As a generation-defining artist that reshapes our perception of what dance music can be, Sander van Doorn is without a doubt one of the world’s most essential, influential and popular DJ/producers in dance music today.
Sander van Doorn entered the musical scene in 1995, aged just sixteen. His brother’s latest gadget at the time, a Roland Groovebox 303, caught his attention. He was astounded when he first experienced the amount of creativity that could be put into making electronic music. Time and time again, Sander would borrow his brother’s Groovebox and his nephew’s vinyl records and he played the life out of those records. Since then, Sander’s heart belonged to music and it still does today.
Sander has created his own inimitable sound and style. He is a producer at heart, and started DJing to create exposure for his productions. It’s basically impossible to appoint one specific genre to him; his music gets influenced by a very broad spectrum of factors. He continues to be an immensely prolific and diverse producer, with his own monstrous solo output plus massive collabs helping him to amass millions of plays on YouTube and Spotify. Gold Skies has picked up well over 60 million plays alone, making for one of the biggest hits of his career so far. His A&R skills show no sign of faltering either with his DOORN Records imprint unleashing a steady stream of big names and hot new talents alike.
2017 saw him re-launch his exciting alias Purple Haze, dedicated to a “sharper, darker, rougher” sound. The project was unveiled at Ultra Music Festival with a spectacular audio-visual live show that vividly brought to life his new concept. Later in the year he released the debut Purple Haze album, SPECTRVM: a riot of dark trance and tough techno with some standout vocals to boot. Rather than taking shine away from his usual SvD sounds, the new project has created a positive, synergized feedback loop in his studio, bringing a yin to his existing yang. “Too often I’ve seen artists lose their focus when they try to combine too many different sounds” he says, “but I get so much creative energy from working on this project that it’s actually added to the creative flow for Sander van Doorn.” It’s just the start for Purple Haze, with some very big plans in the works — and with such a positive reaction from fans, more material is hotly anticipated.
Today, Sander has performed thousands of shows in every corner of the world and released numerous solo records, yet he is still part of a group of innovative and progressive artists. Sander’s creative process exists of re-inventing musical styles, taking risks in regards to the sound he creates and most importantly staying ahead of the masses. Regular appearances at world-beating clubs and festivals like Creamfields, Tomorrowland, UNTOLD Festival and Electric Daisy Carnival pepper his hectic diary which sees him plays to tens of thousands across the globe every month.