A journey through a combination of the darker side of UK Hardcore, Freeform and into Happy Hardcore!

The Dawn Of A New Era

Simon Apex - Dawn of a New Era - UK Hardcore Dj MIx 2002

Evolving from the fabric of the quintessential British council estate to global festival stages, Simon Apex is a driving force in dance music evolution. A ‘90s rave pioneer and pirate radio mainstay, he helped introduce harder styles of EDM to the U.S. and co-created the Breaks & Bass sound fueling today’s Drum & Bass scene.

Discovered by Insomniac’s Pasquale Rotella, Simon became a fixture at festivals like EDC and Nocturnal Wonderland. He co-founded Shrine Studios with Grammy legend Bonzai Caruso and launched ViBE 99.7FM—the #1 FM dance station in the U.S.

In 2023, he partnered with Dolby to build the first dedicated Dolby Atmos Spatial Audio studio for dance music and in 2024 joined Dolbys Spatial Audio Development Team for the applications of spatial audio for live performance reshaping how dance music is produced and experienced.