Exclusive interview with the superhero of dance music
Hey Luke welcome back to DMC towers, where in the world are you right now?
“Thanks for having me back, always a pleasure. I’m in Miami now. Last night was my Super You&Me party at Liv hosted with Kim Kardashians birthday party. It was a wild one!”
Is it true that you decorated your living room at home to look like a hotel room suite to feel at home due to all of the traveling you do?!?!?
“Ha ha wow, word spreads around! Yes it’s true! My house is like that. I do feel at home in hotelrooms, I just spend so much time a year in hotels. They are really comfortable to me and I want to feel as comfortable at home as I am on the road. I’m only home for four days a month, the rest is all hotels.”
You have just enjoyed another fabulous Mixmash Records label night at ADE. What was the highlight of the night?
We had many highlights that night. The level of DJing was incredible. Everyone we had played a proper festival set. It was like a mini Tomorrowland in Amsterdam. With that kind of a loud vibe from the crowd too. Which is exceptional for the typical Dutch crowd. I also found it heartwarming that a lot of the new talent we have signed to the label found each other there, connected and hung out.”
Where else did you go partying – did it get messy?
“I don’t do getting messy anymore. I had my fair share back in the days where I tried it and tried to combine it with my schedule. It’s undoable though. And the way I am is either I do something full on or I don’t. There’s no middle ground.
So that’s why I just don’t anymore. My ADE schedule was packed though and in between I played shows out of town. Rotterdam on the Thursday and two shows on Friday in Vienna and Bratislava. The Mixmash Records party on the Saturday, while my afternoons were filled with ADE panels. So there wasn’t much time to check anything out I’m afraid.”
What was the tune of the conference?
“Good question! Although I received a lot of music, I really didn’t get the chance to hear properly what other DJs were playing.”
What is coming next from the label release wise?
“We just passed our 100th release on Mixmash which we celebrated during ADE. It’s a cheeky cover by DBN called ‘Gotta Get Through This’. Coming up I’m very happy to have John Dahlback on the label with his release ‘Get Wild’
and after is a ‘Ones To Watch vol. 7’ which features new and up and coming names like Blink, DJ Slider, Phat Deuce and Reuben Keeney.”
Have you got over your phobia of the UK clubbers disturbing you wanting high fives when you are DJing?
Ha ha that’s such an original question! And funny you know of it too Dan. It’s not a phobia. It’s how I handle Twitter. I’m just try to be very nice and when someone reaches out I just want to respond properly. So with a high five, I want to give a high five back. With my style of DJing, it’s very hard to be as technical and fast as I am, entertain the crowd and do that as well. But the biggest problem with high fives is that the same people come back for more. Or just keep their hand there the whole set as if I didn’t do it to them. So the same goes for me there as well. Either I go all the way or I don’t. So I tend to not do any anymore unfortunately.”
What has been your anthem of the summer?
“I think the biggest for me was my remix of Rita Ora – How We Do. It has a very big staple on my performance at Tomorrowland which was the festival of the summer for me.”
You once said that you felt the Terrace at Amnesia was the right spot on the island for you. How was 2012 for you in comparison to the previous year?
“It was definitely bigger and better this year even. We stepped up the Super You&Me concept, brought more decoration and people handling it properly for us. The season was amazing again. The support I get over there is incredible, here’s my thanks to an amazing season to everyone that came and was involved!”
Where else did you check out on the white island this year?
“With the summer schedule being insane, almost a show every day, it’s very hard to spend some proper time on the island. I do actually go on a little vacation in Ibiza every summer with the family so I finally got to check out Ibiza Rocks for instance. Which was fun! I also had my first look at Ushuaia this year.”
You are returning to the UK on Boxing Day for Cream which is always one of the best dates on the clubbing calendar – you are spinning with Nicky Romero and Hardwell – what are you looking forward to about the night?
“I feel I have a huge following in Liverpool. Wherever I play in the UK, if it’s Birmingham, Manchester or London even, people will travel down in big groups to come and see me play. I’m an adopted Scouser is what they call me. So in that sense Cream Boxing Day feels like coming home!”
Where will you be spending Christmas this year?
“I’ll be spending it with family, I deliberately blocked the 24th and 25th do have some proper family time. And then I’ll be touring from the 26th till New Years Eve after.”
What are your thoughts on the UK club scene compared to the rest of the world at the moment?
“It’s still very good for me to be honest! Most of my shows sell out really well and the vibe is one of the best in the world! What I like about the UK too is that the music is so deeply rooted. I’m a cheesy bastard and I love a lot of mainstream music. I’m not trying to be too cool for school, I like my music to be fun. Worldwide, my crowd likes the fun that I bring with that kind of taste too. Most UK crowds seem to be a bit more serious. As I’m very much in touch with my crowd through Twitter, I often get UK feedback that I need to play less commercial. Which is a luxury to me to do so and brings me back to my old school roots. It’s a good thing!”
Has your skills at Kung Fu and Tai Chi ever come in handy?
