dancefloor and have a lot of fun. When it comes to you, though, who’s been the biggest influence when it comes to your career and why?

[Andrew Mills]
Okay, the first influence of my career is Jeff Mills. Jeff Mills, who I bring your name and bring me my art name. Andrew Mills, the guy who gave me my nickname when I was a child.

My family called me Andrew, for the nickname. And Mills, representing the discipline, evolution and precision that define techno. As the artist, so Jeff Mills.

Jeff Mills, for me, is the most important DJ in the world, because he brings your idea and your version of techno music to life. In the first years of 1980, his mindset is more important to listeners than the radio channels. And this is new.

I don’t have many more and it’s difficult to bring Jeff Mills generally on the radio channel. So this name is reflecting the focus and the driving identity I take on when I step on stage.

[Darran]
And if you could take one person that you know, other than your direct family or friends, and put them in the spotlight, that says, this person needs to be put in the spotlight and lift them up, who would that be and why? Ah, it’s difficult.

[Andrew Mills]
My brother.

[Darran]
Your brother, okay.

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, my brother Luca. I don’t know to see this interview, but I’m sure you’ll listen to me. And yes, my brother is the first person to believe in me.

So I’d rather bring me to, this generally is not more passion in my room, but this passion to represent the world. And thanks to my brother, I have known my first master, Frenkie Polaris, to play, starting with a journey with him. And I have the training with your experience, your music, and your experience is more important for this journey.

[Darran]
Awesome. You know, it’s always good to, you know, you look to family for support and definitely being an artist, you know, it’s not like, it could be a job, but it’s not like a normal job. I was talking with, oh gosh, I’m gonna look at it, with Reno earlier today.

And he is like, you know, most people have a job, might get to eat because I DJ. I get to drink wine because I DJ. That’d be really awesome to put that on the shirt.

Because I DJ, I eat. Because I DJ, I drink wine, you know. And he goes, this is my full-time job.

This is what I do. You know, it’s like, that’s awesome. You know, because we were talking about people having a second job or second position, but you really do need to have a strong support structure behind you when you leap off and go off that way.

I’m kind of fortunate in myself that the way I’ve set my life up is that, you know, I get to do that kind of stuff. I get to control my own future. I’m not punching a clock or having to go in and sit at a desk for 60, 70 hours a week, spend 10 hours a week getting back and forth to work, and then come home and have to have a social life or a hobby life, and then a social life, and then a relationship life, and then just my own downtime life.

I can be like, finish my interview with Andrew today. I’m gonna go walk the dog, or I’m gonna go make a sandwich. I’m gonna go to the grocery store.

[Andrew Mills]
You know, I’m gonna in this case, it’s representing to me, but I have been dedicated to music for as long as can I remember, but my journey has not been easy. For 10 years, I worked in a factory, in a company, and this company, thanks to this company to support my passion and finance my studio, my equipment, my releases, and so my learning by myself from mixing and DJing techniques in production and many more.

[Darran]
Yeah, it wasn’t easy. I mean, I worked, yeah, I know the struggle. I can totally that, and it’s like paycheck goes bye-bye for the new toy.

Paycheck goes bye-bye for the new toy, but you got the new toy, and then the new toy five years later sits in the closet collecting dust. I have a toy. I have a backpack.

We call it the backpack. It lets me stream from anywhere in the world, like satellite uplink backpack. Five thousand dollars.

I don’t think I’ve used that thing for three years.

[Andrew Mills]
Yes.

[Darran]
Okay, it was a cool toy that I wanted to get. I got it. Now what?

I don’t know. Are we ever gonna use it? No.

We’ll just hotspot from our phones, but if I was out in the middle of the desert, that’s the backpack I’d want to have with me. But, you know, switching gears here a little bit about, you know, talking about your involvement with Origami Management, how did that relationship cultivate? How did that come about?

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, I have a good relationship to Leandro and to Gioia, my heart manager, and especially our summer relationship with Alessandro, my label manager, who step by step on the week believe in me and believe in my music, and I say helping with finding the right label on the right production. I love so much the work with Origami, but for me, it’s more important, your support and your job behind me. I have a very important collaboration, so working with them has been amazing because they understand both the artistic and the promotional side of my work.

