With a baby face and cheerful easy-going demeanor Sander van Doorn has been in a whirlwind of DJ success since entering the scene just four years ago. Though young in appearance the 28-year-old is poised in the lofty 15 spot on DJ Mag’s Top 100 poll. His big-room, massive club tracks have gained a lot of attention, inevitably drawing comparisons to a certain other trance Dutchman. And watching him play shows van Doorn’s more than ready to wear Tïesto’s crown. His new album Supernaturalistic was released in March, and when we spoke at Winter Music Conference, van Doorn had just been named International Dance Music Awards’ “Best Breakthrough Artist.”
Prepared to reign in the trance world, we were tickled to learn even rising stars like van Doorn don’t have every single thing together—his packing faux pas made us feel better about forgetting all those extra tape-recorder batteries.
Clubplanet: Ok, let’s just be blunt: you’ve climbed the dance music ranks very quickly. You’re success has pretty much happened overnight, right?
Sander van Doorn: Yeah. It all happened really fast. Yesterday at the [International] Dance Music Awards I got an Award for Breakthrough artist. I mean it’s crazy to stand on the stage [and receive such an award]. Wow! It’s massive.
CP: You’ve been called the heir apparent to the Tïesto throne, how do you feel about the comparison? About taking on that kind of role?
Sander: Honestly, it’s like the biggest compliment you can get. It’s always been a dream to DJ professionally and now to actually be able to do it is phenomenal. And to see how fast it’s going is crazy.
CP: It’s amazing. So you’re ready and able to take on big tours and play in front of giant crowds, and big production festivals?
Sander: Yes! I mean I just started DJing myself about three years ago and the very first time, or actually the second time I played it was in front of 10,000 people. I was just like, geez! I was just thrown into the thing.
CP: How’d that happen?
Sander: I got booked for the party and I didn’t know. I was kind of like a really innocent artist [expecting to DJ] in front of probably 500 people and it ends up being like this massive party. So I was kind of thrown into the deep end from the very start, which really helped to be honest. You really tend to learn quickly that way.
CP: Exactly, sink or swim. So, tell us about your new album.
Sander: It’s in stores right now, and it’s doing really well actually. I’m really happy with the response so far. And I’m now in the middle of album two until the end of May so it’s crazy.
CP: Clearly you’ve got a fan-base here, but in general what do you think of America, American clubs, and the dance music scene here?
Sander: To be honest, it’s great. The great thing for me is in America as compared to Europe I can do three to four hour sets usually around here which gives me the opportunity to play more diverse music as well, which I always like to do. And the people over here are great! They absolutely love to party. So it’s always good to go to the U.S.
Catch more of Sander van Doorn at www.sandervandoorn.com.
Photo credit: Chris Davidson