PURE SANDER – MONIUM
You could be forgiven for asking Who? when you hear the name Sander Kleinenberg, but if you’re a vinyl chaser you’d be familiar with his Four Seasons Eps and his various releases on Strictly Rhythm, Wonka and Superstition. If you’re British or European clubber you’d know that this Dutch DJ/artist is the hippest export The Hague has ever seen. From a long line of musicians, Sander has emerged from his homely loungeroom to be courted by Oliver Lieb, Junkie XL, Art of Noise and Destiny’s Child for his remixes, which have variously been described as "pulsating" or "sublime" by his legions of fans. For we Australians, we get the chance to check out this Northern superstar at the Gatecrasher tour, which winds into Oz in early December, to make up our own minds. Wind up your windows, kids. It’s time for a Dutchy!
Hi Sander, are you excited about coming to Australia?
Yeah I am. Some of my friends are from there, and they’re always going on about going down, saying it would be amazing, so I’m looking forward to it!
Was it a hard decision to make, considering the crazy situation in the world?
No. I think the whole western world is overreacting to the situation. If you get scared you are doing exactly what these individuals are wanting. There’s 100,000 flights a day, and you’d be a very very unlucky person if you were on that one flight that gets hi-jacked or whatever. I’m not going to have my life run by fear – that’s the last thing you need. I don’t like flying in general though!
You are still relatively unknown here in Australia, although we know you’re a bit of a star in Europe and the UK. How would you describe your sound to people unfamiliar with your records, or your DJ sets?
It’s house music. I try to play fresh, uplifting, cutting edge, dance music. I’m not really a fan of gimmick-like records, and I’m not a big fan of the Dutch trance scene.
So you’re not a Dutch trance DJ then. I have heard that you’re not a big fan of a lot of music coming out of your homeland..
No, it’s just not very innovative. It was great for a couple of months, but now its copycat after copycat. The big guys like Ferry and Tiesto, they’re doing a great job, and they’re pioneers, but I like it when music develops, I don’t like it when it does the same thing over and over. The repetitiveness of the beat can be quite dominant, I think we need to push the beat forward..
In a British interview from January this year the journalist asked you where you thought music would go in 2001, to which you replied it would become "warmer" and more "soulful". Looking back, were you right?
Yeah I think it has. The Americans have had a fairly big influence, melodies are happening a little bit more. I think that metal-y "da-da-da, da-da-da" sound is dying out a bit, there are vocals again. But then again, I think it is a wave that is ongoing, and the controversy of music is half the game. Me slagging off Euro-trance will probably result in someone in Australia saying "yeah but I love it!" I’m just happy that house music is the centre of a soulful, warm, innovative scene that goes forward every year.
You moved to London earlier this year – how has being in the "dance music capital" changed your view on things?
Not a lot really, because my studio is still in Holland. London could be a great place to have a studio, but not for me. I like to go out and have nice food and a nice bottle of wine. London’s very good for that, and I’d probably be pissed all the time! So I have my studio in Holland just to be a bit more focussed, but yeah, I find Holland really small. There’s more out there.
Danny@spraci.com