A new sonic force is born… Familiarise yourselves with The Warriorz!

A new sonic force is born – two individuals with unparalleled musical visions united to turn a new leaf in the hard-hitting sounds of Hardstyle. With huge success in their solo aliases Artic and Desnar, long-time friends Sander and Erik have decided to cross into a new avenue and work exclusively on their brand-new project The Warriorz.

After working audaciously in the studio and planning the finer details of their legacy, the guys managed to score themselves a place on eminent label WE R and also a debut performance at no less than Q-BASE this September. Sounds pretty mysterious, right? Well it definitely is, which is why we caught up with The Warriorz to have a chat about their past career endeavours, getting in touch with WE R and of course, the intricate story of raw Hardstyle.

– Hey guys, thanks for the interview! First of all, would you like to introduce yourselves to our readers?
Hi, you’re welcome! Thank you for giving us this opportunity. We are Sander (Desnar) and Erik (Artic) and besides being best friends for many years, we’ve also begun a new live-act together called The Warriorz.

– So, you have both had previous solo careers in Hardstyle. Can you share some more about this?
Yep, we have! I (Erik) started DJ-ing in the late 90’s, made Hardstyle history as part of the DJ Duo Haze & Abyss between the years 2001 and 2003 before re-claiming my place in the current Hardstyle scene as  ‘Artic.’ Under this alias I released several tracks on DMW, Hardcopy and A2 Records.

Sander, otherwise known as Desnar started DJ-ing at a very young age as well. He dropped his first bomb on Hardcopy Records in 2010, released a ton of tracks on Dirty Workz Anarchy and Minus Is More, performed at all major festivals and also did some awesome work as a part of the Offensive Records Hardcore act Humanity Force.

– Will you still be producing music under your solo aliases? Or are you fully focusing on The Warriorz?
For now the focus will be on The Warriorz, however Sander will still release Desnar tracks on DWX Anarchy!

– How did you come up with the idea to form The Warriorz? And how did you get in touch with each other?
We met each other at a Hardcopy Label photo-shoot back in 2010 and we immediately noticed great chemistry on both a musical and personal level. At that time we hung out together quite frequently, but also focussed solely on our own careers. A few years later we finally started our first collaboration, which was a track done alongside Dutch rap artist Xaline titled “The Warriors” and released on the A2 Records album in 2013. This initial collaboration also inspired the name ‘The Warriorz.’ At the beginning of 2015, we spent a lot of time in the studio together and this naturally resulted in an on-stage collaboration too!

– Your first booking will be no less than Q-BASE where you will perform in the WE R area. How did you react to the news that you’ll be performing there?
We went craaaazy when we received the news from Q-dance that we’d have the opportunity to premiere our act at the infamous Q-BASE! Of course we celebrated this the weekend after with sushi and a bottle of champagne :). It’s set to be an unforgettable weekend and hopefully mark the start of many more awesome bookings!

– What can visitors expect from this initial performance?
This gig is definitely one of the most special ones for us. It will be the launch of our new act and we want to show the crowd that there’s more to Raw Hardstyle than kickrolls and screeches, even though we really enjoy this combination ;).  Over the last couple of years we’ve sharpened and refined our sound, consequently giving ‘birth’ to an energetic and rough-edged view of Hardstyle.  We are not afraid to cross into other genres, so expect a lot of fresh new tracks, live vocals and loads of energy!

– Speaking a little more about WE R. How did you get into contact with the label? And how does it feel to be a part of one of the biggest imprints in the scene?
Brennan Heart is one of the leading international Hardstyle DJ’s and producers, so we decided to shoot him an e-mail to let him know what we were up to. This email didn’t contain any music, it was merely an invitation for us to showcase ourselves as The Warriorz by presenting our music, artwork and a professional video which highlighted our creative vision. During our first meeting with Fabian, we really felt like we were in the right place and we’re extremely happy to be a part of the WE R team!

– In terms of music, what have you guys been working on in the studio?
Right now, the main focus for us is to create new music together and get this music into the public’s ears! At the moment we have completed about 12 tracks, this way we can ensure that every live performance will be fresh and special! Each day in the studio we’re aiming to improve ourselves and each track is also a learning curve. Most of the time we write and record our own vocals together with our buddy Xaline, who featured in “The Warriors” and “Go Down.” We are living and breathing music 24/7 and just love the creative process when we’re writing a song together.

– Can you give readers the run-down of what The Warriorz signature sound is?
The Warriorz sound is a dark, energetic and rough-edged view of Hardstyle where diversity is the key. We love to cross genres and go beyond the borders of standard Raw. We don’t consider ourselves as Raw artists, we simply create music that we love and aim to create an ever-evolving sound. Our tastes in music are spread out over a wide range of sounds, including chilled and peaceful music, hip-hop and film scores to loud and heavy kicks, so expect the unexpected! 😉

– It’s not rare to see a live-act in Raw Hardstyle. What is so unique about The Warriorz and what will you guys bring to the scene?
The most important thing about our act is that we do this because we love it and have a great time doing it – we’re sure that the crowd will see and feel this energy when we enter the stage! Our sets are always dynamic and surprising and we try to push ourselves to the max by regularly creating new tracks, edits and special remixes. As we mentioned earlier, we’re not afraid to push boundaries, cross into new territory and experiment with music’s endless possibilities. We like to be on the front-line with our trusted comrades and strongly value both courage and loyalty. Our mission is to tear down every stage with our fellow Warriorz – the crowd!

– What are your thoughts about the direction of Raw Hardstyle recently?
Coming from a Hardcore and Gabber background, we don’t want to pigeonhole our musical visions.  Over the past year or so, many artists have followed the formula of existing acts and forgot that having an own, unique style was a HUGE part of their success… And unfortunately this resulted in a lot of raw tracks sounding too ‘generic.’

We just love Hardstyle and people should stop the hate going on between melodic and raw. Both are Hardstyle; yes, they’re different, but they’re still a part of the same genre. We also think it’s beneficial for artists to be flexible; for example, we like to create a euphoric melody for a raw track and by doing so, we hope that our music will stand the test of time, regardless of whatever subgenre is popular. In our live-act we want to revive that true Hardstyle ‘feeling’ again!

– Who are your biggest musical influences and why?
We’ve both been huge music lovers throughout our lives and we both produce various genres of music. Our earliest influences come from the artists we grew up listening to, such as Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, NWA, The Prodigy and Ben Liebrand – they all have expanded our musical horizons considerably. And most recently we’re heavily influenced by film scores and Hip-hop/Rap acts.

– Coming from two solo careers, how does it feel to start from scratch again?
This is a tough question… Instead of stressing about it, we are looking at the whole experience as a new chance and a new opportunity to show the crowd what we are really made of. Despite the Internet and new media, the quickest way to break through musically is still to get signed to a major label first and we’re extremely happy and proud that we found our place at WE R.

The most important thing for us is to do what we love the most and have an awesome time doing it! Of course we have to create a presence and a solid following on social media; this does take consistent effort in order to achieve good results, but it’s just a part of the game and we’re busy working on it.

– Finally, what did you both eat for breakfast today?
We both ate haters for breakfast, ha-ha!

A big thanks to The Warriorz for taking the time to chat with us today! We wish the guys all the best with their debut performance at the upcoming edition of Q-BASE – we’ll certainly be there to check it out! For those who want to keep up to date on all things ‘warriorz,’ check out their social links below and spread the word!

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