Back to its roots

Sander Van Doorn has been around for a long time and the mastermind behind countless hits. When he announced his return to trance with alias Purple Haze, the trance fanatics were beside themselves for two reasons – Sander does not release garbage, so this was going to be quality trance and we all miss the dark euphoric edgy sounds that he was known for. The Spectrvm album was a major success and every single performance of Purple Haze leaves the crowd memorized. It has been a true honor to be able to interview this diversely talented individual and get to know Purple Haze a little better

The year 2017 was the release of your album Spectrvm as you dug back to your roots, which was a treat for your fans. Did you always want to come back to do a trance album? And what was your inspiration to finally release it?

Spectrvm is an album I made as my alter ego Purple Haze. I created my first Purple Haze track a couple of years ago, but it didn’t fit the Sander Van Doorn sound I’m known for. Purple Haze created a platform where I could express myself in a different way and the creative possibilities that followed were endless. This gave me so much energy that the songs kept coming and coming and once I had enough tracks I just felt like, why not bring out an album?

Using the Purple Haze alias, do you feel more able to take chances you would not normally take under SVD?

With my alter ego Purple Haze, I really try to create a new sound. It’s still dance music, but it definitely is a lot darker and a lot more euphoric and letting myself completely go on a spiritual level. It’s different than the Sander van Doorn sound I’m known for. I really felt like making an artist album with music you listen to with your headphones on instead of fist pumping during an EDM festival. In my opinion, the electronic dance music scene is nowadays producing more and more towards commercial tracks and the obvious. With Purple Haze, I wanted to move away from this sound and start producing from the heart again. Sander van Doorn is more based towards the main stages and the clubbing sounds, which I also love doing, but for now I would say Purple Haze is better for doing the live stages.

For many new trance fans who are just starting this journey and discovering you for the first time, where do you feel you have evolved as a producer from when you first started to now? Has this evolution transpired from your broad spectrum of production?

Yes of course. I’ve been producing music and shows now for almost twenty years. When I just started producing, the music I made was more trance and euphoric, but with a techy edge to it. I would say that my sound progressed over the years because I remained producing music with this techy edge and low-frequency baselines, but started combining this with different genres. Sometimes I like to produce music with a more euphoric edge, sometimes with a more housey edge and sometimes with a more progressive edge. The BPM also started to be a bit lower as all these new genres popped up.

You have played almost every major festival around the world. Do you still get nervous when you go on stage? If so how do you fight through it? What do you do so you are not burnt out?

For me, every set is different, every crowd reacts different and as an artist you need to adapt to that. For that reason, I always get a little bit nervous. But I don’t believe getting nervous is a bad thing. It keeps me sharp and it makes sure that I deliver every single time. So yes, I still get nervous when I go on stage, but once I drop the first track, I get right into it with everyone out there.

2018 looks to be another big and busy year for you, what are you most looking forward to and why?

I’m looking forward to many things. This year is definitely going to be more Purple Haze-y. I produced three new Purple Haze tracks already after Spectrvm, so I look forward to playing these for my fans.

Finally, if you could live by one motto only, what would it be and why?

Create your own identity. It’s all about finding out what music you really love but not only in music. It’s important to stay by yourself as a person, don’t pretend to be someone else.