From Požarevac to the World
From a small Serbian town of fifty thousand to dance floors across the world, Andrew Mellerhas built his life around rhythm, reflection, and reinvention. Born and raised in Požarevac, a place rooted in folk tradition, Meller was drawn instead to the underground; to the kids chasing the darker, louder pulse beneath it all.
“It’s mostly a traditional place, built on folk music, but there’s always been that underground current, the rebels, the alternative heads. We had rock bands, a few drum’n’bass artists, but most of the scene was about psychedelic trance and techno. That was our escape.”
Those escapes soon became his identity. What began as sneaking into small bars turned into a full-blown obsession with electronic sound. Meller speaks vividly of his earliest influence, Carl Cox, whose sets reached him not through clubs, but through cassettes, bootlegs, and recordings shared among friends.
“For me, back then, the god of all gods was Carl Cox. Every kid from my town knew his sets, Detroit, Chicago, Crobar, even those wild Honolulu nights when he played two New Year’s sets in one day. I still get chills when I hear that intro: ‘BBC Radio One proudly presents the number one DJ in the world… Carl Cox!’ That energy shaped me.”
Without access to proper gear, he spent hours recording music from local radio shows like Soundformer Radio, building his own compilations on cassette and burning CDs to trade around town. That DIY curiosity became his foundation — pure, unfiltered passion for sound.
Roots and InspiratioN
At home, Meller’s influences were split between groove and grit. His father played the classics like Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Clapton; while his mother leaned toward pop and local rock. The result was a unique musical balance: melody on one side, rhythm and rebellion on the other.
“It gave me a nice mix of groove and melody, but also attitude.”
That foundation expanded when his cousin handed him his first Prodigy cassette; a gift that would change everything.
“He gave me my first Prodigy cassette and a few trance compilations. Later I ‘borrowed’ his Discman and never gave it back, haha. It was full of The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, and a bunch of albums I didn’t even know existed. I’d listen for hours, looping the same tracks, trying to figure out how those sounds were even made. That was where the obsession started.”
This curiosity soon evolved into action. Before owning a pair of decks, he spent years standing behind the booth, quietly studying every transition and mix. Those nights watching others became the training ground for everything that came after.
“I’d stand behind the booth for hours, just absorbing everything. One day a friend took me to his house, put two CDJ-200s and a mixer in front of me, and said, ‘Alright, now you play.’ Because I’d already spent so much time watching others, the beatmatching came naturally. It’s like I’d already been doing it in my head for years.”
The Turning Point
Meller’s journey isn’t just about sound, it’s about survival. In 2003, he experienced what he describes as a literal rebirth. That moment became the dividing line between who he was and who he would become.
“On August 17, 2003, I literally died. Clinically dead. And then, somehow, I came back the next day. Reborn on August 18. I was a cool kid, fun, wild but also completely self-destructive with drugs and alcohol. It took me two years to rebuild myself, to stand up again and keep living. Personally, I became much more open, maybe too open at times, and that made some people see me as naive. But God and the Universe are protecting me, I’ve felt that many times. I learned to set boundaries and protect my energy.”
What followed was a period of deep focus. Unable to go out or perform for a long time, he turned inward, channeling everything into self-education and creation. He spent entire days teaching himself programming, video production, and, above all, music production.
“Professionally, that experience turned me into a workaholic. I couldn’t go out for a long time, so I threw myself into programming, video production, and music production, spending 10 to 12 hours a day just learning, creating, and obsessing. I traded one addiction for another.
I dropped the alcohol and drugs, but music became my new drug.”
That period of isolation and discipline shaped not only his craft but his character, turning pain into purpose and grounding his creative identity in something far bigger than success.
The Sound of Meller
Meller’s music carries the weight of experience, hypnotic, heartfelt, and unfiltered. His style merges tech-house, melodic drive, and old-school attitude, all held together by the precision of a producer who builds every beat from scratch.
“I trained my ears to break down loops in my head. Sampling has always been my thing. For the last 7–8 years, I’ve been sampling myself because clearing other samples is a nightmare.”
His productions are built on a balanced fusion of structure and spontaneity, discipline and soul.
“I mash old and new, usable and experimental, always chasing that little niche that stands out from the current sound.”
That philosophy reached the world in 2018 with his Reincarnation Mix of Underworld’s “Born Slippy” , a track that dominated charts and connected two generations of ravers.
“Sometimes I make an edit simply so I can play it myself. The original is legendary but too fast for today’s sound. Seeing younger generations discover these old-school gems, it’s like opening a door to the roots of the music for them.”
The same energy flows through every project he touches, from releases on Adesso Music to Diynamic, to his own imprint REWLER Records, where creative control is absolute. And as for what’s ahead, Meller’s vision is as ambitious as ever.
“I’m working on material that mixes old vibes with modern grooves. My team and I are trying to get as much out as we can in the next period. Fans can look forward to an EP on Adesso Music, my long-awaited track Frames, and Bad Man, which Solomun has played a lot, coming in January. On top of that, there’s a new EP on Diynamic, Nu Moda by Max Styler, and a single for InRotation by Insomniac in the works.”
REWLER Records
For Meller, REWLER is more than a label, it’s a philosophy. A home for freedom, experimentation, and total authenticity. He oversees everything himself, from the track selection to the artwork, visuals, and animation; building each release as an extension of his vision.
“When signing a new artist or track, it’s always about the music first. I look for something I can genuinely play and enjoy. Not many labels are creatively open; most just follow the same current patterns. With REWLER, I have full freedom. It’s trial and error, but that’s part of the fun.”
That hands-on approach mirrors how he lives, deliberate, precise, but never mechanical. Every project is rooted in curiosity and creative flow.
Focus and Flow
Discipline is Meller’s defining trait. Whether in the studio or on stage, he operates from a place of full immersion.
“After getting sober, the biggest changes I noticed in myself are discipline and focus. I can sit in the studio for 8–10 hours straight working on a hook without moving. When I play at my own parties, I love taking extended sets, that’s when I really get to express myself fully through the music.”
His extended sets have become signature long, winding stories where emotion and endurance collide. And through it all, he remains guided not by business or strategy, but by intuition.
“Whether I’m in the studio or on stage, it’s the same approach. I don’t think about the business side, that’s my wife’s job. For me, it’s all about following my heart and letting the music guide me.”
Two decades in, Andrew Meller stands as a testament to evolution, a producer, label head, and performer who’s turned discipline into artistry and sound into self.
