Laidback Luke on the Power of Interaction, What is Ruining the EDM Industry, and the Importance of Knowing Your Crowd
Laidback Luke is a veteran of the industry who brings fire to the stage every time he performs. Crowds around the world go crazy during his sets as well as after in retrospect, and it’s not due to him jumping on his booth. A notable figure in the EDM scene since the mid-90s and one of the kindest most genuine souls in the industry, it comes as no surprise that he’s part of the very few that reached the highest tiers of the music ladder. Choosing to act as a mentor for people not just in music, his personal connection to his fans is strong and true, proving that humility, respect as well as dedication still exist in the DJ sphere.
Through both his deep dives vlog series and his label Mixmash Records, Laidback Luke constantly nurtures new talent by pushing their craft and advising them on how to evolve and navigating the scene as artists. Outspoken but fair while remaining tactful, he built a musical empire around his multi-level artistry that gives back and teaches that having grit combined with hard work pays off.
As always, it is a pleasure to see you again Luke. Welcome back to Montreal! At this point, you’ve been here so many times, how does it feel to be back? Is it more like a familiar vibe or it always feels like a new experience?
Thank you! Yeah more like the latter, I’ve been here so many times but it’s been over a decade now, I think I even came here on a bus tour back in the days. Obviously when New City Gas first opened I was here as well, it was just out of pipeline, and it still smelled like paint! (laughs) But yeah the crowd changes every single time. Some people don’t go anymore, you have the dedicated fans and then new people decide to check it out. There’s always new developments going on and you can see that. The music also changes, obviously.
It’s crazy to see, honestly. I’ve been coming to your shows since the beginning and the crowd just evolves constantly. You have your die-hards and then a wave of new fans. I discovered you with your song Natural Disaster, and a week later you were playing here. Any time you come back, do you struggle deciding if you should play your new material only, or the classic tracks that define your style? How do you set the ratio?
It’s interesting because as an artist, you do actually work on new music all the time and you can’t wait to play the new stuff. I have such a long career, it was only maybe last month that I realized that I need to make a playlist with all my classics in there. Because I was speaking to someone who said he put on some Jay Hardway, but Jay Hardway was playing Bassjackers songs, and those two acts are friends so he likes these guys’ songs. But the promoter said “no I booked Jay Hardway, I want to hear Jay Hardway songs” and funny enough, it only struck me then. I was like “okay when people are coming to a Laidback Luke show, they want all Laidback Luke stuff” so I’m now only finally doing that (laughs) putting more of my classics in my sets.
The things is, I have a few anchor points : for instance if I play and I see that the crowd doesn’t know my MSTRKRFT remix or if I drop Dirty Talk and people don’t know it, then I’m like okay this is a crowd that didn’t come for me. Because I see no reaction. So then I’m free to play anything by anyone, but if it’s the die-hards then I’m like okay you know my classics? Then you get all my classics.
As we both pointed out, you’ve been around for a while in this industry; your career has been going strong for over a decade. As an OG of this movement, what would you say is something that the new DJs, people that have had a come-up very quickly, don’t realize or take for granted?
Great question. What I think is a shame is that when I scroll down my Instagram feed nowadays, I constantly see DJs standing on top of the DJ booth. It’s like a trend or something, maybe they feel powerful doing that – I personally have no clue what it has to do with DJing. And I hate it when I see it, I can’t help it. Some DJs think that grabbing the mic and standing on top of the booth and looking like a singer, they think this is how DJs look like nowadays. And it’s crazy! I actually think this is very destructive for DJing. I don’t feel like the crowd says “oh I was so entertained by this DJ, he was standing on top of the DJ booth all night, and I had the best time of my life”. No, the crowd had an amazing night because he played the right songs, or he gave them the right vibes. Even with our new talents [in the label], I tell them leave the mic! Don’t stand on the DJ booth! And they tell me yeah but this and that… So kids think that’s part of it. And I feel now, after the EDM boom, some venues are struggling a bit with filling up the place, and I think we are destroying this music with all the news acts coming in, thinking this is the way of performing this music. So yeah I’m very serious about this, this hurts me.
Absolutely, I know you feel strongly about this topic. The whole debate about what is a DJ and what is a producer, I know you weighed in on this as well. My opinion aligns with yours on this, some people don’t mind paying money to see someone jumping on the booth and chilling because they enjoy pyrotechnics and confetti, but that’s not what makes an electronic show good.
