Local Northern Irish DJ Aaron Semple, known as Midnight Xpress, has found success as he wins a competition to play with world-famous Ben Nicky.
Aaron is a self-taught DJ and producer from Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. His love of the music genres hardstyle, EDM, techno, and trance inspired him to save up and buy a pair of second-hand decks and try his hand at DJing back in 2018.
Breaking into the music industry was challenging for Aaron, and moving to Scotland for Univeristy isolated him from his familiar music scene in Northern Ireland.
Aaron decided to create his brand Edinburgh Underground to break into the music scene in Scotland, as well as his sub-brand Facemelters, which he runs in Northern Ireland.
“I started doing free parties to get my name out there and to start playing live sets.”
“I wasn’t trying to make a job or money out of it. It was just for fun.”
After playing his music at multiple smaller venues, Aaron submitted a set to a competition created by music legend Ben Nicky and placed first with another up-and-coming DJ.
Aaron played for his biggest crowd yet with very few days of preparation and an abundance of nerves.
“I didn’t believe it at the start. It was just such a big shock, and I was so overwhelmed.”
“It was really good, and I had excellent feedback from the set and from the crowd. Everybody loved it, and it was an amazing experience.”
After Aaron’s incredible experience at Ben Nicky’s show, Aaron was later asked to play alongside Maddix (a popular techno DJ) and again at Rong Festival for a crowd as big as 10,000 people.
“My advice for younger people is if you want to go into the music industry, you need to do it for the right reasons. You need to go into it because you love music.”
A second-year journalism student at Ulster Univeristy.
