‘Sandstorm’ creator Darude will be in Columbia this weekend. How it came to be

Last fall, Ricky Werner and his brother-in-law, Russ Rabon, were watching ESPN.

Playing was a segment detailing the creation of “Jump Around” as the unofficial anthem for Wisconsin Badgers Athletics. The 1994 hit by the group “House of Pain” is played before the fourth quarter of every Wisconsin home game — an organic tradition that is now as much a part of the school as the Badger.

The documentary ended with Everlast, the front man for House of Pain, being introduced at Camp Randall Stadium. Then the beat drops. Bum. Bum. Bummmmmm. And Everlast is jumping with 80,000 folks — at least a third of whom weren’t even alive when he released the song.

Watching from Columbia, Rabon looked at Werner.

“We should do this,” Rabon said.

“What do you mean, we?” Werner asked.

“Well,” Rabon responded, “You should do this because you know people.”

And so, Werner — the regional sales manager for the boot and apparel company, Ariat — set out on a mission to replicate what he saw at Wisconsin. To bring the Darude, creator of “Sandstorm,” to Williams-Brice Stadium.

After months of planning and anticipation, Darude will finally be in Columbia on Saturday ahead of the Gamecocks’ contest against Kentucky. The Finnish DJ will perform a pregame set and be South Carolina’s celebrity starter.

“It’s pretty incredible how big and meaningful my track seems to be for the team and the school,” Darude said in an interview on Wednesday with 107.5 The Game. “I wanna feel and see the energy and hear the sound of the crowd. I’ve seen it on video and it looks incredible. You know, I know a little bit about crowd reactions so I just wanna kind of compare and make notes of that.”

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It’s now been 15 years since former South Carolina Chief Marketing and Branding Officer Eric Nichols added “Sandstorm” to the list of about a dozen “Momentum songs” and unleashed it during the Gamecocks’ near-upset of LSU in 2008.

And it has been 14 years since the infamous upset of No. 4 Ole Miss, which launched the unofficial start to “Sandstorm” fever at South Carolina.

The story is now a fable in Columbia, a legend that is starting to get passed down.

With under two minutes remaining, Ole Miss’ offense faced a third and 12. South Carolina needed a pair of stops to secure victory. And then the speakers inside Williams-Brice Stadium blared “Sandstorm.” It was as a euphoric spell washed over the 85,000 in attendance.

The ESPN camera shook as it showed the student section. It looked like every soul inside the place was jumping and fist-pumping like their life depended on it.

“And a rave breaks out in Columbia,” play-by-play man Chris Fowler said on the broadcast.

After a sack, “Sandstorm” played again — and, again — pandemonium washed through the crowd. Seconds later, South Carolina safety Darian Stewart broke up a pass to clinch the upset.

A 32-year-old assistant on that Gamecocks’ team, Shane Beamer does not remember hearing “Sandstorm,’‘ that night.

These days, as he stands on the sidelines as South Carolina’s head coach, there is rarely more than five minutes that pass before it comes over the sound system and practically every fan waves their towel in sync.

“It has exploded from that point,” Beamer said on Wednesday. “And it is synonymous with Gamecock athletics.”

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South Carolina was not the first place to use “Sandstorm” to intoxicate people. If anything, it created copycats, enticed other teams and DJs to blast the song whenever they needed to electrify a crowd.

Werner knew that. He also knew that the song means more to Gamecock fans than anyone else. Which is why he so badly wanted Darude to come to Columbia.

“This was kind of our opportunity to put our stake in the ground,” Werner said. “Vandy plays it. Ole Miss plays it. There’s a lot of pro teams that play it. But this is really where it started in America.”

In December, Werner started calling around to folks at Learfield — which handles South Carolina’s marketing — and asking about what it would take. He received challenges, but never heard a hard “No.” That was good enough.

They got in touch with Darude’s U.S. agent. Then his global agent. And after six months of working through scheduling and money and logistics, a deal was signed to bring Darude to Columbia for the Nov. 18 game against Kentucky.

The contract is in Ariat’s name and it teamed up with retailer Harrison’s to make it happen — splitting the cost 50-50 to make sure Darude finally got to South Carolina.

“It cost less than what you would think,” Werner, who graduated from South Carolina in 1983, said with a chuckle. “We were able to put the deal together and now here we are.

“I knew it was going to be a great fit if we could make it happen,” he said. “Because a lot of people have talked about doing it. But to actually be the guys that sort of made this happen, it’s kind of cool.”

Darude will play an hour-long concert on a stage in Gamecock Village at 4:15 p.m. — the appetizer to a must-win night game at Willy-B.

Settings in college football don’t get much better.

“It’s really, really cool that he will be here to perform live,” Beamer said. “That’s pretty awesome.”

“We’ll do it right before Gamecock Walk when Gamecock Village is kind of its busiest,” said Joe O’Clair, USC’s Assistant AD/Marketing and Fan Experience. “We’re trying to work on some cool things that are a little different so it’s not just him coming on stage to do his DJ set.”

Darude, who’s real name is Toni-Ville Henrik Virtanen, is flying from Helsinki, Finland to London to Charlotte on Friday and will leave Columbia on Sunday to get back to his Finnish tour.

He is not unfamiliar with America, having lived in Atlanta for 13 years. But his college football knowledge is limited. His grasp on South Carolina football is even less. But his most-popular hit has made him a celebrity in a place he’s never been.

This weekend, Darude will finally get to witness how much “Sandstorm” means to South Carolina. And the Gamecocks faithful will, once and for all, be able to claim “Sandstorm” as the song of USC.

“They’re used to playing in front of some big crowds,” Werner said of Darude and his team. “But I challenged them. I said, ‘I don’t think you’ve played in front of a crowd like this.’ … If Dardue comes off the field and says, ‘Wow,’ that might be the measure of success.”

Next USC football game

Who: South Carolina (4-6, 2-5 SEC) vs. Kentucky (6-4, 3-4 SEC)

Where: Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC

When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

TV: SEC Network

Stream: via the ESPN app

Line: Kentucky by 1.5