#57 | Andy Rehfeldt | The Sound of Commercials

Musician and composer Andy Rehfeldt on growing up in a family of musicians and 25 years making music for commercials and films. A native of California, Andy grew up in a family of musicians and mastered most instruments before the age of ten. His musical successes in school propelled him into the professional world playing keyboards and singing in various rock and pop outfits throughout Southern California. For over 25 years, Andy composed and produced music with Elmassian at Endless Noise on award-winning commercials and feature films. You can hear Andy's vocal, and amazing instrumental versatility on national and international spots for Nike, The Gap, Audi, Honda, Lexus, The U.S. Postal Service, and Jiffy Lube, to name a few. Today, Andy continues to work freelance as a musician, composer, producer and teacher. To learn more about Andy: https://www.youtube.com/@AndyRehfeldt Chapters 0:00 Welcome Andy Rehfeldt 2:33 Moving to California as a kid 5:09 Discovering rock and roll 7:45 Begging for a drum set 10:16 Elton John and the piano 12:52 Record shops and Foreigner 15:27 Genesis and early concerts 18:03 Studying music composition 20:39 Hair band mania 23:10 Cutting his hair and waiting tables 25:45 Living in the living room in Van Nuys 28:22 Covers versus originals 30:58 The hard rock life on stage 33:30 From bars to composing for commercials 36:07 Resident composer and Capitol sessions 38:41 Co-writing for a big company 41:12 Carole King and session legends 43:49 Ryan on Justin Bieber 46:24 Commuting from Orange County 48:57 Twenty-seven years until the pandemic 51:27 Ryan's career stops in 2020 54:04 AI writing jingles 56:34 Showcase gigs 59:09 The Andy Rehfeldt Variety Show 1:01:42 Parodies and Lamb of God 1:04:15 Getting paid for instrumentals 1:06:50 The business brain 1:09:21 How the YouTube algorithm works 1:11:51 Staying away from politics 1:14:24 Touring Canada 1:16:57 Stone Temple Pilots and the Chili Peppers 1:19:35 The blues and shredding 1:22:05 Postcards From Earth at the Sphere 1:24:40 LA nightlife in the 90s 1:27:16 Not holding back 1:29:52 Metallica smooth jazz and Mary Poppins death metal 1:32:26 How people find his videos The Ryan Pyle Podcast is ad-free by choice. If you enjoy these conversations, you can buy me a coffee: https://buymeacoffee.com/ryanpyle Ryan's TV series are streaming around the world. Follow the Podcast X: https://x.com/RyanPylePodcast Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpylepodcast Follow Ryan Pyle YouTube: https://youtube.com/@ryanjpyle Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryanpyle X: https://x.com/RyanPyle Facebook: https://facebook.com/ryanpyle https://www.ryanpyle.com