Real name Harry Agius, Midland grew up in Tanzania, where his father worked as an engineer, and Greece. He boarded at
Downside School from the age of 13 in
Somerset and later went to university in
Leeds. In 2003, Agius heard a
drum and bass mix tape of
Andy C at Slammin' Vinyl, inspiring him to learn the craft of DJing. An avid
drum and bass fan, he purchased his first set of
Technics turntables and upon moving to Leeds was offered a graveyard slot on the
Leeds' local Pirate radio station 'Radio Frequency' under his first moniker, Apt Pupil. He went on to play a nights such as Momentum, Metropolis and Subdub, playing on the Valve Soundsystem warming up for DJs such as Grooverider, Andy C and Dillinja. After graduating and moving to Leeds, he connected with like-minded producers and DJs, including
Pearson Sound,
Ben UFO, and
Pangaea, and regularly attended nights such as Exodus, Subdub, Louche, and Back to Basics. In 2013 he founded his label Graded in 2013 as an output for his own productions. His first release as Midland was a collaboration with
Pearson Sound (then Ramadanman) back in 2010, 'Your Words Matter' on Fink and
Will Saul's label Aus Music. He went on to release his 'Play The Game' EP on
Phonica Records in the same year, 'Bring Joy' on More Music in 2011, an untitled
techno EP with Pariah on Work The Long Nights in 2012. His track 'Trace' on Aus Music became somewhat of a breakthrough in 2013. Tracks such as Archive 01, Realtime and Drumtrak all followed on his Graded imprint. He has remixed artists such as Mano Le Tough, Darkstar, Lone and Julio Bashmore - and has been remixed by Grain, Leon Vynehall and Motor City Drum Ensemble. In 2018, he founded another sub-label entitled Intergraded, with a focus on emerging artists. His 2016 track 'Final Credits' became
Mixmag's 2016 'Song Of the Year'
[4], and in 2016 he was awarded
BBC Radio 1's
Essential Mix of the Year
[5]
[6] for his 2-hour 2016 mix entry
[7]. He has recorded mixes for Fact Magazine, Beats In Space, XLR8R and Resident Advisor amongst others. In 2017 he was announced as the creator of
Fabric's 94th instalment of their
Fabriclive mix CD series (
Fabriclive 94)
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
[14], with a launch party in September 2017
[15]
[16]. The mix CD received positive reviews (8.0) from music editorials like Pitchfork
[18], DJ Mag (9/10), XLR8R (8/10)
[19]and Mixmag (8/10). In 2018, Midland featured in Resident Advisor's 'Between The Beats' film series, which follows DJs on tour to explore life on the road. As a touring DJ he's played at venues and parties around the world, including
Fabric (London),
Berghain/
Panorama Bar (Berlin), Macarena Club (Barcelona), Concrete (Paris), Electric Pickle (Miami), Jaeger (Oslo), De School (Amsterdam), Le Sucre (Lyon), DC10 (Ibiza) and
Pikes Hotel (Ibiza). He's played at a number of festivals including
Glastonbury and Field Day (UK), Dekmantel and Lowlands (Netherlands), Let Them Eat Cake (Australia), Love International (Croatia), Montreaux Jazz Festival (Switzerland) and
Rob Da Bank's
Bestival (UK). In January 2019, Midland was announced as the cover star of Mixmag magazine's February issue. ==Personal life==