Exactly. It’s interesting you say that because, as much pyro and confetti and CO2 there is, I’ve never heard people coming back from a show saying “oh man I went to DJ whatever and the pyro was incredible. I had such a good time, the CO2 made my night.” No, it’s the basics of it. The vibe, if you heard your favorite song, or if the DJ was able to catch you and bring you to another level. This has nothing to do with the lightshow or production. Furthemore I’ve had an experience at EDC music festival where they turned off all the lights. I had no pyro, no fireworks, I only had my music. It was an early slot. When I don’t see the people move, I will bring my best to make them move, so I made them move and they had the time of their lives, and people said my set was one of the best of the festival, even without all those things. So yeah, it’s all about the music, that’s the core of it.
Do you think we’ll be able to outgrow that trend and go back to what it was before? How DJs saw the craft before? Because the fact that nowadays there are many more one hit wonders in the EDM scene that don’t come from the same values, it does affect how the industry is evolving.
See, for instance, someone like Carl Cox. He’s not standing on top of the DJ booth (laughs) the pyro around his shows doesn’t define him. Carl Cox is an incredible DJ, and he’s going to stay, he’s amazing. That should be the example, not the one hit wonders. Can you imagine Carl Cox standing on top of the DJ booth? That would be the weirdest sight.
It would be odd, almost concerning. You know he actually talked about the whole new era of EDM, and the DJ Mag situation, and he asked to have his name removed from the list because he doesn’t identify with what the scene stands for anymore. I found it very telling that it came from someone so authentic to speak up about this list and how it’s only a popularity contest.
I’ve done the same, I’m out of the list, and I’m not even going to talk about it anymore. It’s just ridiculous. You know, it’s a sad thing because there are so many young DJs that spend so much money on their campaign and buying ads from DJ Mag, and they compel you to invest in them, and then they will give you a good place in the top 100. It’s sad there are a lot of young DJs that think that that’s the way, when it has nothing to do with anything.
It only takes one hit to breakthrough. That’s all you need, you don’t need the DJ Mag, you don’t need to stand on the DJ booth. Look at Fisher this year or Medusa right now.
This ties in perfectly with me asking you about one positive thing you enjoy in this industry and one negative thing you wish we could change. I can already tell that the past answer was geared towards what needs improvement, but what would you say is one thing that you like from this scene?
Positive thing I think is the industrialization of careers, where you have a dedicated team of managers, booking agents, PR, working together to support an act.
Is that fairly recent?
Yeah like in the last 4 years you can see that if a new talent comes through with the whole team, the Instagram looks amazing, their social media channels are on point, music is great. That’s pretty much the only one thing I can name, because other than that, man, it’s crazy. You have people ghost-producing new talent now, and the new talent is on stage pressing a button. And I don’t want to sound very negative but I want to sound very real. So this is why I’m really happy with people like Fisher coming through. Fisher who is more of a DJ, obviously he does a lot of things with Chris Lake, but that’s more of an organic thing. I’ve seen Chris struggle from stepping out of EDM and pushing more his deep house vibes, and right now is their moment. And it’s amazing, after years of struggle. But it gets crazy, with people being ghost-produced and then they don’t even play their own sets. What are we pushing? Are we pushing an image, are we pushing the Instagram? And it’s interesting, because I will absolutely admit that I’m not from this generation. My generation, it was about talent : if you had talent, you had a career. Now it’s about if you have the team, then you have a career.
I think you use socials very well though, but you make it a point to speak your truth. You’re one of the DJs that interacts the most with their fans, and through your vlogs and your YouTube videos, it is very impressive how much you let them in and communicate with them. The fact that you take time to do so, even though you’re already at the top, speaks volumes. What made you decide to dive so deep in trying to connect as much as possible, as frequently as possible with you audience?
I’ve always been like this, ever since I was small. For instance, my forum where Avicii had his start and where a lot of the professionals came from, this came from me interacting with them when they had no names. I’ve always enjoyed human interaction like that, and seeing people grow. Take it back to my own. I remember tweeting Erick Morillo once and he answered back, and I was like “wow my day is made!” and I was like wait a second, I can do this for other people. So yeah, if you have that blessing, why not give that back?
I think the most powerful thing in human life is interacting with people and being there to help people. And that’s what I do.
