Jax Jones
W&W is a Dutch DJ and production duo consisting of Willem van Hanegem Jr. and Wardt van der Harst. The project has existed since 2007 and has evolved from trance and tech trance in the late 2000s into one of the most recognizable names in festival big room and mainstage EDM. In parallel, the musicians also develop the trance project NWYR and their own brand and label Rave Culture.
W&W’s current sound combines trance, big room house, hard dance, techno and elements of progressive house. Their stylistic evolution did not mean a complete break with their early sound: trance-oriented melodies remain one of the defining characteristics of their music. W&W’s official biography describes the duo’s current style as a combination of big room, trance, techno and hard dance.
Formation of W&W
Willem van Hanegem Jr. was born on 25 June 1987, while Wardt van der Harst was born on 26 December 1988.
The musicians met online, where both were active on a music forum and exchanged their own productions. Willem and Ward first met in person at Trance Energy 2007 in the Netherlands. After meeting, they began working together in the studio, and the new project was named W&W after the first letters of their names.
At the time the duo was formed, both were already producing electronic music independently. Ward worked under the name Re-Ward, while Willem was also experimenting with his own trance productions.
Mustang and the first releases
The first track to define W&W’s direction was Mustang. The track received support from Armin van Buuren, who featured it on A State of Trance, and it quickly attracted attention from the trance audience. The official release of Mustang / Eruption followed in 2008 on Captivating Sounds, a division of Armada Music. W&W themselves later referred to Mustang as their first real collaboration.
It was followed by Arena, Dome, Mainstage, D.N.A., Manhattan, Alpha, Impact and other releases.
W&W’s early sound was heavier than the classic uplifting trance of the period. It combined large-scale trance melodies, tech trance, dense rhythms and elements of techno. Even in one of the duo’s early A State of Trance features, W&W were described as a project combining trance with heavier electronic elements.
Impact
On 23 September 2011, W&W released their debut studio album Impact through Armada Music.
The original tracklist included, among others:
- Do Not Skip
- AK-47
- Based on a True Story
- Impact
- Three O’Clock with Ana Criado
- Cookie Jar
- Phantom
- Twist
- Nowhere to Go
- Code Red
- Velicity
- Treasure Chest
- State of Emergency
- Beta
The album established W&W as one of the notable representatives of the new generation of trance producers in the early 2010s.
At the same time, Invasion and Lift Off! were not included on the album. Invasion appeared in 2012 as the official anthem of A State of Trance 550, while Lift Off! was released in December of the same year.
Invasion and the transition to a festival sound
Invasion (ASOT 550 Anthem) became one of the key tracks of W&W’s transitional period. The duo’s trance foundation remained clearly audible, but the structure and scale of the production were already designed for large festival stages.
In the early 2010s, Willem and Ward gradually began moving away from the traditional trance formula. Their music increasingly incorporated electro house, festival progressive and production techniques that would soon become associated with big room.
This transition happened gradually, so dividing W&W’s history into completely separate “trance” and “EDM” periods would be inaccurate. Even the duo’s hardest big room releases retained their characteristic use of large melodic themes.
Mainstage Music
In 2012, W&W launched their own label, Mainstage Music.
The name continued the idea behind their earlier track Mainstage and at the same time reflected the duo’s development toward music designed for the world’s biggest festival stages.
Mainstage Music released both W&W’s own productions and music by other producers. The label worked with big room, progressive house, trance and related styles.
Mainstage Music later became the foundation for the much broader Rave Culture project.
The Code, D# Fat and Jumper
2013 became one of the key years in W&W’s transition toward mainstage EDM.
Together with Ummet Ozcan, the duo released The Code, and with Armin van Buuren they released D# Fat. The same year also brought Jumper, a collaboration with Hardwell.
These releases clearly reflected W&W’s new formula: trance-oriented synth structures combined with more minimalist and heavier festival drops.
During this period, the duo appeared increasingly often on the main stages of major EDM festivals while maintaining close ties with Armada Music and artists from the trance scene.
Thunder and Bigfoot
In 2013, W&W released Thunder, followed by Bigfoot in February 2014.
Bigfoot became one of W&W’s best-known tracks from the peak era of big room house. The production is built around a short synth motif, a large-scale build-up and a drop characteristic of festival EDM at the time.
