Sander Van Doorn - Sander Does Oz
Dutch DJ Sander Van Doorn chats to 3D’s Nina Bertok about getting back into the studio and experiencing Australia.
“I remember when I started out DJing several years ago, I was doing about one gig every month,” recalls Dutch DJ superstar Sander Van Doorn, “and I started freaking out and calling my agent to tell him that it’s too much!”
Fast-forward six years later and you can find Van Doorn blowing up the clubs and festival circuits around the world on weekends and weeknights.
“You don’t hear a lot of artists admitting it, but for me it seemed like it all happened overnight,” he says. “I do a lot of travelling these days. It can really take a lot out of you some days but when you get to the parties you’re playing, it really makes it worthwhile. Sometimes I have weekends planned from one corner of the world to another – how can you not enjoy that-”
Having had a relatively quiet start to the year, Van Doorn says he used the downtime to work on some remixes in his home-studio before jetting off to Australia for the inaugural Trance Energy event next month.
“January was a month all about producing music,” he says. “It just tends to be that time of the year that things are a little bit quiet and slower than usual. I have to say that it usually works out for the best though, because it allows you to spend some time in the studio to get some work done for once.”
Early last year, Van Doorn used his free time to unleash upon the trance world his much-anticipated debut album, Supernaturalistic – a record that spawned three major hits [Riff, By Any Demand, Grasshopper] in his home country and abroad.
“The name of the album was about the natural process of how it all came together,” Van Doorn recalls. “To a big extent, the album was a big, personal experiment because I wanted to incorporate different genres that I wasn’t really known for at that stage. The whole process was phenomenal to do, despite the fact that it took a long time because I was juggling the recording side of things with the DJing. This year I’ve already had some time in the studio so I’m ready to hit the road without worrying about much else.”
Of Australia, Van Doorn says it’s a case of not getting enough time to soak in the experience.
“My relationship with Australia is always very much you-can-look-but-you-can’t-touch because I’m always so busy with gigs that I don’t get to do anything or even see very much of the country,” he laments. “I spend a lot of time up in the air. I am actually considering going about my next trip to Australia in a different way. I think I’m just going to arrive a couple of weeks earlier than I’m supposed to just to be able to actually experience it.”
Of the Trance Energy event itself, Van Doorn says Australia should brace itself for the experience of a lifetime.
“I’ve played this festival three times now and I know the production will be similar in Australia,” he says. “It’s truly an amazing event. It’s just a massive visual project, it’s big, and I think Australians will be blown away.”
WHO: Sander Van Doorn
WHAT: Plays Trance Energy at Hordern Pavilion
WHEN: Thursday 9 April
MORE: trance-energy.com.au / sandervandoorn.com