Michael Stonebank

Michael Stonebank, known professionally as Stonebank, is a Peterborough-born DJ, songwriter and electronic music producer. Best known for his long association with the Canadian record label Monstercat, he has built an international following through high-energy releases spanning UK hardcore, electro house, drum and bass, dubstep, hardstyle and melodic electronic music.

Rather than allowing one genre to define him, Stonebank has made versatility his signature. A release might combine euphoric vocals and soaring melodies with the speed of happy hardcore, while the next could move into powerful bass music, atmospheric house or festival-scale hard dance.

His music has reached audiences through international festivals, online music communities and some of the world’s most popular video games. Yet the beginning of his career can be traced back to Peterborough, where his early fascination with electronic music developed into an increasingly serious passion for production.

• UK hardcore
• Happy hardcore
• Hardstyle
• Electro house
• Drum and bass
• Dubstep

Peterborough-born, globally followed

Stonebank’s catalogue resists a single description, and that is deliberate. The through-line is not a genre but an approach: technical precision, strong melody, and an appetite for finding out what a track wants to become rather than deciding in advance.

It is an approach that has carried his music from bedroom production software to festival main stages, and into games played by millions of people who may never set foot in a club.

From Peterborough to music production

Born in Peterborough on 17 December 1987, Stonebank grew up listening to the British hardcore music that flourished during the 2000s. As a teenager, he was particularly inspired by the Clubland X-Treme Hardcore compilation series and producers including Darren Styles, Breeze, Hixxy and Gammer.

While studying graphic design at university, he was introduced to the FL Studio music-production software. What began as a hobby soon became an obsession. He started recreating the fast rhythms, powerful synthesiser leads and uplifting melodies he heard in UK hardcore, gradually developing the technical ability to produce professional releases of his own.

Stonebank later recalled that he began seriously listening to hardcore at around the age of 16 or 17. His work subsequently appeared on the same Clubland X-Treme Hardcore compilation series that had originally inspired him, bringing his early career full circle. UKF’s interview with Stonebank provides the fullest account of these formative years.

Modulate, Rocket Pimp and the search for creative freedom

Before adopting Stonebank as his principal professional name, Michael released music under two separate identities.

Maintaining separate identities allowed Stonebank to work across different scenes, but it also restricted him. Promoters and audiences associated each name with a particular sound. He eventually decided to bring everything together under his own surname, allowing him to move freely between genres without having to create another identity for each musical direction.

From 2014 onwards, Stonebank became the name under which that freedom could flourish.

Joining Monstercat

Stonebank’s relationship with Monstercat began with “Eagle Eyes”, featuring vocalist EMEL, released on 28 April 2014. Its combination of melody, emotion and energetic production established several qualities that would become central to his later work. Monstercat: “Eagle Eyes”

Further releases followed, including “Moving On”, “Holding On to Sound” and “Stronger”. Released in January 2015 and again featuring EMEL, “Stronger” reconnected Stonebank with his hardcore roots at a time when he had considered moving away from the genre. Its reception demonstrated that UK hardcore could find an enthusiastic new audience through Monstercat’s international community. The official Monstercat video has since accumulated more than 28 million views.

Later in 2015, Stonebank released his five-track Monument EP. Each track explored a different aspect of his production, moving between styles rather than presenting a single uniform sound. The result was an effective statement of his creative identity: Stonebank would be defined by the quality and energy of his music, not by its genre. Monstercat: Monument

Stonebank and EMEL

Vocals have played an important part in Stonebank’s music, particularly through his creative partnership with his wife, the singer and songwriter EMEL, also known as Marie Louise.

Their collaborations include “Eagle Eyes”, “Moving On”, “Stronger”, “Be Alright”, “Lift You Up”, “Ripped to Pieces”, “Coming on Strong”, “Good for Me” and “Rescue Me”. EMEL’s expressive vocals provide an emotional centre for Stonebank’s powerful electronic production, creating songs that balance the scale and intensity of festival music with memorable melodies and personal feeling.

The partnership has continued across different periods of Stonebank’s career. In 2021, Stonebank and EMEL collaborated with the Danish-Norwegian production duo Pegboard Nerds on “Falling Apart”, followed by a VIP version in 2022. Monstercat released their later collaboration “Rescue Me” in July 2023. Explore Stonebank’s releases on Monstercat

Collaborations and new directions

Stonebank’s ability to adapt has made him a natural collaborator. His work includes releases with Pegboard Nerds, Gammer, Rogue, Slippy, Muzz and Darren Styles, as well as vocalists including EMEL, Concept, Ben Clark, Bianca and Lena Sue.

In 2017, he joined Darren Styles to create the collaborative project Zero Hero. Their releases included “Bass Drop”, which appeared on Monstercat Uncaged Vol. 1, and “Twilight”, which formed part of the first Rocket League x Monstercat collection. Monstercat: Uncaged Vol. 1

Stonebank has also worked behind the scenes as a writer and producer for other artists. His most commercially successful crossover credit came in 2019 with “Ritual”, performed by Tiësto, Jonas Blue and Rita Ora. Michael Stonebank was credited as both a writer and producer on the track, which became a UK Top 25 hit and remained on the Official Singles Chart for 19 weeks. Official Charts: “Ritual”

This achievement demonstrated that his skills extended beyond the harder electronic styles with which he was most closely associated. The production combined dance music with a polished pop structure capable of reaching mainstream radio audiences around the world.

Music in video games

Stonebank’s music has developed a particularly strong connection with gaming. Monstercat’s extensive partnerships with games and digital platforms introduced his work to listeners who may never have encountered it through a conventional club or festival.

From the studio to international festivals

Stonebank’s career is rooted in production, but his music is designed to have a powerful impact when performed live. His sets move across hardcore, hardstyle, bass music and other electronic genres, reflecting the same freedom that characterises his recorded work.

He has performed for large international audiences, developing a particularly strong following within Australia’s hard-dance community. Appearances have included KARNiVAL, HTID and Knockout Outdoor at Sydney Showground, described by its organisers as the largest harder-styles festival in the Southern Hemisphere. HSU Events: Knockout Outdoor

Stonebank has also shared his expertise with aspiring producers. His production masterclasses have explored subjects including sound design, mixing and the creation of the layered synthesiser leads heard throughout his music. In 2018, he demonstrated his approach to hardcore synthesis in a masterclass published by Point Blank Music School and DJ Mag. Watch the masterclass

A producer who refuses to stand still

Stonebank’s career has been shaped by an unwillingness to remain within fixed musical boundaries. His catalogue can be melodic and emotional, dark and forceful, playfully experimental or intensely energetic. What connects it is his technical precision, strong musicality and enthusiasm for discovering what a new track might become.

That approach has taken him from experimenting with music software while studying graphic design to releasing internationally recognised records, working with major figures in electronic music and pop, performing on festival stages and contributing to global gaming soundtracks.

For Peterborough, Stonebank represents a contemporary strand of the city’s creative story. He is an artist whose early interests were nurtured locally but whose music has travelled far beyond the city, reaching dancefloors, festivals, studios and gaming communities around the world.