Everybody recognises the unmistakable beat of 'Sandstorm'.
Whether you've danced to it on a night out, heard it on an Aldi advertisement or lived it when the song was first released, it is arguably one of the most popular electronic songs of the noughties.
Since 'Sandstorm's epic release, the song's producer Darude has had quite the career. He was part of the recent Eurovision contest, where he represented Finland.
Darude was knocked out of the competition at the semi-finals stage, but the experience was still a success. “The cool thing is that we didn't mess up anything, we did our best, technically show-wise all was good. While it didn't work out, I got tonnes of new contacts.
"There's so many great singers here, so many great artists that I hope to collaborate with some day,” Darude says.
His stage name was developed out of a joke by his friends. “I was at a pre-party at my friends house a long time ago and I was playing this song called 'Rude Boy’, and I played it like seven times in a row and I think my buddies got a bit tired of it... they started calling me 'rude boy', so I started using the name for online chats.
“And then I didn’t want to be a boy, so I dropped the ‘Boy’ and was just Rude; then 'Sandstorm' was about to be released and we made a graphic and put 'Da' and 'Rude' together and it stuck,” Darude explains.
Darude didn't classify himself as producer until he was 28, even though his music career began when he was 19. Which means he didn’t identify as a producer when 'Sandstorm' was released.
“I wasn't even a professional when I made it, I was just having fun and tinkering. I was excited about my newfound ability to create music,” Darude says.
Darude recently worked with one of Australia’s own, JVMIE aka Jamie Lee Wilson, releasing a new single titled 'Hide'. “She's crazy talented with a sweet heart,” he says.
“We actually made a track together last year called 'Timeless' and she sang on that and wrote the lyrics... we sent her the instrumental; I don't think she actually said 'Yes, I'll do stuff for you'; she just sent back the vocals and I guess that was a yes.
“What's cool about her is she's such a professional, she's quick and she has the means to record herself and get the stuff back to you in a ready manner,” he says.
Darude says one of his biggest career highlights was a New Year's Eve party where he played in front of a crowd of 80,000.
“It was in the middle of the night; I got to open [Finland's] 100 years of independence celebration year and the track was 'Sandstorm'. When the clock hit midnight the track dropped and synchronised; it was pretty damn amazing,” Darude says.
Darude believes it is important to incorporate a specific meaning into his songs, including his Eurovision song 'Look Away' (featuring Sebastian Rejman). “The whole point of the song was if you do have some issues in your life, even global issues whatever it may be, people tend to look away because it's easier [to deal with that situation].
“But we are trying to encourage people to think and make the decision to not look away and do something about it and hopefully make the change for the better.”
