Breaking the Stigma: Ray Volpe on Men’s Mental Health & His Debut Album

Few artists have turned their struggles into strength quite like Ray Volpe. In this candid Beatportal interview, the bass music producer opens up about his journey through burnout, loss, and rediscovery – and how it all culminated in his debut album FOREVER, VOLPETRON. Speaking openly about mental health, the pressures of the industry, and the importance of community, Volpe breaks down the stigma around men expressing vulnerability in dance music.

Personal Journey & Album

You’ve been open about a point where you were dropped by management and felt like giving up entirely. What was that experience like, and how did you find the strength to push through?

Being dropped hit me hard. It felt way more personal since my artist name is my real government name. It felt like I failed as a human, not as a project. I wasn’t sure what to do at first, but I did ultimately know I didn’t want to start over or give up as myself. I knew I just needed to work harder. The strength was found within my girlfriend originally, who has been in the same industry as me for years before we had known each other. She had a lot of insight & ideas to help rejuvenate things for me. Bringing VOLPETRON to life as a character helped things a lot which was her idea. It was around the same time I had found a new manager who I still work with to this day. He laughed when I explained that “the project was dead” which sticks with me to this day. His confidence in being able to make things work made me feel really safe. I am forever grateful to both of them.

How did that point shape the creative direction of FOREVER, VOLPETRON?

I think having a team around me that really believed in ME helped me feel confident enough to make a body of work as big as this album is. I felt like I could fully just be myself and make all the styles I wanted without any hesitation or doubt. It’s definitely the most fulfilled I’ve felt as an artist in my career so far.

You’ve described the album as a love letter to self-belief and your fans. What does that mean to you, and how do you hope listeners feel when they hear it?

It means everything to me. I just really want everyone that hears it to feel the love from every corner of my sound & every moment of my career in this. This album is for my Laserbeam enjoyers, it’s for my OG brostep fans, it’s for my bounce crew, it’s for everyone that has been with me from any point in time. My sound has evolved over time but I feel like the core has been the same the entire time, & I think you can hear it in these songs. I hope they can feel the LOVE that’s been poured into this.

Mental Health in Music

You’ve been really candid about your mental health journey. What’s been the most powerful response you’ve received from fans after opening up about it?

Hearing stories from some fans about their struggles, definitely. I don’t want to get into specifics out of respect & privacy for them but I’ve heard countless heartbreaking stories. Sharing them & hearing how they’ve either grown or changed for the better, I feel extremely grateful to have had them be shared with me & share a moment with them whether at my shows or on my text line etc. 

As someone who’s lived through those darker moments, what role do you think community plays in helping artists and fans alike find hope?

Community has a massive role. My fans are so important to me, speaking with them, hearing their experiences, learning about their day to day issues or what they deal with has been huge for me. I love learning about people. I think once you can relate to someone, especially if a fan can relate to an artist about having a situation that might be tough to deal with, it gives hope immediately. That seemingly million mile gap from artist to fan seems a lot smaller now, and a lot more accessible in a way that helps you feel like you can get through whatever you’re going through since your favorite artist has dealt with similar and they’re still here. 

Practical Tips 

If you could give five mental health tips specifically for electronic music artists, what would they be?

Therapy is important! It’s worth it, even if you don’t go full time & take breaks from it, have someone that you can fall on that is a professional. 

Surround yourself with good people, I can’t express enough how many people I know have struggled until they’ve decided to take a deeper look at their own inner circle. Sometimes it’s your own people. You want to be around positivity & kindness, not ego & bitter people. 

Take breaks! It’s so important to not overwork yourself. It’s easy to fall into that trap in this industry so finding time to find other hobbies is vital. For me it’s reading comic books & gaming. 

Find a routine. Waking up at 3pm as an artist makes sense on paper but is killing you slowly honestly & is just not a good habit to live by. Trying to treat this more like a business (not fully obviously sometimes those late night sessions really hit) in terms of regime will do wonders for you. 

Lastly, your physical health will fix your mental health. I’ve been on that journey recently & am down quite a bit of weight which has helped me so much mentally. It really is connected, I understand why people might disagree though, I was one of those people until finally working on it. 

How do you personally recognize when it’s time to step back and take care of yourself before burnout hits?

Once my like eighth crash out in a single month or few week period hits I know it’s time to slow down or take a few days to myself LOL. I usually base it off how many crash outs are back to back. Recently it’s been extremely tough, July up until now has been extremely busy in terms of planning for tour announce, album announce, festivals, tour planning, & releasing the album itself. I am currently in Japan as I write this taking a week to relax. It’s been well worth it, the crash outs were multiplying haha.

Beyond the album, how do you see your role evolving as both an artist and an advocate for mental health in the electronic space?

I’d like to do anything I can do to advocate mental health further in space. I really hope one day when I can have my own festival that I can have some type of mental health service or sponsor be involved to really help wherever I can. That’s for the deep far future though.