Well, you’ve also received a lot of publicity for claiming that DJs shouldn’t adhere to a certain sound, and that they should be more fluid and willing to experiment. You even got a lot of support on that from DJ Pierre. With all the shifts going on in music right now, what do you see holding the most merit in terms of up-and-coming styles?
Laidback Luke: Well, can I just start out by saying thank fucking god techno isn’t going “overground” just like deep house did, because how many horrible remakes of old classic tracks do we have in a deep house/tropical house jacket right now?
Oh, like all the remixes of Robin S’ “Show Me Love?”
Laidback Luke: Robin S’ “Show Me Love,” karaoke version! (laughs) I put out a remix of that song back in 2008, but I have the real Robin S singing on it! We had her in the studio again, and we had a legend singing on the track – and we actually put her in the credits. But now, you have the tropical house version of “Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, or “Missing” by Everything but the Girl. What I’m trying to say is that deep house got really ugly, but let’s just have techno remain the timeless music that it is. Can you imagine techno becoming the overground?
Oh, there’s big room techno. It’s definitely a thing. Shorter buildups, big drops – like big room house without the melodies.
Laidback Luke: Oh, really? Is this like Mark Knight kind of stuff?
I would say the biggest aggressors are Adam Beyer and other Drumcode artists like Joseph Capriati and Nicole Moudaber.
Laidback Luke: Well, in that case, I’m praying for techno, but you know what the thing is, is to just always be genuine. Regardless of any style, it should just not be, like, the easy money maker type. It doesn’t matter what style you are; you can always make it with quality and passion.
No matter what I’ve said about your productions, you’ve always been a very impressive DJ. You demonstrate a lot of turntable skills, like how you can beat juggle and other things like that. Insomniac is apparently trying to redouble the emphasis they put on that, but have you noticed any differences in the way they curate their experience to that end?
Laidback Luke: So, I am not booked for EDC. We’re still good friends with Insomniac, and it’s good that I can explain this to the press because a lot of fans are very let down by how the lineup came up this year. It’s funny because they did this on the 20th anniversary as well, but they are trying to reprogram their lineups. Basically, they don’t want to look and sound like every other festival.
They said to me, “We’re not gonna book you this year, but we’ll book you next year and keep on flipping and switching the lineups,” so I’m not there, but I am super happy to see someone like Kaskade close down Nocturnal Wonderland instead of some guy who has radio hits but isn’t as much of an experience DJ as Kaskade. That’s wonderful, that’s great news. Obviously, being able to make hit records doesn’t mean you’re a good DJ or have a lot of experience as a DJ, so I am happy that there’s room again for real DJs to come in and give the crowd some real DJing.
Dutch DJs have been so prominent in electronic music for so long. For some reason I don’t think of you as belonging to the same category as artists like Tiësto, Dash Berlin, but you are, in fact, a Dutch DJ. How do you personally think you relate to those artists?
Laidback Luke: The thing with me is that I can speak like this (in heavier accent), and this is my normal accent, and I would sound like Hardwell and Tiësto, but I try to hide it. It’s true, I try and hide my Dutch accent, because for Dutch people it sounds horrible. (In heavier accent again) “Three, two, one, jump!” I actually tweeted it this week because some guy was like, “Why did you move to the Netherlands? Is it for strategic reasons or anything?” No, I am a Dutch DJ. I grew up there. I am actually one of those, and it’s a really nice group. I was just casually having fun with Armin Van Buuren, and we know each other from way back. Same goes with Tiësto, and W&W, etc. Yeah, I’m one of those dudes. I may not look it, I may not sound like it when I speak, but I definitely speak the same language.
What else do you have in the works right now?
Laidback Luke: Make sure to keep an eye out for my new single – I’m looking forward to hearing the review of it! It’s gonna be out July 4th and it’s a collaboration with Twoloud called “Fcukin Beats.” I’m gonna bring back electro house again.
That concludes our interview with Laidback Luke, but we would like to thank him very much for his time.