That’s very refreshing to hear, let me tell you. I do have to ask, what’s your oddest interaction or question you’ve gotten? Because you’re so open, I feel like you will answer pretty much any topic.
I think my most extreme one is that I had one of my producer students, him and his girlfriend got pregnant, and he asked me if he should keep the baby. Yeah, so I gave him advice I said “definitely keep the baby” and you know me, I’m a dedicated dad, so of course that spoke to me. I remember once I gave Deorro advice. He was a male nurse, and he said “should I keep my job and do music on the side, or should I go full-out with music?” and I said “you should go all out” because I heard he had talent, he had a couple of records bubbling up, and look where it got him now. No money can match that, this is like moments in history that are huge, and I was a part of it and I’m so happy I was!
You are an honest voice for a lot of people, and that’s something people really appreciate about you. We are currently in this era where constructive criticism is not perceived well, everyone gets offended easily, so I’m grateful to see that in this world of pyro and showing off, there is a handful of real people that are very successful. When I ask people about what they think of your music, the word that often comes up is “refreshing”, even though you’ve been around for a long time, so that says a lot about your energy as a whole. That word is usually used for a new act coming up.
Wow thank you! It’s great to hear, I don’t do this to prove anything, that is just how I am, but it’s always very appreciated when people do understand and it translates well. I have amazing fans and I’m grateful for them.
Can you remember a time where you were starstruck when you met someone? It can be an artist, an actor or anyone.
Oh yeah absolutely, I don’t really have that many but I was at the airport once in Amsterdam, I was a big fan of K-1 kickboxing league, always watched it on TV and in the Netherlands we have good fighters. So one day I saw a fighter at the airport, his name is Remy Bonjasky, and I was like oh my god! I told my manager I was going to take a picture with him so I went up to him and I was super nervous, I said “Mr Bonjasky I love what you do, can we take a picture?” And he was super chill about it, so I grabbed my phone, my hands were shaking, and I took a picture. I thanked him, he walked away, I look at my phone to pull-up the picture… and I didn’t have a picture! With the shaking of my hand I didn’t hit the button! So I took that experience and sometimes nowadays people are with me and they’ll be shaking asking for a picture, so I say “no problem I can take your phone and take a picture, take your time I’m right here” and make sure to snap that for them (laughs). Whenever someone wants a photo, I say no problem. I never say no. Nothing would suck more than looking up to someone, being starstruck and they say no. That’s terrible.
Is there something you miss from the humble beginnings? Especially since you didn’t have a quick come-up like we talked about earlier, it’s a different path, a different grind.
What I miss is actually having a studio, and being home and making music. I haven’t had that. I just make music on the road. Between touring and my family, that’s how it is. It’s crazy. I miss just making music for days and days and days.
RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS
Montreal is a food capital, what’s your favorite food to grab here?
Oh man I usually eat fit food. I tend to stay in the hotel room because I have so many deadlines, tracks to finish, editing the vlogs, training a bit, so I typically stay in. I haven’t eaten poutine in like 20 years! But in Canada, I actually eat a lot of Tim Hortons, maybe it sounds plain but nowhere else in the world you can get Tim Hortons.
**we proceed to discuss poutine for 10 minutes**
Can we just establish that poutine is the ramen of Canada? (laughs)
I really think so! It doesn’t cost a thing, it’s comfort food, everyone likes it…!
You know what, I think I will head out for some poutine later… It’s not fit food but hey.
Do you prefer indoor or outdoor venues? You’ve played IleSoniq here, which is our EDM festival and you’ve performed at New City Gas countless times.
My standard answer is I don’t mind where it is, as long as I have a crowd that goes wild. That’s it. Even if it’s 5 people. In a living room somewhere, a festival, it doesn’t matter.
What’s the one thing on your rider that you need backstage?
It’s honestly all about the equipment. (laughs) I don’t drink so my answer is not wild like some others. We do have a bottle of champagne and vodka for people walking in with me, but I stick to water. I remember, even when I was on vinyl, all that mattered was to have two vinyl players and a mixer ready.
One thing about Montreal you really enjoy, excluding the crowd and venues?
I’m such a bad tourist, I’ve been coming here for ages and I’ve never really ventured out into the city. The thing with me is I’m just here to play music, and I love seeing people dance, and in between I take time to finish the new tracks. So I never take the time to really enjoy what’s around (laughs) I should really step my game up!
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