Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Lauter.
Alex, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I was born in Konstanz, Germany, 1995, and grew up there until I was four years old, my father being Half German/Half American & my mother Romanian. We then moved to Sugarland, Texas, where we stayed until I was 10 years old. I remember some of the first albums I ever really started listening to were Fall Out Boy’s “From Under The Cork Tree”, All American Rejects “Move Along”, Sean Paul’s “Temperature”, and Gwen Stefanie’s “Love.Angel.Music.Baby”. Fire Albums. haha.
In 2005, we moved to Switzerland due to an advancement in my father’s engineering career. It was a completely different world, and one I needed to become adjusted to very quickly. Right away I had to start learning proper German, Swiss German (a dialect of German), and French. It was a lot of pressure, but I slowly started managing and becoming adjusted to Europe again, at such a young age. It was also around this time that I started playing the Piano & the Guitar more often, and eventually started my first band at 12 years old with a couple buddies. We were called Dawn of Hope. I started messing around with Guitar tabs, teaching myself new songs every day, practicing almost up to six hours a day, all while trying not to buckle underneath the intense Swiss curriculum I was thrown into. Due to differences in our adolescences, Dawn of Hope broke up, but I formed another band with some other friends, where we started becoming more serious. We were called “All To Get Her” – (All Together, get it? haha.) At this point I was becoming incredibly influenced by Sum 41, Blink 182, Linkin Park, Arctic Monkeys, Jack Johnson, and many, many other bands. With ATGH we rented out a basement underneath a Car Washing place in an incredibly small Swiss village, and completely refurbished it, and remodeled it into a studio. (Don’t worry, no one was trying to be Walter White) The practices became more intense and we eventually landed our first couple gigs at bigger clubs. I remember doing a competition called Bandx, but sadly I had to move again before we could compete in more events. Some of the members from Dawn of Hope are now in All To Get Her, which makes me very happy.
When I was 16 we moved to Dubai. It was quite an experience. Going to High School in a city like Dubai will be something I will always be grateful for & remember the lessons it taught me for the rest of my life. Having attended the “American School of Dubai” from 2011-2014, I started becoming even more involved in music & production. The school offered classes such as AP Music Theory, Music Psychology, Advanced Music Recording & Production, Men’s Choir, etc. (I flunked one of those, can you guess which one?) This is when I stepped into the realm of electronic music. My buddy Aly was very influenced by the likes of Daft Punk. I’ll leave it at that. haha. Together we started diving into more EDM, and becoming very inspired by guys like Dada Life, Afrojack, Swedish House Mafia, etc. We started producing together almost every single day for about 2 years and are still working on some tracks together to this very day. Finding our sound together, we also started getting more involved into djing. Eventually, during our senior year, we heard about a competition going around the city, hosted by Virgin Radio Dubai. The winner would be able to open up for Rita Ora at a festival held there called “Redfest”. We put together a mix, and luckily having the support of our entire High School, seeing how passionate we were about this, won the competition. One day the radio station called me and told me I was on air – saying I had won the competition. One of our very first gigs was opening for Rita Ora at a massive festival. I remember Aly had to drive down from a soccer tournament he had, missed a match, and had to go back for another one after the set. What a day. Something I will never forget.
When I graduated High School in 2014, my family moved to Cairo, and I came back to Texas to attend Texas A&M University, as a business management major. The very first week of University, I walked into a frat party with my new roommates. The Greek house was huge, with massive speakers hooked up everywhere, but the sound was terrible, and the frat “DJs” were having issues with their mixer. I told them to wait 20minutes, and I would be right back. I rushed to my place, grabbed my decks, came back, and played my very first frat party. A week later the social chair called me and asked if I wanted to open up for Waka Flocka. Of course, I said yes. To this day, that still remains one of the wildest parties I’ve ever done. I also started playing the clubs around College Station and had a little group with my buddies there called “DJ’s of Aggieland”. I was having a lot of fun in College, djing a lot, being focused on school, but I was becoming frustrated with my production. Near the end of 2015, I was out of balance, having developed a lot of anxiety & having panic attacks – I decided to take a break from everything and move to Egypt, where my family still was.