They support me in releasing a track, another track with my big piece or pure idea, and help me with specific promotion, international exposure, partnership, building, and so forth. For me, more important is sharing my vision with them, and the drive to reach a bigger audience together.

[Darran]
Yeah, like I said, I was very fortunate. We work also with MN2S, and it was funny because I interviewed Leandro. I was working on a deal with MN2S, and then MN2S Label Services Division, they got to give a shout out to Meg over there, and she’s like, oh, I got this guy, Leandro, you should talk to him.

I go, Meg, I had him on my show two weeks ago. She’s like, what? I love him.

We reconnected, and so now we work with MN2S as well, which we’re super excited about that partnership, and Origami as well. Going back to Origami and the management, thinking about it, when you said you have a manager, you have a label manager, what is the most important thing that you think record labels should be doing for their artists in the industry, and are record labels as a whole doing a good job with that?

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, but, let’s see, the more important thing to Alessandro, my label manager, is the finding the label that represents my vision, and so this is a long term to public and promotion my tracks on this label, to bring me in the stage, the big stage, the main stage, so communication is right, and it’s perfect around the label. Alessandro, for me, is a more important partnership for my career and for my collaboration with all family, because Alessandro believe in me, my project from the beginning and our work together, so for the first, Alessandro is our first listener of my production. To bring my production on the label.

[Darran]
And does he give you a lot of creative input when you’re putting a song out there and say, hey, just bring this, bring the bass up, bring the bass down, bring the treble, pins and pins, does he give you pointers, tips to tweak your tracks, to really make them so he knows, okay, now I can take this to knock on somebody’s door with this.

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, so it’s more difficult producing music without things to dance for, because the most part for me is only dance form, but it’s not only dance form, but my music is just one in a form. So I think my sound moves between, always with a dark and immersive edge, and I especially focus on heavy grooves for this, representing techno genre, and I’m not in tension on every track, and it’s designing to take the listener on a journey. This is my mission.

I bring the listeners to the atmospheric intros, to build ups and powerful drops that make the crowd fully feel the music. I get to pay extreme attention to every sound, because I have a single element, for me is completely, can completely change the energy of the track and the response to my manager, Alessandro, so I think I have a good job, it’s a good job to Alessandro.

[Darran]
Nice, and you know, that’s the music production side, going back to your stage presence side, do you become a different person when you get on stage, are you a different person off stage, you know, is there, okay, time to hype up, I’m on the stage, okay, and then when you’re off stage, you’re like, is there, do you put on a persona, or is there a hype up, or an energy or anything that you bring to the stage, that is a stage performance, that’s not really your genre, or is it just, I’m Andrew Mills, I’m here to play, let’s go.

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, exactly.

[Darran]
Okay, yeah, who’s the most inspirational or inspiring person you’ve ever met backstage, and why was that person so inspirational to you, to me? The main stage or in the production music? I’d say backstage, or I guess, you know, that’s a great question, I didn’t think about that, who’s the most inspiring person you’ve ever met, and why did they inspire you, I think I already asked that though, but go ahead.

[Andrew Mills]
Okay, so my inspirational stage comes from the music itself and the connection only with the crowd, just, I say the name, for me, the best DJ crowd is on Tecmo Music, is Space92, it’s a producer, an Argentinian producer, and so put your DJ set in the crowd, and the crowd responds, so it’s amazing. So when I play, I feed off the energy in the room and also draw inspiration from my own production, and performing on my tracks like loud, to be experienced in a new way, to feel the emotion, and contrasting the two emotions, in the backstage to the main stage, and this is important, but for me, it’s more important, so each show or each production, for me, is unique. And I see the people respond to the tension in the build-ups, inspiring me to push boundaries, and explore darker, and more hypnotic sound, and make every set a powerful, unforgettable journey.

