Whyel is just like any other hopeful 23 year old. He works. He goes on adventures with his friends. And he wants to leave his mark on this world in some form. What separates him are the details. His work resume involves debuting his first single through Steve Aoki's Dim Mak label and producing other wildly popular Dance songs that are supported by DJs like Martin Garrix, Dillon Francis, and Hardwell. His adventures range from hiking and skateboarding to B2B sets with Deorro in Ibiza. And his major goal is to create music that is timeless for future generations to go crazy to long after he's gone--stuff like Earth, Wind & Fire's "September" and any Michael Jackson song. On top of that, he's continually thinking of new ways to give back to the youth and other musicians. The only classification for Whyel's music is adrenaline inducing and the only foreseeable future includes a lot of memories and sweat produced on the dancefloor.
But Dance music wasn't always the means to the ends for Whyel. Battle rapping in 7th grade was his first glimpse into the culture of Hip-Hop, which led to searching for scratch tapes, beat tapes, and other turntablism videos on Youtube. It wasn't until a couple years later that an ordinary trip to Best Buy introduced him to the world of EDM: "I saw Tiesto's Adagio for Strings Concert DVD and it was playing on the Best Buy TVs. At that point, it was, 'That's what I'm gonna do.'"
To help ground himself while still in school, Whyel heard of an organization called Young Life through his friend. The Christian mentoring program, specifically its camp, helped him get through some tough times in his teenage years as well as inspire him to go on to become a Young Life leader himself for four years. It also became his DJ name, before he shortened it to Whyel. He understood that he was in a position to help others like him and still keeps in contact with Young Life from time to time.
With some balance in his life, Whyel dedicated his time and energy to DJing at clubs. It wasn't until his senior year at high school that he even entertained the idea of producing his own music for his sets. While waiting with the other DJs to get paid after a gig, he overheard the other DJs comparing new edits and tracks they had produced. It blew his mind that they had done what he considered was rocket science. After going home and firing up Reason that night, he was hooked--even if the end product wasn't the cleanest:
"I remember in 2010 making some super shitty copy and paste clipped loops, out of key-probably the worst thing you heard in your life. I remember playing it in the club. Whether the kids dancing to it thought it was good or bad... people danced to it. There was no cooler feeling on the world to be on stage and playing something you had created. It's like painting something and displaying it."
After doing his rounds at certain venues, he would run into PandaFunk's founder, Deorro, who would DJ the same venues. Through persistence and his natural talent, Whyel would eventually sign to the label, providing the platform for his music to be heard around the world. Although his style may have started with some Moombahton influences with segments of songs that slowed down with matching bass drums, Whyel quickly and erratically has shifted his music in order to stay ahead of the curve:
"The Moombah switches are something I did in the beginning. A lot of people told me that I couldn't do it. I kept them and it blew up. I did about 4-5 tracks prior and after "Ray Ban" had come out. A lot of other people starting doing it. That was my cue to get out of it and do something different."
One common thread throughout his catalog is what he calls the "hypeness." Whether it's fast leads, big kicks, or tempo switch ups, Whyel keeps the energy level at an 11 and will gladly throw you curveballs in the middle of a track. Just listen to "Plot Twist" and you'll understand the method to his madness. It makes sense especially when you consider his production process. With no set steps in place, a random sound could trigger and snowball into a full song: "I'll be sitting in my studio and someone is on Facebook and randomly click a clip then pause it real quick. They'll be like, 'Oh sorry. I didn't mean to play music.' I'm like, 'Hold on, whatever that was... just clicked.'"
Another outlet for his unpredictable creativity is the duo, BiPolar Theory, which he formed with JDefeats back in 2010. From being friends in high school and Whyel learning production from JDefeats, they realized their contrasting musical backgrounds-EDM and Hip-Hop-could make for a unique sound. Although they took a brief hiatus to focus on their individual careers, they're back and putting out more catchy House tracks.
Keeping in line with his giving nature and being signed to a label like PandaFunk in the 21st century, Whyel is taking full advantage of the tools at his disposal. He explains that a major philosophy of the label is to pay it forward, especially to its fans who support them. One way Whyel has decided to thank his fans is by streaming live sets on Twitch. But these sets serve more than one purpose: staying in touch with his fans around the world with new sets, answering questions from aspiring DJs and producers on techniques, and inspiring others that they can achieve their goals with limited resources. After all, he's just "a kid in a room with a laptop. You don't have to have crazy plug-ins. You can just do what I'm doing." To help spread his message, he's also created his own label, Arality. It's still in its early development phases, but he has clear plans on what kind of artists he'd like to work with.
"All my artists should be independent in the sense that they do the writing, production, recording, mixing, mastering, performance. Everything is in house. To me, an artist is someone who writes the music, records the music, and performs it. It's 100% you and it's organic."
Look out for a lot of new music from Whyel and the rest of the PandaFunk squad this year. And keep your ears out for Arality in the near future. 
Last Call
1. What is your favorite movie of all time?Tie between School of Rock and Nacho Libre
2. As a young DJ, who was the one DJ you looked up to?QBert
3. As a DJ, what's your biggest pet peeve?People who talk on the mic too much
4. What is your current DJ set up at home?2 Technics 1200's and a Rane 56 mixer. For producing, Ableton.
5. What's your favorite record of all time?"Alice" by Pogo
Keep up with Whyel on his Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. For everything Arality related, check out their Facebook. His upcoming releases and shows are as follows.
Releases:
- 2/16 - Kanga EP (Whywel & Zoofunktion) - Club Cartel Records
- 3/26 - The Revamp Pack (5 Re-Mastered Whyel Tracks) - PandaFunk Records
- April - Whyel & Carnage Collab - Carnage Album
- TBD - Whyel & Deorro Collab
- TBD - Whyel & Dirty Audio Collab
- TBD - Whyel & Duvoh Collab
Shows:
- 3/7 - ORO Nightclub - Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
- 3/19 - SXSW (TBA - PF SHOWCASE) - Austin, TX
- 5/27 - 6/9 - Australia Tour (2 Weeks - 4 States) - Kanga EP
- 6/19 - Firefly Festival - Dover, Delaware
- TBD - Whyel Texas Tour
Bryan Hahn wants to be like Whyel when he grows up. He's on Twitter: @notupstate.