At this stage, W&W firmly established themselves as a mainstage act and regularly performed at Ultra Music Festival, Tomorrowland, Electric Daisy Carnival, Amsterdam Music Festival and other major events.
However, describing this period exclusively as “progressive house” would be inaccurate: the central directions of W&W’s mid-2010s sound were primarily big room, electro house and festival EDM.
Collaborations
Studio work with other major producers became an important part of W&W’s discography.
Among their most notable collaborations are:
- D# Fat — with Armin van Buuren
- Jumper — with Hardwell
- Rocket — with Blasterjaxx
- Shocker — with Headhunterz
- The Dance Floor Is Yours — with Hardwell
- If It Ain’t Dutch — with Armin van Buuren
- Arcade — with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
- Live the Night — with Hardwell and Lil Jon
- Chakra — with Vini Vici
- Ready to Rave — with Armin van Buuren
- Wizard of the Beats — with Sandro Silva and Zafrir
- Rave Love — with AXMO
- Distant Memory — with R3HAB and Timmy Trumpet
These releases show how broadly W&W worked across the festival electronic scene — from trance and psy-trance to big room and hard dance.
Arcade
In 2016, W&W teamed up with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike for the track Arcade.
The track became one of the artists’ best-known collaborations and was regularly played at major festivals. The two acts later continued working together, including on new festival projects and remixes.
NWYR and the return to trance
In 2017, Willem van Hanegem and Wardt van der Harst introduced a new project called NWYR.
The name is pronounced New Year. Its creation allowed the musicians to separate two directions of their work: under the W&W name they continued developing mainstage EDM, while NWYR became a space for a modern version of their trance sound.
NWYR officially debuted on 26 March 2017 on the A State of Trance stage at Ultra Music Festival in Miami.
One of the project’s first released works was a remix of Saving Light by Gareth Emery, STANDERWICK and HALIENE.
Later releases under the NWYR name included:
- Voltage
- Dragon
- Ends of Time
- Wormhole
- The Melody with Andrew Rayel
- Heart Eyes
- Gamer
- Zero Gravity
- other trance releases and remixes
W&W’s official website describes NWYR as their alias for “futuristic anthem trance” and a deeper trance sound.
The existence of NWYR demonstrates that W&W’s move toward big room did not mean abandoning trance. Instead, the musicians separated the two directions between different projects.
God Is a Girl and experiments with hands up
In 2018, W&W released their own reworking of God Is a Girl, the hit by German project Groove Coverage.
It is more accurate to describe it as a remake or new version rather than a collaboration between W&W and Groove Coverage.
During this period, the duo actively experimented with eurodance and hands up aesthetics. A similar direction appeared in their collaboration with Darren Styles, Long Way Down. These releases expanded W&W’s sound beyond classic big room.
Rave Culture
In autumn 2018, W&W relaunched Mainstage Music under the name Rave Culture.
For this reason, Rave Culture is more accurately regarded as an evolution of the label and brand that had existed since the early 2010s, rather than as an entirely new label created in 2018.
The symbolic first release of the new era was the track Rave Culture.
W&W explained that Mainstage Music had become too closely associated only with the record label, while the new concept was intended to cover a broader electronic culture and multiple genres.
Over time, Rave Culture evolved from a music imprint into a full-scale brand combining:
- a record label
- concerts and festival stages
- Rave Culture Radio
- clothing and merchandise
- digital projects
The official Rave Culture concept covers big room, hardstyle, trance and techno.
Artists who have worked with the label at different times include AXMO, KEVU, SaberZ, Jaxx & Vega, NIVIRO and other representatives of the modern mainstage scene.
Rave Culture Radio
W&W also host their own Rave Culture Radio, continuing the tradition of their earlier Mainstage Podcast.
The programme focuses on new releases from W&W and Rave Culture, festival electronic music and tracks by other producers.
Contrary to some widespread descriptions, Rave Culture Radio is officially a bi-weekly show — with a new episode every two weeks, rather than a weekly programme.
Episodes of Rave Culture Radio are also featured in the Minatrix.FM broadcast schedule.
The 2020s
In the early 2020s, W&W continued expanding their stylistic range. Their releases increasingly incorporated elements of hardstyle, hands up, techno, psy-trance and faster forms of festival music.
