Simon Neale


Born in Portsmouth UK on 20 January 1977, Simon Christopher Bird is an artist, producer and DJ often credited as Simon Neale who is best known by stage names Shadow Child and Dave Spoon. He's a member of the group 'Lovequest' with Doorly and Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears and also 'MASC', a duo formed with Altern 8 legend Mark Archer. From 2022, Simon became a resident on the re-launched Kool FM with his 'DNA' radio show after a 9 year stint on their parent station, Rinse FM. He was also previously part of the line-up on BBC Radio 1's 'In New DJs We Trust'.

Biography

Simon grew up listening to a mixture of synth-pop and early '90s house and rave, and attended a secondary school in 1989 that had a TB-303 and Juno 60 stashed away in the music room cupboard.
After stints running record shops, teaching music production and DJing south-coast clubs in the UK, he established himself as Dave Spoon on the global dance scene, signing his debut "21st Century" EP to Toolroom Records in 2004. The piano-led "Sunrise EP" soon followed and was snapped up by Seamus Haji's Big Love imprint.
In 2006, Spoon released "At Night". With an added vocal in 2007 from Lisa Maffia, the track crossed over as "Bad Girl " on Universal, earning Spoon his first top 40 hit, with the second coming in 2008 in the form of "Baditude" with collaborators Sam Obernik & Paul Harris from Dirty Vegas.
He followed this with DJ compilations for Ministry of Sound & Toolroom, remixes of songs by artists like Dizzee Rascal and The Pet Shop Boys, and carved out a global DJ career, including a 2 year residency for Cream in Ibiza. His 2008 single "Baditude" entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 34 on downloads alone on 10 August. The following week, the song climbed to No. 29.His own label at the time, 'Televizion' released the Pete Tong collaboration "Gas Face", which was used as title music for the Hammer Horror film Beyond the Rave. The pair went on to work together on several recordings, including a remix for Robyn & Kleerup's 'With Every Heartbeat'.
As Shadow Child, he made his debut in 2012 with "String Thing" on Dirtybird, championed by Eats Everything and Claude VonStroke, but it was his single '23' and remixes of AlunaGeorge and Hot Natured that pushed him to the forefront of the UK's 'Deep House' sound in 2012. At the time, this fresh alias for one of house music's household names turned down an exciting path, fusing underground bass-led grooves with elements of rave, jungle, house and all the quirks and depth you'd expect to hear on the cooler sound-systems around the globe.

Discography

Compilation albums

Extended plays

Singles

As Dave Spoon

  • 2005 "21st Century"
  • 2005 "Front Lounge"
  • 2005 "Who You Are"
  • 2005 "Sunrise"
  • 2005 "Corrupt"
  • 2005 "Regeneration"
  • 2006 "Afterhours"
  • 2006 "Outside"
  • 2006 "Acid Box"
  • 2006 "At Night"
  • 2007 "Sylo"
  • 2007 "Background Noise"
  • 2007 "Drum Box"
  • 2007 "This Machine"
  • 2007 "Won't Do It Again "
  • 2007 "Bad Girl "
  • 2008 "88"
  • 2008 "Liability"
  • 2008 "Baditude"
  • 2009 "Gas Face"
  • 2009 "Ghost Train"
  • 2009 "Lummox"
  • 2009 "The Key"
  • 2009 "The Secret"
  • 2010 "Impure Imagination" ''Unreleased''

    As Shadow Child

  • 2012 "String Thing" Shadow Child EP
  • 2012 "Rustic Chip"
  • 2012 "The Verdict"
  • 2012 "So High"
  • 2012 "Bordertown"
  • 2012 "Comb Over"
  • 2012 "Phil Collins" EP
  • 2012 "23" EP
  • 2012 "Sensible Haircut"
  • 2012 "The Verdict Pt 2"
  • 2013 "The Only One"
  • 2013 "Friday"
  • 2014 "Steak Fingers"
  • 2014 "Climbin'"

    As Avec

  • 2013 "Disappearer"