The house in Egypt was unlike anything I had ever seen. Because we were an international family, and Egypt had just gone through a revolution, it was very cheap to live there, but we were there because of my Dad’s job. Being about a 10-minute drive away from the Pyramids, I used to visit them quite often, always as a source of inspiration. I was still taking online classes to get more credits, but of course I had much less responsibility now. These 9 months from June to January, I locked myself in my room and just wrote & produced music every single day. I also took on new habits such as meditation, yoga, journaling, working out more consistently – all things I would recommend to anyone. Eventually, most of my anxiety & fears melted away and I was stepping into a new place of inner confidence, strength, love, and willpower. I believe this is also the time when I truly started finding my sound, who I am, what I represented, and what I wanted to do with my music. Isolation is more powerful than you think.
My entire family moved back to Houston at the end of 2016. Having not had a social life for a while, I was ecstatic to be back around old friends & spend time with them. Immediately I started clubbing more in the Houston scene and meeting a lot of people. This is the first time I also truly started stepping into the “industry”. One of the greatest stories I will ever have is the time I opened for Lil Jon at a college party, & personally took him out clubbing afterwards. What a night. Still taking classes online, I started becoming more serious about my music, and my brand. I felt like I was getting somewhere but didn’t know what I had to do to go further. This is when I stumbled across a music production & branding school based in Miami called “Cosmic Academy”. I started chatting with the dean, Justin Cohen, and decided after a while that it was the move. The classes were very intense, and I met people who I chat now every day with and have a very deep connection & bond with. Learning about marketing & branding was what I needed, and after the school, I started immediately applying everything. Eventually I landed a gig at Houston’s most prominent electronic venue – Stereo Live. I got together with my videographer, Jonathan Barragan, who also helps me with a lot of my branding & shots, and we spent the entire week discussing and putting together visuals for the LED screen. I believe that this is the night where things really started picking up.
T-Wayne, who’s hit song “Nasty Freestyle”, has over 350 million streams collectively on all platforms, came out to the show at Stereo Live to hang, and brought his buddies Cam & Dustin, who are in a duo called Alienation, and had just signed their first song with Spinning’ Records called “Hotbox”, which is already at over 2 million streams. We all hit it off immediately, and I now consider these guys not only some of my closest friends, but also mentors. Turns out we all lived in Cypress, right outside of Houston, so we started spending every day together in the studio, working out, pushing each other, and growing together. I brought Wayne out to a show I had in College Station in December 2017, and we performed some of our songs that we wrote together. I started going out to all the venues in Houston, and simply just walking backstage, sometimes just convincing the guards I was part of it or an artist. This way I got to hang out with some of the world’s biggest DJ’s, share drinks with them, and learn from them. I was on a good path to getting to where I wanted to be, but I knew I had to do something else. Something different.
So, I started my own record label.
On February 28., 2018, Lauterhaus was born. It was my own label, a platform I could now use to release music professionally, bring up other artists who were friends and who’s music I believed in, and build my own company from the ground up. A couple weeks later I took a trip down to Miami for Miami Music Week, where I met up with a lot of the guys and my teachers from Cosmic Academy, networked a lot. Then I won tickets to Ultra Miami. I don’t know what it was, but it was as if I almost knew I was going to win them. Intuition on point. Having had the chance to witness the Swedish House Mafia reunion that shook this planet, I was more inspired than ever. Two days after I got back from Miami, I talked to the guys at one of Houston’s most prominent clubs – Spire – and am now hosting my very first record label showcasing on April 21., where I will be closing off the night from 1-2, and the artists on my label performing before me. It’s going to be a night to remember for many years to come.
That’s the story so far – but I’m incredibly excited for what’s to come, grateful for everything I’ve been able to experience so far during my 22 years, and everyone who has been supporting and pushing me so far. To anyone reading all of this, thank you. The journey is just beginning.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I produce a lot of house music, mainly big room, progressive house, and slowly diving into tech/deep house. With my label I want to host shows that will bring a higher energy, atmosphere, & love to the room. It’s all about the atmosphere, the flow, the love. I write music that inspires people to become the greatest version of themselves, to not give up on their dreams, and to continue fighting and following that inner fire – that flame that drives us. I see the label as a way to do my job in uniting humanity and bringing us all closer together. Having moved around the globe so often during my 22 years, I’ve noticed just how profoundly music affects culture and how it brings us all together, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, or gender.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
I believe the biggest challenge is staying disciplined. Setting a strict schedule, showing up every day, and taking action. So many people talk about what they’re going to achieve, but sadly very few ever execute.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
My website is www.lauterhaus.com – where I will be releasing a lot of the records on it, which will also be available on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, & beat port soon.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lauterhaus.com
- Email: alex@lauterhaus.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/alexlauter_
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/officialalexlauter/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/alexlauter_
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/alexlauter
Image Credit:
Jonathan Barragan
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