Darude‘s smashingly successful “Sandstorm” track has become a staple in modern dance music. Fans of all genres across the world can instantly recognize the multi-platinum hit from its famous 16-note melody. The Finnish dance music prodigy sat down with VICE for an interview and created a storm of information about how the storm of sand all started.
“I wish I could say that there was this great plan or huge thing about making ‘Sandstorm,’ but the funny thing is that there’s no one point where you can say, ‘I know exactly what it was.'”
Released in 2000, “Sandstorm” continues to ravage clubs and dominate sporting events around the globe to this day, causing fans and event-goers alike to instantly become overtaken by anticipation, energy, and excitement. They know full well that an event that launches with “Sandstorm” is surely going to be an epic one.
To accompany the booming revolution of pop culture and dance music, Darude joined forces with Juuso Syrjä to put together the “Sandstorm” music video. The video was filmed at the Helsinki Cathedral in Finland. “Many people know this church has a new name, ‘Sandstorm,’ of course,” states Syrjä. “My idea for this location and for this place was to highlight Helsinki as a cool city.” Syrjä also cited that “Sandstorm” was his first music video. It was Darude’s first music video too.
Ville Virtanen is the mastermind behind the Darude moniker. Back in the 1990s, Virtanen attended a fair share of clubs, citing that he would become heavily inspired by the various tracks and audio techniques used in the tracks. He states that he would scramble home to write music on his computer at three in the morning when everybody was going home from the clubs.
“I got some local DJs to play and they liked it, but I don’t think it nearly as big–or anywhere–without Jaakko Salovaara (JS16) to produce it with me.”
He’s grown to have thicker skin and play along with the meme culture, even going as far as feeding it. This modern explosion of technology and social media has allowed the storm to continue to brew once again. Darude and his team have seen a recent “boom” in bookings and attention because “Sandstorm” is coming around full circle again, 17 years later.
Starting on January 19, 2018, Darude will be embarking on a 14-date tour called Surrender. The tour will take him through cities like Detroit, Michigan, Atlanta, Georgia, Seattle, Washington, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and many more.
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