A musician since childhood, Xander has long dabbled in every form of music presented to him. His earliest memories of music involve his father singing old folk songs while playing a flamenco guitar. Xander also spent many days listening to his mother's collection of opera, medieval and folk songs, and her beloved Pavarotti. Although violin lessons were an important part of his childhood, Xander spent much time listening to more popular music like Sting, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Metallica and Pink Floyd. With music in his blood, Xander picked up electric bass in high school, played in combos and joined the jazz band.

Shortly after starting a Violin Performance degree in college, Xander helped form the rock/metal band Void Cathedral. Playing bass for the band, Xander conceived of joining his two areas of interest and experimented with adding violin to the rock/metal format. Xander's chief concern was that violin, when added to modern music, was usually treated like a fiddle or relegated to "ethereal-background-angels-singing-type-stuff." Neither style suited Xander's aggressive darker nature.

To break away from the acoustic nature of "fiddle-violin", Xander built his first electric violin using his own design, some parts from a garage sale violin, and his father's tools. By coordinating bass-duties with another guitarist in the band, he was able to start exploring his ideas and Void Cathedral started featuring songs with Xander on electric violin.

During his tenure with Void Cathedral, Xander first met and stared working independently with Bella and Jace, although the three were yet to join forces. After graduating from college, Xander decided to move in order to find a better environment to explore his musical ideas. Chicago had long appealed to him as a town with "soul", the seat of Electric Blues, and, most importantly, a big city with a thriving music scene. After arriving in Chicago, Xander spent several years exploring his musical style, refining his electric violin design, and dabbling in blues and Irish fiddle.

Xander currently cites David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) as his greatest influence in terms of soloing style, and German industrial metal band Rammstein as a primary influence for their no-holds-barred tone and driving musical feel.

Xander plays Gibson Thunderbirds through Ampeg amps, and uses Fender and Mesa Boogie amps for his custom made electric violins.