[Darran]
Yeah, you know, I don’t go out on stage much, I’m not supposed to be the man in front of the camera, I go by the saying, the show must go on, and I wasn’t going to wait around to find somebody to be in front of the camera, and then I found myself in front of the camera thousands of times, and then doing the interviews, and doing everything, and people don’t understand that even though it sounds like this is a natural interview, I’m on stage, it’s lights, camera, action, you know, I’m in the hot seat, even though it might seem like, oh, it’s just natural, I can get a microphone, I can talk on camera, I can do this, and it’s like, yeah, try doing that over, and over, and over again for 16 years, and I didn’t just start 16 years ago, I’ve been doing this since I was, basically since I was a kid, but started on shows when I was 18 years old, so almost like 33 years I’ve been doing this, but there is a sense of hype, and a sense of adrenaline rush that you get when that light goes on, and that camera goes live, and it’s my time to say intro, or you get up on the stage, and it’s time for you to hit that button, and boom, and you get to create the whole crowd, and the whole set, you know, there’s an adrenaline rush to it, something that I got, I was talking with somebody a few months back, was the problem with getting that adrenaline rush, is you could be one minute in front of playing in front of 3,000 people, or even 200 people, or 10,000 people, and two hours later, you’re sitting in an airport by yourself, and you’re doing this nightly with this, and then, you know, and it’s just this huge up, down, rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, and a lot of people, they’re not accustomed to, I mean you got to look at the upper echelon of DJs, and how many people get a chance to play in front of a thousand people, I mean there’s like, our city doesn’t have a lot of places where they can play in front of a thousand people, very far and few between, you go to bigger cities like, I’m sure Rome, or London, or Berlin, or New York, LA, places like that, but you know, you get up there, let’s say you break that 5,000 person mark, you’re playing in front of 5,000 people, and that’s just over, and over, and over again, but you’re in for the show, play your show, you got to fly out, because you got a Friday night booking, and you got to fly out to get in your Saturday night, and maybe a Sunday night, or maybe it’s a Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and you’re just, and you’re by yourself in the Uber, riding to your hotel room, checking your hotel, and people don’t see that, that are on the ground, that live in the city, they don’t know the artist’s lifestyle, so I understand when an artist gets down, it’s like, yeah it’s four o’clock our time, and we want to take you out to dinner, and go party, and hang out, and you’re like, I just spent seven hours on a plane getting here, I haven’t slept, because I left the party at four, I left the event at four, because I closed or whatever, and then I had spent an hour getting here in the car, and now I just said the hotel room, can I get like three hours of sleep before we go to dinner, four hours, and no come on, you got to do the meet and greet, you got to go out, and go come in, and you know, just that road life can be very taxing for people, you know, do you have any, any, any health tips for people when you’re on the road, when you’re going out to the shows, and doing things, that you kind of, who saw, and bring yourself back to, to ground yourself, to make sure that, that dopamine, or serotonin, or whatever other rush, the other four, two senses are, don’t, don’t burn you out.

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, it’s right, but this, this type, this kind of life is more, more intensive, so an example, or if I’m talking about with my life, my life is around, life around the music, and this is sacrificing a lot of sleep, I have in, in media, five or six hours to sleep, and so, because it’s more important to spend almost every day, and every night producing, and preparing my, my set on stage, and performing live on stage, especially to level, level up, and level down to these countries, to travel on the, on the countries for the stage, my stage, and the DJ set, and sometimes I sleep, I sleep just a few hours, because I’m focused on, on the, the performing, on the tracks, testing, and sound, the next planned journey of my set, and many more, but what is me, for me, is this dedication, it’s a burden, but it’s a part of the passion, without passion,

[Darran]
I know, I don’t want it, understandable, you know, when you’re not entertaining others, what do you do to entertain yourself, what’s a day in a life for Andrew Mills, at home, I’m chilling, I want to go have fun, what do you like to do, um, no production, no next music,

[Andrew Mills]
so, I, I don’t, I don’t have any day to, to, to holiday, but, yes, but, for me, it’s not, not, not in the studio, I spend my, my time with my family, with, with my brother, with my nephew, with my sister-in-law, and, dedicate my life, my part of life, my part of day, to my family too, my family, for me, it’s more important to upgrade my education on music and culture.

