INTERVIEW: LUC
DJ and producer LUC is quickly becoming a name to watch in the underground techno scene. His highly anticipated EP Do As You’re Told, released on FJAAK's CROWD label, showcases LUC’s signature sound—a mix of techno, breakbeat, and acid influences with a raw, tribal energy. With early support from techno heavyweights like Patrick Mason and VTSS, the EP has already made waves at global events like Awakenings and Boiler Room, solidifying Luc’s presence in dance culture. LUC’s creative journey is as diverse as his music. Having grown up in Florida and traveling extensively, he’s absorbed influences from the Chicago house scene, London’s rave culture, and South American underground flavors, which transformed his sound during a stint in Colombia. Now based in Shoreditch, he continues to push boundaries. We had the opportunity to chat with LUC about creative constraints, studio miracles, and illicit memorabilia. Strap in!
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Can you tell us where you are in the world? What does your daily life look like over there?
Right now I’m in my studio in London, settling back in after a trip back to the States for a gig and some off-the-grid time in the mountains.
I love a lot of things about London but what I love most is that my creative home and community is here. Plus the creative energy of London… there is some x factor here for artists which I think is one reason why the UK produces so much creative talent.
But I hate the grey, the drizzle, the lack of sun. So these last couple years I’ve been lucky enough to have the freedom to migrate elsewhere when that part of the year starts creeping in.
My life takes place mostly here at my studio, Matter of Time in Shoreditch, which sits atop the vintage clothing store, cafe & events space Bread and Butter. Most days I'm here basically all day.
It’s an incredible community with insanely talented creative people coming in and out which always makes for some unreal moments and relationships, plus all of my friends are here. It’s one of the last bastions of creative spaces in the area as Shoreditch becomes whatever it is becoming these days…
You’re promoting your new release ‘Do As You’re Told'. What does it represent for you at this point in your life?
Techno heads and close friends know how huge of a milestone this is for me, to have my work recognized by such a massive force in techno – FJAAK, who have been a huge inspiration for me for a long time now – and the other amazing artists that have been supporting this record around the world this past year.
I’ve been at this for a while as a DJ but at the same time I’m early on in my journey as an artist. Only recently have I started to pursue it full-time, and while there have been some incredible signals on the trajectory of things along the way, this is the first concrete, like, “wow… this is actually f****** happening” moment…
And it comes after many, many years of toiling away in the studio finding my sound and style, moving my life across a few different continents, picking up new influences and experimenting with these inputs. It is undoubtedly a reflection of this journey and a snapshot of my work throughout – one of these tracks I wrote 4 years ago even.
I’m super proud of the EP and there’s a lot of personal context but I’ll just tell you one story that I love when reflecting on how it came together…
There was originally a track on the EP that in the end got nixed because of a sample clearance issue. So I was digging around for a replacement for a 4th track and the FJAAK guys and I were liking one in particular for it… but the problem was it ALSO had a sample on it that was not going to get cleared, a sample of Moodymann talking some shit. And the guys were like, can you find something else to replace that with?
Huge bummer because the sample honestly made the whole track, it has this like Detroit-y vibe that I wanted to explore and the smooth-talking Moodymann sample really tied this together.
And so I spent a week or so trying probably 10-15 different ideas, nothing clicking, and one day during this time this guy Lucky Samurai walks into the studio. This man is a seriously talented artist and has an unreal vibe, always dressed like a superhero or some shit, and like Moodymann, he’s got this incredible voice and also grew up in Detroit.
Anyway I didn’t put this all together until after he left, and I didn’t get his contact or anything at the time. But then I had this thought… man he would be perfect to record something to try on this record!
So I managed to get in touch with him the next day, he came back into the studio and we recorded ourselves having a chat about his experiences in Detroit, and I sampled that and it became the vocal for this track. And it made the EP in the end – it’s called ‘The Cold.’
I don’t know man, but for me this was some kind of small miracle that this happened. There is this magic in creating, sometimes things just appear at random in front of your eyes like it was meant to happen, without any warning or reason and the stars align and boom. And since then, Lucky and I have gone on to make a bunch of other music together and we’re homies.
Big up Lucky… he’s an absolute machine in the studio, I’ve never seen someone knock out tracks and record like he does. It’s f****** inspirational.
When you work on new music, do you have a ritual or a routine? Tell us about your creative process and how it factors into your life.
For me there are two sides to it.
You have to show up consistently and that’s the most important part. More opportunities to let the muse in and all that. But also I believe you have to have your mind right to make the best stuff. The first creative moments of making a track is like a sprint. So you have to warm up a bit, stretch, mentally and spiritually prepare and what not – whether that is finding the right source material for inspiration or just getting yourself into the appropriate mental state to transmute whatever you’re feeling into a track.
So I can be a bit of a diva sometimes. I’ll have to make some preparations. This might be 5 minutes or it might be an hour and a half. But there’s no routine really. Just make the barrier to entry to being creative as low as possible and start banging things around in Ableton.
What’s the most unusual object or gadget you keep in the studio?
In our DJ booth in the studio amongst our record collection we have a ton of memorabilia, books, etc from the 90s rave era and the lore around it. It’s something that me and the co-owner of our studio Tim (and also my production partner in another project S.U.R.E.) are obsessed with.
Stuff like books of old illegal rave posters, stories, etc… it serves as amazing inspiration to have a flick through them if you’re feeling a little uninspired.
What’s the most unusual sound you’ve ever incorporated into one of your productions?
One time I sampled a tea kettle whistling ever so lightly in the back of a track, and it keeps pitching up and up and up building tension subliminally.
What advice would you give yourself if you were starting today? (Or what advice would give to a young musician starting today?)
Learn the fundamentals and everything “by the book” as soon as possible and then focus on unlearning it. Somewhere in that process you find your own unique sound.
Understand that sending 1000 emails sharing your demos and not getting hardly a single response is part of the process.
And read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
What’s the first significant piece of gear you owned?
The Korg Minilogue was my first piece of analog gear.
It’s such a good entry point into the analog synth world. And it’s on a handful of unreleased productions I have from the past year or two.
What would be your desert island plugin or digital tool?
The Drum Buss in Ableton Live. And basically just Ableton Live.
What’s your favorite hardware tool?
The Sherman Filterbank 2. Such an unreal device for adding depth and sometimes some really wild and impractical effects. It’s a beast but needs to be tamed sometimes – it’s sick in parallel for adding some color.
What was the last track by another artist you were obsessed with?
X Club’s edit of Groove is in the Heart. I heard it for the first time seeing them play in London at Phonox and it was pure euphoria on the dance floor.
It’s just so unlike any tune out lately and yet fits perfectly in the range of techno that I love, and it has this incredibly emotional and epic, anthemic vibe. Goosebumps every time.
What meme or video makes you laugh the most?
I get a kick out of memes around British culture. It’s not that I’m a hater but being an American in London it provides some catharsis for me.
What do you have coming up in the next few months?
I’m working on some gigs around Europe for this fall and I’ll be at Amsterdam Dance Event promoting the new record – I’ll be walking around with a bag of the fresh vinyls ready to dish them out to any DJs I see out and about. The last few years I’ve run into so many of my favorite artists on the street there and this time I’ll have the new EP to share with them face to face!
Plus I have some cool release plans in the works including a free download coming soon for that track that was left off the record.
Keep ya eyes and ears peeled :)
Follow LUC
INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | SOUNDCLOUD | BANDCAMP | BEATPORT
Disclosure: This blog contains affiliate links, which means Internet Tattoo may receive a commission if you purchase through these links at no additional cost to you.