Aurel’s story starts with a night he didn’t plan. In 1996, at a trance party, the electronic sound pulled him in. A year later a friend dragged him to something stranger.
“I accidentally went to a psytrance party, probably ’97, and initially I thought this is a bit of a weird music, but my mate liked this kind of party, and we went to another event, and this was then the time when I really fell in love with the music.”
He was already learning to DJ, and he switched his whole style on the spot.
“I just liked the atmosphere, the decoration, the psychedelic sounds, so I immediately fell in love with psytrance or Goa trance at that time.”
What clicked the second time was bigger than a genre.
“It was really like a huge unity between all the people. There was a big energy in the sound that just flew through the whole evening.”
When Aurel started to play that sound, the tools were vinyl, and he talks about records the way some people talk about instruments.
“It was back in the days when we had the honor to play with vinyls.”
Working the records by hand was a craft that tied him to the room.
“It was kind of an art to work with the records. So I had a deep relation with the vinyls myself.”
That bond, he says, let him move with a crowd rather than ahead of it.
“it was much easier, at least for me, to be spontaneous, to react to people as there was more connection between myself, the vinyl itself and the people out there.”
One of his first big nights came in 1998, and he was terrified.
“As you may guess, I was extremely nervous at that time. So with shaking hands, I was trying to treat the vinyls, and it worked to a certain point until I really felt that I hit the right track for the moment, for the situation.”
His method was patient. Read the room first, then commit.
“In the beginning, I play a different tracks, so I can really see which ones work, which one do not, and then I can go further with this type of atmosphere in the tracks.”
When the right record landed that night, the floor answered.
“It was a huge boost in energy. You could really feel that every people started to dance. They lost themselves in the music, in the atmosphere.”
He still works that way. At a recent two-floor party he walked onto a near-empty main room, the crowd next door, and turned it around fast.
“Suddenly it kicked in, luckily, really, really early during my set. I guess it was already the second track that I could get people back to our floor.”
He watched the change happen on people’s faces.
“Could see the faces turning from tired to energetic, turned to happy faces.”
Aurel names one person as his teacher in reading a floor. Simon is a friend, an organiser, and, he says, almost a mentor.
“I’m really thankful for having Simon. He’s part and also the founder of Silent Sphere, who is there since 25 years plus.”
Simon guided him in the studio and the booth, and it came with warmth.
“He’s almost a mentor for me in regard of music production and DJing. And he really has this positive vibe that he also brings to the dance floor.”
The core lesson was to watch the people, not the gear.
“He told me, you just need to look on the people. You will see if they’re dancing in a flow or if they suddenly start to bump a little bit in their dance flow.”
Production came late for Aurel. It arrived during the pandemic, and Simon was his first ear.
“He was really giving me feedback on the track. He was telling me why this works, why other parts will not work most probably. So this was maybe 2022.”
Then Simon handed him the booking that turned advice into practice.
“He was also the one who gave me then the first booking as a live act, so playing my own music.”
What he builds now is dense with detail most listeners never consciously catch.
“There are a lot of micro sounds you hardly hear in the mix. You could hear them on a big PA, but if you just listen to the music on Spotify, it just adds to the overall atmosphere, to the richness of the sounds, but you will probably not hear them because they’re silent.”
Those quiet layers are the point, not the decoration.
“the essence almost lies in the things you don’t hear”
All of that detail serves one feeling. He wants people to lose themselves without feeling lost.
“I like that the people feel like at home, but still up in the air. They lose themselves in a new environment. They feel safe, but still they’re on a journey.”
The journey is the whole design, and it keeps climbing.
“They’re on a journey that does not end, and it just increases in power, in energy, in every track”
Across a full set he wants the energy to keep rising, with room to breathe.
“The energy builds up, builds up, builds up, maybe slows down a little bit so people are not getting too tired.”
He has no bucket-list stage. The room matters more to him than the marquee.
“Honestly, there’s no dream stage. I think it’s really depending on the crowd.”
What he wants is a bill that hangs together.
“More important than being on a good stage is that I play somewhere where the organizers came up with an extremely nice lineup that fits together and that creates a wonderful night.”
That is what he says he is looking forward to in Derby. He has been watching PsyCentral events online.
“I’ve seen videos and pictures of previous events, and I think it looks really lovely there. It’s nice crowd, joyful, playful.”
The track he most wants to bring is a collaboration.
“I guess it’s the collab track with Inner Zen, which is called Vibe.”
“Vibe” was made with a US producer he has known for years, built to sit between full-on and progressive.
“It’s highly energetic while still being psychedelic. It has a lot of micro melodies, a lot of atmospheric elements.”
The bill matters to him as much as the room, and this one is family.
“I am looking forward to meet the Enterrec family.”
What he hopes people carry out of PsyCentral’s event on the 9th of October.
“Nothing else than just they had some fun. They could drift away from the daily life and just could enjoy themselves with music.”
He is bringing his own anticipation, too.
“I’m looking forward to my trip to the UK to see the UK crowd, to see this amazing lineup of Holy Pendragon.”
Aurel plays Holy Pendragon on Friday 9 October 2026 at The Hairy Dog in Derby, a seven-act bill running 7pm to 3am. Tickets are on TicketTailor at tickettailor.com/events/psycentral/2228802. Strictly 18+.
At home, but still up in the air.