[Darran]
Nice, you know, family is important, you know, you definitely have to have family, family and friends, definitely is important, um, you know, I, myself, am a bit of a foodie, so I can’t wait to come over to Italy and taste some real, I would say, we make Italian food, but we’re on the west coast of the United States, uh, I mean, I can go to some really great Italian restaurants, but I want to get over to Italy, I think, even, uh, you know, um, Remo and I were talking, he’s like, if I’m Italian, he says, I’m Italian, I’m not going to go to another country and go eat Italian food, I can get that at home, when I’m at, when I go to India, I want to eat Indian food, you know, when I’m, when I’m in Ethiopia, I want to eat Ethiopian food, you know, I want to try, and he goes, I’ll try something, if I like it, I’ll come back, if I don’t, I just won’t go back, you know, I guess it’s okay, you know, so, I mean, um, I, I like the food, I like to travel, explore, kind of get out, get out, get out of my hometown, uh, I lived in the same city here for, for 51 years, pretty much, so I know this city, like the back of my hand, I know the best restaurants to go to, I know where to go, I know all the nightclubs, I grew up in all of them, I watched them all grow up and all that fun stuff, but I want to go out and see some, some, some culture, I want to see the Colosseum, you know, I want to see, I want to go to Athens, or that’s in Greece, sorry, not Italy, but I do want to go to Athens, but anyways, you know, is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know before we let you go?

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, for me, the food is more important, but can I see it? Yeah, yes, it’s also for me, when I try, I travel on the other countries, of different countries, I try the typical dishes of this country, and this is a part of culture, culture, food culture, or culture personal, and I also see, yes, it’s a part of all music events, obviously, every venue has its own food addicts, and experiencing the local cuisine is a part of understanding the culture.

[Darran]
Yeah, again, going back, food is, food is a huge thing for me, I like exploring, amazing enough, I made ribs for dinner last night, my friend that was over for last night, she’s from Kansas City, which is known for their ribs, but what was really interesting, when we were at ADE in 2023, we found a place in Amsterdam that did ribs, and she goes, Darran, these are pretty much the best ribs I’ve ever had in my entire life, and this is in Amsterdam, like American ribs, and she goes, they had a beer in the fridge, she goes, they only carry this beer in like Kansas City, how did they get this beer over here in Amsterdam in the fridge, I’m like, huh, and she goes, yeah, this is the beer you get with your ribs in Kansas City, and she’s like, these ribs are hands down the best, so I guess if I did go get some American food in Amsterdam, that was like one of our cheat codes right there, but yeah, that’s how we did it, but yeah, is there anything else you want to let our DJ Sessions fans know about before we let you go?

[Andrew Mills]
Yes, in my country, this part of the food is more important, especially in my region, this is a religion, the food.

[Darran]
Yeah, definitely, definitely, well, you have that new release coming out on December 29th, correct?

[Andrew Mills]
Yes.

[Darran]
And the title of that is? Mescaline. Mescaline, oh, okay, interesting.

[Andrew Mills]
Also, the name, same as the name with the production with the Prodigy, inspiring me in order to this track, so Mescaline, this is a track of Art Techno, collaborate with another artist of Origami Family, and his name is Bad Vise, and it’s more explosive, explosive track to Art Techno, pure, pure sound, and enjoy it. Awesome. On December 29th, run into Beatport, and you can buy this track, but it’s a real journey of the pure sound of Techno, it’s responsive to my style and my different genres to alineate to me and to Bad Vise.

[Darran]
Awesome, well, we’re looking forward to that and the future collaborations, and again, thank you for the exclusive mix from ADE that’s on our site, under the exclusive mixes, on location sessions as well, on our site right now. Andrew Mills, thank you so much for coming on the show, where’s the best place people can go to find out more information about you?

[Andrew Mills]
On Instagram, on Spotify, Beatport, and my, yes, especially on this link to my artistic page on Instagram, and all the information, all the jokes, all the releases, all the old, my part of life in the stories, and on Instagram.

[Darran]
Awesome. Andrew underscore Mills underscore DJ on Instagram, check him out. Well, thank you, Andrew, for coming on the show today, all the way in from Bari, Italy, I’m in the virtual studios in Seattle, Washington, Darran for the DJ sessions, Andrew Mills on the DJ sessions.

Thank you very much for coming on the show today. And on that note, don’t forget to go to our website, the DJ sessions.com, where you can find out all about our shows, our website, and that’s not the right QR code that I wanted, I wanted this one right there, the DJ sessions.com. Check us out, over 700 news stories a month, live interviews like this one here, exclusive mixes, our new music section, our internet station, we have a virtual reality nightclub, a mobile app, that’s going to be in version two coming out here soon, and more.

Even check out our store, we’re going to have some new merch in that store here soon, at the DJ sessions.com. All right, and remember, on the DJ sessions, the music never stops.