    Other appearances

Remixes

As Dave Spoon

  • 2005 DJ Philippe B – "Step 2gether"
  • 2005 Southside Hustlers ft. Abigail Bailey – "Right Before My Eyes"
  • 2005 Sueno Soul – "A Better Love"
  • 2005 Juke Joint – "Melody of the Mouth"
  • 2005 Haji & Emmanuel – "Take Me Away"
  • 2006 Robbie Rivera – "Bizarre Love Triangle"
  • 2006 S & V – "King Coaster"
  • 2006 The Timewriter "Reachin' Out"
  • 2006 Arno Cost – "Magenta"
  • 2006 Beta Blokka – "Beta Blokka"
  • 2006 Dagaard & Morane – "Keep on Doing It"
  • 2006 Danny Freakaziod – "You Are The Leading Man"
  • 2006 Antoine Clamaran – "Take Off"
  • 2006 Tyken ft. Awa – "Every Word"
  • 2006 The Officials – "Music"
  • 2006 Golden Girls – "Kinetic"
  • 2007 Vorsprung – "Worth The Wait"
  • 2007 Paul van Dyk ft. Jessica Sutta – "White Lies"
  • 2007 Bump – "I'm Rushin"
  • 2007 Gat Decor – "Passion"
  • 2007 Gold, Diaz & Young Rebels – "Don't You Want Me"
  • 2007 Ethan – "In My Heart"
  • 2007 Robyn with Kleerup – "With Every Heartbeat"
  • 2007 D.O.N.S. – "Big Fun"
  • 2007 Funkagenda – "San Francisco"
  • 2007 Kharma 45 – "Political Soul"
  • 2007 Liquid – "Sweet Harmony"
  • 2007 Richard Grey – "Warped Bass"
  • 2007 Andrea Doria & LXR – "Freak Me"
  • 2007 Cedric Gervais – "Spirit in My Life"
  • 2007 Dave Lee – "Latronica"
  • 2007 Dizzee Rascal – "Flex"
  • 2008 Pet Shop Boys – "Integral"
  • 2008 James Blunt – "1973"
  • 2008 Kaz James – "All Fall Down"
  • 2008 Alphabeat – "Boyfriend"
  • 2008 The Presets – "Talk Like That"
  • 2008 Madonna – "Give It 2 Me"
  • 2009 Cagedbaby – "Forced"
  • 2009 Sour Grapes – "Kharma"
  • 2009 Killa Kella – "Built Like An Amplifier"
  • 2009 Chase & Status feat. Kano – "Against All Odds"
  • 2009 The Ting Tings – "Fruit Machine"
  • 2009 Calvin Harris – "Ready for the Weekend"
  • 2009 VV Brown – "Game Over"
  • 2009 Mr Hudson – "White Lies"
  • 2009 Beyoncé – "Sweet Dreams"
  • 2010 Labrinth – "Let the Sun Shine"

    As Shadow Child

  • 2012 Kid Kombat – "Chinga"
  • 2012 Hardrive – "Deep Inside"
  • 2012 Hadouken! – "Parasite"
  • 2012 Drumsound & Bassline Smith featuring Tom Cane – "Through the Night"
  • 2012 S.K.A.M – "I Got What You Need"
  • 2012 Pedro Mercado & Kerada – "Behind the Sun"
  • 2012 Zombie Disco Squad – "Ibiza Hooligan"
  • 2012 The House Crew – "Keep the Fire Burning"
  • 2012 Miguel Campbell – "Rockin Beats"
  • 2012 A-Trak & Zinc featuring Natalie Storm – "Like the Dancefloor"
  • 2012 The xx – "Angels"
  • 2012 Sub Focus featuring Alpines – "Tidal Wave"
  • 2012 Zoe Xenia & Cari Lekebusch – "Good Love"
  • 2012 The Other Tribe – "Sing with Your Feet"
  • 2012 Justin Martin & Leroy Peppers – "Riding Spaceships"
  • 2012 Hot Since 82 – "Knee Deep in Louise"
  • 2013 Delphic – "Baiya"
  • 2013 Lianne La Havas – "Elusive"
  • 2013 Alix Perez featuring Sam Willis – "Annie's Song"
  • 2013 Hot Natured featuring Anabel Englund – "Reverse Skydiving"
  • 2013 Movement – "Feel Real"
  • 2013 Yousef featuring Charli Taft – "I See"
  • 2013 London Grammar – "Strong"
  • 2013 Javeon – "Lovesong"
  • 2013 AlunaGeorge – "Best Be Believing"
  • 2014 Marlon Hoffstadt & Dansson – "Shake That"
  • 2014 Lena Cullen – "Timeless"
  • 2014 Example – "One More Day "
  • 2014 Duke Dumont – "Won't Look Back"
  • 2016 Jaydee – "Plastic Dreams"