At three years old, Xander was already grabbing pans and lids from the kitchen cupboard, tapping along to his father’s records in the living room. When he was about eight years old, Xander tried to learn to play guitar but he did not have the patience for it.
At ten he got his first drum lesson. He was immediately enthusiastic, just like his teacher was: Patrick de Vries. For his eleventh birthday he got a drum kit. Xander gave his first gig when he was fourteen and started teaching drums at the age of fifteen. His drum teacher wanted him to attend the Music
Academy but Xander did not feel comfortable there at the age of fourteen. His first band ‘Dig It’ fell apart because of the death of one of the band members. After this, it was musically quiet for him for several years.
Xander practiced a lot these years, but alone. At the age of nineteen Xander moved to Tilburg to study Music Management. In Tilburg Xander met several musicians and ended up in many bands and projects and taught drums in his student room. After his study he had several jobs and kept on teaching drums and performing on stage in different bands.
When he was twenty nine he decided to start his own drumming school: ‘Only Drumming’. A few years later he started to play guitar and write songs. Now, at 41, Xander performs his own songs as “Van Xan” and plays drums in several bands, like the World Music formation Bandera Latina, tribute band KicK some KinKs and blues and rock and roll power trio Sugar Mama.