Notable releases from this period include:
- Comin’ to Getcha — 2020
- Rave Love — with AXMO
- Gold
- Distant Memory — with R3HAB and Timmy Trumpet
- remix of Dragostea Din Tei
- Heaven Is a Place on Earth
- Rave Superstar — with AXMO and Haley Maze
- Jump Jump Jump — with ItaloBrothers and Captain Curtis
Comin’ to Getcha, which was dated 2022 in the original biography, was actually released in 2020.
On Jump Jump Jump in 2024, W&W combined jumpstyle, trance and progressive-oriented elements in a significantly faster festival format.
Viral experiments and a new audience
In 2025, W&W began actively integrating internet memes and ultra-fast rave arrangements into their performances.
One of the most notable examples was OIIA OIIA (Spinning Cat). Video clips featuring the track spread widely across social media.
Their versions and live experiments with viral internet motifs developed in the same direction. W&W themselves noted that this type of material helped introduce electronic dance music to a younger audience.
Against the backdrop of this phase, W&W ranked No. 18 in DJ Mag Top 100 DJs 2025, climbing three places compared with the previous year.
W&W in 2026
In 2026, the duo continued releasing music and developing Rave Culture. Releases from this period included Rave From Outer Space with Scooter and Jump To The Stars with AXMO. The official W&W and Rave Culture pages continue to present the project as an active mainstage duo.
In March 2026, Willem van Hanegem announced a temporary break from touring, explaining that he needed time to recover from accumulated physical and emotional exhaustion and focus on his health. During this period, Wardt continued to perform at some of W&W’s scheduled shows.
The break applied to Willem’s touring activity and did not mean the end of W&W or Rave Culture.
Musical style
W&W’s history can be broadly divided into several overlapping directions.
Trance
In early releases such as Mustang, Arena, Mainstage and Impact, the foundation was trance and tech trance with large-scale synth melodies and heavier rhythms.
Big room and mainstage EDM
Beginning with Lift Off!, Thunder, Jumper and especially Bigfoot, W&W’s music moved much closer to big room and festival electro house.
Hard dance and rave
Later releases increasingly incorporated influences from hardstyle, hands up, happy hardcore, techno and other high-energy genres.
NWYR
Through NWYR, the musicians preserved a separate trance direction focused on modern anthem trance and progressive trance.
The existence of these parallel directions makes it more accurate to view W&W not as a project that once simply “switched from trance to big room”, but as a duo that has continuously moved between trance culture and festival mainstage music.
Festivals and live activity
Throughout their career, W&W have performed at some of the largest events in the international electronic music scene, including:
- Tomorrowland
- Ultra Music Festival
- Electric Daisy Carnival
- Amsterdam Music Festival
- Creamfields
- Parookaville
- Airbeat One
Their festival sets are usually built around more than just their own singles. W&W actively use mash-ups, bootlegs and special live versions of tracks, so a significant portion of the material heard in their sets may never receive an official release.
Main discography
Studio albums
- Impact — 2011
Selected W&W tracks
- Mustang
- Arena
- Mainstage
- Impact
- AK-47
- Invasion (ASOT 550 Anthem)
- Lift Off!
- The Code — with Ummet Ozcan
- D# Fat — with Armin van Buuren
- Thunder
- Jumper — with Hardwell
- Bigfoot
- Arcade — with Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
- Live the Night — with Hardwell and Lil Jon
- Chakra — with Vini Vici
- Rave Culture
- Ready to Rave — with Armin van Buuren
- Rave Love — with AXMO
- Rave Superstar — with AXMO and Haley Maze
- Jump Jump Jump — with ItaloBrothers and Captain Curtis
Significance
W&W hold a notable place in the history of European electronic music because of their rare connection to two distinct eras of the mainstage scene.
In the late 2000s, they emerged from the international trance scene and received early support through A State of Trance and Armada Music. In the first half of the 2010s, the duo became one of the key participants in the festival electronic music shift toward big room and mainstage EDM, and later restored an independent trance direction through NWYR.
Rave Culture allowed W&W to develop this model further by bringing big room, trance, hardstyle, techno, their own events and a radio show under one brand. By the mid-2020s, W&W remain one of the most recognizable Dutch festival projects, maintaining a connection both to the trance culture from which they emerged and to the contemporary mainstage scene.
