Shadow Child says EDM was “a million miles” from his roots: “I hit the reset button”
“Yes, it’s probably a lovely payday but actually I’d be standing there being an actor, because that’s just not what I’m about.”
UK dance music producer and DJ Simon Neale AKA Shadow Child has revealed why he changed his alias from Dave Spoon in 2012.
He discussed his transition during the latest episode of the My Forever Studio podcast, made in partnership with EVO by Audient.
In the show, Shadow Child references the electro house scene that he belonged to under his previous Dave Spoon alias, where he played alongside the scene’s biggest names. He nods to David Guetta and individual members of Swedish House Mafia, Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello as his stablemates.
Shadow Child tells hosts Will Betts and Chris Barker about how he felt a need to rekindle his connection with his original UK-based genres and provide an “antidote” to the EDM and dubstep boom in and around 2012.
“The sound of the time was this electro house sound, which is, to me, just house music, and it takes many different paths sometimes,” he says. “It quickly became what we consider the EDM explosion in America. So, you know, huge stadium filling shows with pyrotechnics, and people standing up and throwing cakes.
“I was just like, ‘you know what, this is a million miles from who I am and what my roots are’, which is in UK underground music: rave, jungle and house, obviously.
“Yes, it’s probably a lovely payday but actually I’d be standing there being an actor, because that’s just not what I’m about.” He then continues to say how artists need to be “slightly self indulgent at times”, and that he had to do what he felt was right for himself. “I hit the reset button,” he explains.
“What I wanted to do was find the antidote to that, which was little basements in East London – 200 people and a sound system that’s too big for the room. That’s where the Shadow Child thing came from.”
The My Forever Studio podcast is a podcast in which guest producers and musicians are invited to explain their dream studio, including dream location and six essential studio items. Listen to episode 51 with Shadow Child here or check out all episodes here.
