Dan Efex

“I like to play a lot of aggressive trance - stuff that builds up and stuff that breaks down, but always stays uptempo. Depending on the energy and mood of the crowd, I will vary all of this. It just depends on the vibe…” (Massive Magazine)

Dan Efex is well known for his ability to draw a frenzied excitement out of even the mellowest of crowds. It is not uncommon to see fans packed shoulder to shoulder, hands in the air, as he leads them through an energetic and intoxicating journey on the dance floor. There are many who consider him to be one of the founders of the Midwest’s trance scene, a scene that is still strong and growing today. He was one of the first to introduce the Midwest to the soaring build-ups and powerful explosions characteristic of some of his styles of trance. But although Dan is perhaps best known for his trance, do not be fooled -- he is as diverse as he is skilled! His repertoire of past events includes sets with progressive trance, psychedelic trance, hard techno, hard core, hard house, slow breaks, tribal and ambient. He mixes it up and keeps it interesting. His unfailing ability to read the crowd and know precisely what to plug in ensures that he leaves no stragglers behind on his musical excursions.

Dan has been a performer in the electronic dance music scene for more than ten years. Dan made his first public appearance DJing at the one-year anniversary event for one of the best-known promoters in Milwaukee, The Drop Bass Network, in 1993. Even today, people still speak of that explosive performance that put Dan Efex on the map.

From that first public appearance, Dan gained instant recognition and quickly amassed an enormous following. His appearances in nightclubs from coast to coast skyrocketed. Starting in the early days, he appeared at the legendary Tunnel (New York), Rise (Baltimore) and Time (Los Angeles). He has since traveled to more than 50 cities throughout the United States and Canada headlining numerous events with some of the world’s best known DJs including: Richie Hawtin, Sandra Collins, Dave Clarke, Pablo Gargano, Chris Liberator, Nigel Richards, Juan Atkins, Derrick Carter, Joey Beltram and Delta-9 -- to name a few.

Even with an extensive travel schedule, Dan does not neglect his hometown. Dan has a lengthy roster of lounges, events and benefits at which he has headlined. In addition, Dan is a weekly resident at Crobar Chicago and makes frequent appearances at Spundae events, recently playing alongside artists such as Tiesto, Ferry Corsten and BT.

A turning point in Dan’s DJ career came when he met Scott Gianquita and Jason Bloom of Deepsky in 1996. He began his production career working with Scott and quickly signed several tracks to Time Unlimited records out of Germany. Dan has been steadily climbing into the hearts and souls of trance-lovers everywhere. He recently contracted with Nepol Records for some of his newest tracks and completed remixes of well-known tracks such as Sasha’s Wavy Gravy.

With all the activity surrounding Dan, the media quickly picked-up on his mass appeal. Dan has made guest appearances on Energy 92.7 Clubland Underground and Q101’s Sonic Boom, Chicago’s biggest electronic dance music stations.

Dan’s most recent project started in Fall of 2001 when he was contracted to write the theme song for the new Chicago television show Afterhours Television (ATV), a show dedicated to electronic dance music. The show has featured Dan’s performances several times. Due to overwhelming popularity, Dan is now a sound engineer for the show and a resident DJ at all ATV events. The show airs on Friday nights at 11:00 p.m. on WJYS channel 62 in Chicago.