Simon Better Late

Crowd-pulling, dancefloor shaking, headlining house, techno and progressive sets Founder of On Tempo DJ Academy, with over 25 years professional DJ experience and 8 years’ mentoring experience. Simon Boulind, AKA Better Late, has been active on the global DJ circuit for over 25 years. Born in Leytonstone, East London, he played piano from the age of 5 and grew up listening to his parents’ disco, funk and Motown record collection alongside Pete Tong’s Radio 1 show. In his early teens, pirate radio fuelled Simon’s love for house music, and he got a taste for rave culture when his friend’s older brothers took him to illegal raves in and around London. These raves inspired Simon to buy a pair of turntables and teach himself how to DJ, securing his first club residency when he was 18 playing house music at local high street club Billie Jeans in Epping, Essex. He went on to win the DJ of the year competition at the 1500 capacity Atlantis Club aged 19, and from there played at London club institutions EGG, Fluid, Ministry of Sound, The Aquarium, The Warehouse, and Pacha, sharing crisp house music with a smattering of UK garage. Simon honed his skills in a tight-knit, hyper-local community, in a pre-social media era where the only thing that mattered was the music, the vibe and progressing the culture. An early career highlight was playing the Disco Hustlers Stage at Notting Hill Carnival to 10,000 people. Simon spent two years in Brazil in the late ‘00s where he fell in love with tech house, playing regularly on the Brazilian club and festival circuit. In 2013 he relocated to Barcelona and became immersed in underground techno after-parties that began at 6am and continued all day. Simon played house, tech house and techno sets all over the city at clubs like Macarena, Slow Club, Apartment Club, Garage 442, and Blocko 68 as well as a 7-year residency at Ice Bar. He played festivals across Europe including Nowhere Festival and Rebel Phonk in Spain, Boom Festival in Por