10 years after releasing his debut album and 16 years since he quit graffiti to concentrate on music, Dutch house DJ Laidback Luke has finally stepped up to the big time, releasing a live compilation for Roger Sanchez’ Stealth Records just a month after bursting onto DJ Mag’s Top 100 at #46. “It definitely makes a difference,” says Luke of his spot on the world renowned poll. “It’s like people are really taking me seriously now. There are promoters and people from the industry that sure look at the list and in that way it does help out a lot,” he agrees.

While fellow Dutch superstars Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren and Ferry Corsten remain indelibly linked to trance, Luke – real name Luke van Scheppingen – remains firmly associated with house, and he’s happy to be regarded one of Holland’s biggest names. “It’s because of Dutch honesty that there are so many successful Dutch DJs internationally. Dutch people are always very down to earth and both stars and crowd are very critical and very open in their comments. So if you suck, people will tell you that you suck. And that makes us very good DJs. Nothing comes easy over here, we do have to work amazingly hard to succeed,” he says.