“They come in handy every single day. My Kung Fu and Tai Chi is in everything I do. It’s one of the reasons I can keep up with this hectic lifestyle and not go nuts. It keeps my body, mind and breathing healthy and I’m able to take on crazy deadlines while answering kids on Twitter, give feedback on demos and playing shows every day on an average of four hours of sleep a night. I don’t use it to be a bully, although it’s a martial art, the fighting aspect is certainly not the main purpose of me doing it.”
You do a lot of travelling. Have you ever had any embarrassing moments at airport security looking in your suitcase?
“Ha ha not really! Well, there was this one time when I was traveling to Ibiza for Super You&Me at Cream Amnesia where I was dressing up as Luke Skywalker. They needed to check my bag at security and pulled out the light sabre that came with the costume and swung it around. Quite a few people saw it and laughed at me for carrying that around in my suitcase.”
Love it! Who are the DJs you always enjoy bumping into on tour as you know you will be able to let your hair down and have some fun with…
“I’ve been bumping a lot into Hardwell during the summer and really enjoy interacting with him. He’s a nice and genuine kid and he always shows me a lot of respect. Same goes for Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano, such good people. Real people and real DJs, in this for the right reasons.”
What was your reaction to Sander Van Doorn being signed to Jay Z’s label in the States. Honestly?
“Oh wow, is that what happened? I got accused of it the other day on Twitter but I think someone mixed us two up since we do look a little alike. I don’t even know what that means man. We’ve been talking to his label too but couldn’t really make it work.”
With an American company offering $100 million for the Sensation brand – do you think it is getting a little scary now with the Americans coming in and snapping up anybody they want?
“I don’t know what’s bad about it to be honest? It just means the music is getting bigger and bigger. And this music deserves to be as big as Rock & Roll and Hip Hop. It needs that same place in the history books and it’s well on its way. With blowing up like that, it also flows into other directions, like a healthy underground scene, which is a counter reaction to that. It just all adds up in the end. I might be a bit worried about it imploding as quick as it came, but I’m not seeing that coming very soon to be honest.”
Nicky Romero said in an interview recently that he preferred playing to an American crowd to an Ibiza one. He said they are more knowledgable about their music. What are your thoughts on that?
“Wow that’s quite the quote! He must have compared them to a Guetta crowd, because in all fairness, that’s a very different crowd than the real Ibiza crowd. The real Ibiza crowd is way more knowledgable than the average American crowd. I’ve been playing the US since 1998 and Ibiza since 2000. Nicky is quite a new DJ in the circuit though so I’m not sure if he experienced Ibiza back in the day. Nicky’s American crowd is a new crowd too and they are probably pretty logged into what he plays and puts out. While the Ibiza crowd is wider in taste. I have people coming to my shows while they also go to Richie Hawtins party and Ibiza Rocks for instance.”
What is the current top 10 you are spinning?
1. Dj Hyperactive Wide Open (Len Faki DJ Edit)
2. Calvin Harris Ft Florence Sweet Nothing (Extended Mix)
3. Avicii & Sebastien Drums My Feelings For You (Angger Dimas Bambu Remix)
4. Laidback Luke & Lee Mortimer Strobelight
5. Alvaro Make The Crowd GO
6. Aston Shuffle WGL (Tommy Trash mix)
7. Mata Shaman (Original Mix)
8. Van Toth Ai Novinha (Moska Remix)
9. GT & Christian Luke Begin ft. Mr Wilson (Tony Junior Remix)
10.Hardwell & Showtek How We Do
When was the last time you cried listening to a record?
“Probably back in 2010 right after my divorce. It was a rough time for me and the album Alicia Keys put out then is a tough one for me.”
What have you already confirmed for 2013…
“Looking in my agenda I see we have Creamfields in Brazil planned for January and doing something exciting and big in London as well. A one off thing!”
And finally, what is your favourite festival story of 2012?
Well my favourite festival was Tomorrowland where I hosted a Super You&Me area. We had the secret back to back to back planned with myself, Martin Solveig and Chuckie dressed up as Superman, Batman and Spiderman. I just remember doing the interview with Chuckie and out of nowhere he mentioned he had a boner while getting into the costume. Pretty awkward on camera lol.”
http://www.laidbackluke.com
http://www.superyouandme.com
http://laidbackluke.hyves.nl
http://www.mixmashrecords.com
http://www.soundcloud.com/laidbackluke
Cream Boxing Night Special @ Nation – Liverpool
Wednesday 26th December 2012
Main Room
Laidback Luke
Nicky Romero
Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano
Anthony Probyn
Special Guest: Hardwell
Courtyard
Ferry Corsten
Markus Schulz
Gareth Wyn
Rob Harnetty
Annexe
Paul Bleasdale
Jemmy
Andy Mac
Lee Ellis
Event Info:
Nation, 1-3 Parr Street, Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool, L1 4JJ. Tickets: £30+BF On Sale Now. Times: 10pm – 6am (last entry 1am), Sawmill Bar open from 9pm. Info: www.cream.co.uk / Tel: 0151 707 1309.
Tickets available from:-
www.ticketmaster.co.uk / Tel: 0844 847 1727 (24hr)
www.ticketline.co.uk / 0844 888 4401
