What’s On profiles Martin Garrix and Roger Sanchez ahead of Sensation Dubai at Meydan Racecourse on Halloween in Dubai, also with AN21 and Max Vangeli.

More….
– Meet Max Vangeli
– Creamfields Abu Dhabi
– Guetta Live@Atlantis
– F1 after-race gigs
– Sensation party
– Zero Gravity stage
– Hype’s Alternative A-Z

As Dubai gears up for the first Sensation party in the UAE, two of the headliners – Roger Sanchez and Martin Garrix – weigh in…

NEW GENERATION

Name: Martin Garrix
Age: 18
Nationality: Dutch
Years in clubland: 2011 – 2014
Aliases: GRX
Affiliations: Spinnin’ Records
Biggest hit: Animals
Sensation history: Garrix made his Sensation debut on July 5 this year in Amsterdam
Tweet addiction: 13,600
On the horizon: After his Afrojack collaboration Turn Up The Speakers, his latest output – Virus with Moti – is due to drop on Beatport on October 13. He’s also been in the studio with Ed Sheeran, and their track Rewind Repeat It is expected early next year

In his own words…
“Everybody expects a special level from the Dutch guys, so there’s a lot of pressure. You can be on holiday and tell someone you’re a DJ, and they just shrug it off. But when you mention you’re from The Netherlands, there’s this idea that if you survived the competition, you’re worth checking out”

“I love every part of my sets. It’s amazing to stand in front of crowds all over the world and play your music. The energy level is so big, it gives me a lot of adrenaline”

“Every interview I do is about Animals. I’m super thankful for how much that track has done for me, but I’m just as super excited about the other stuff coming out”

THE 12-STEP PROGRAMME
1996 Born in Amstelveen, in The Netherlands, on May 14.
2000 At the age of just four shows an interest in music and learns to play the guitar.
2004 Watches Tiësto performing at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Athens and decides to become a DJ when he’s older.
2010 Garrix hits the stage for the first time at a club in Amsterdam. He is 13.
2012 Posts an unofficial remix of Enrique Inglesias’s Tonight that sets the blog-o-sphere ablaze. Spinnin’ Records offer him a record deal.
2012 Christina Aguilera includes Martin’s remix of her single Your Body on the deluxe version of her album Lotus.
2012 Wins the SLAM! FM DJ Talent of the Year Award back home in The Netherlands.
2013 Releases Animals and becomes the youngest person to reach No.1 on Beatport. It reaches the Top Ten in more than 20 countries, and is the first instrumental track to get to No.1 in the UK since 1999.
2013 Proving that Animals is no flash in the pan, Garrix’s colossal collab with Jay Hardway, Wizard, clocks up over 800,000 Soundcloud plays within a week.
2013 Signs a deal with American talent manager Scooter Braun, who also represents Psy and Justin Bieber. Garrix is his first EDM client.
2014 Releases Helicopter, a collaboration with Dutch producers Firebeatz. It too goes to No.1 in the Beatport charts.
2014 Brings out his debut EP, Gold Skies. As soon as it’s released, it fires into pole position in the iTunes Dance Albums Chart.

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BACK TO THE OLD SCHOOL

Name: Roger Sanchez
Age: 47
Nationality: American
Years in clubland: 1992 – 2014
Aliases: S-Man, Roger S, Natural Born Lovers
Affiliations: Ministry Of Sound, Stealth Records
Biggest hit: Another Chance
Sensation history: Roger is no stranger to the Sensation roadshow and has rocked crowds for the organisers in Germany, Australia, Hungary, Russia and Brazil
Tweet addiction: 20,000
On the horizon: Roger’s classic S-Man guise has been championed by Pete Tong, Tensnake, Todd Edwards, Dubfire and more this year. He recently collaborated with house and garage head Huxley on Calling, and is taking his Undr The Radr label to Amsterdam Dance Event on October 19

In his own words…
“The dance music scene has gotten so big, and there’s so much money that’s thrown around. I love the fact that everyone does well, but I think that a certain amount of the purity and the love is lost on the mainstream dance music scene. I’ve pushed away from that because I felt it wasn’t really me”

“I build a track like a house. Everything has a foundation and the track is a construction. The skeleton frames, the beams are the bassline, and you build it up around that. I treat every track as a problem that I have to solve”

“If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s being able to imagine myself on the dancefloor and sense what the crowd wants. If I was dancing now, what would I wanna hear? Not even what record, but what sound would I wanna hear?”

THE 12-STEP PROGRAMME
1967 Born in Queens, New York, on June 1.
1980 Immerses himself in New York’s graffiti and breakdancing scene and starts DJing aged just 13.
1987 Drops out of the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in New York after deciding to concentrate on music.
1989 Gets a call from Strictly Rhythm Records to see if he’s interested in production. Releases his first single with them, Luv Dancin’, as Underground Solution.
1994 Sanchez’s underground alter ego S-Man first comes to light with the release of Time 2 Stop on UK record label Hard Times.
2000 Secures his first Ibiza residency. He’s had a presence on the island every summer since at clubs like Pacha, Amnesia and Space.
2001 His single Another Chance is a worldwide hit. It fires into the UK charts at No.1.
2002 Founds Stealth Records. The label has released music by artists including Avicii, Steve Angelo and Laidback Luke.
2003 Picks up his first Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording for his rework of No Doubt’s single Hella Good.
2007 His Release Yourself podcast wins the first-ever Best Podcast Award at the International Dance Music Awards in Miami.
2013 Announces new Ibiza residency on the famous Space terrace for Café Ole.
2014 The S-Man is back with a vengeance. Releases Dangerous Thoughts on his new label Undr The Radr. It’s followed by 2 Close, which features the vocal talents of GTO.

October 31
Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, 9pm, Dhs395. Tel: (050) 8558036. Taxi: Meydan Racecourse. platinumlist.net/sensationdubai