I recently had the pleasure of chatting with world-renowned EDM DJ and Kung Fu practitioner, Laidback Luke. A self-taught DJ who started from scratch as a teenager, Luke is now in his 40s and Business Insider estimated his net worth to be at $10 million last year. As a stalwart advocate of Kung Fu, Luke sets an inspiring example for living a healthy lifestyle within the indulgent world of EDM, which can be seen across social media via his hashtag #laidbacklukefit.

Brian Kuttel, a frequent freelance contributor to Kung Fu Tai Chi, submitted "Laidback Luke A Kung Fu DJ" for our March+April 2018 issue. So last October, I took the opportunity to join them both at the Doc-Fai Wong Martial Arts Center in San Francisco, headquarters of the Plum Blossom International Federation, where Brian is a full-time instructor as well as the Student Manager. Laidback Luke is part of the Plum Blossom's worldwide network, and a student of Sifu Hong Ying in the Netherlands.

For Part One of this interview, "Laidback Luke on the Kung Fu of DJing," click here.

GC: You’re really fit so obviously Kung Fu helps you physically, but what does it do for you mentally?

LL: Mentally it keeps me grounded. In the DJ world, egos get blown up really quickly. DJs are like the rock stars of this age so it's very easy to get caught up with that. And I feel it's so nice and actually relieving to have a Sifu, or to kowtow to a fellow Kung Fu practitioner, and to just be more down to earth, really. And just enjoy the process more, instead of just feeling as if you're the most important person in the world which a lot of DJs tend to do.

GC: I've interviewed several musicians involved in the martial arts before. One of the things that's outstanding about you is that you actually teach Kung Fu on a regular basis. None of the others were teachers like that.

LL: Oh, okay. I don't know. [laughs]

GC: I think it's about keeping a professional distance – a relationship with their fan bases

LL: Interesting.

GC: So do you have EDM ravers coming to your classes in fuzzy boots with glow sticks? Or do you keep your Kung Fu separated and stay within the Kung Fu world?

LL: Well, both actually. The two blend in right now. When it's like music conference weeks, as we have in Miami and Amsterdam, I will always go and teach a Kung Fu class. And I will have people that are not necessarily interested in this join me because they like my music. I do like promoting the sport and the art very much because it has been very beneficial for me, for my health and for my stress. And I feel it can benefit a lot of people.

Sometimes I'll just throw a lot of people into a horse stance. And I'll tell them, "The stress that's going on in mind right now, that's fake. So just imagine yourself sitting on an invisible chair. And relax. We're here in Amsterdam. It's nice weather out. Keep breathing and enjoy the environment." And when I have them standing up, I'll tell them, "'Next time you have like a panic attack or a stress attack, go into this mindset again." And so, we always end my classes with a little bit of qigong. And I've had people coming up to me afterwards or even a few weeks later and telling me that they applied it on their workload and that it really benefited them. And that's what I'm trying to achieve.

Laidback Luke Training at Hong Ying Wuguan

 

GC: That makes you into a sort of Kung Fu banner man for the EDM generation. How do you feel about that?

LL: Well, I love what I do and I love this art, and it's my life. I would love to get more people back involved and I would love for it to be bigger than it is now. And I would love to bring those highlight days back – when Bruce Lee promoting it and trying to make it bigger again, not just a niche of people. And I do think a ton of people can benefit from it. It's just been overlooked now. Yeah, I guess in that sense, I could be that.

GC: Kung Fu has had tremendous impact on Hip Hop and Rap. What about EDM?

LL: Um, I don't know. I've never really thought about it that much. I just take it step by step. What it has done – so when my teacher infused this in me – is, it has spread around the DJ world. And all of a sudden, seven years later, there's a ton of DJs that are living a super healthy life, that are capable of dealing with stress, that come across me and they'll see me always being in shape and energized, while I'm doing brutal tours around the world, and they want that as well. So in that sense, it has lit up a lot of awareness for being healthy both mentally and physically.

GC: Give me a snapshot of a brutal tour.

LL: So I do 150 shows worldwide per year. Mind you, worldwide is including jet lag. One weekend I could be in China and the other weekend I could be in New York and the other weekend I'm in Europe doing shows. A DJ on tours on average sleeps about four hours. Most of it is travel. And we do it non-stop. So if you compare it to the band world, the band brings an album out and goes on tour for what is it? Six months or something? Then they go off of tour and get to work on a new album. With us DJs, it's non-stop. It's all year round. So it gets like really brutal. And I can honestly tell you I'm really never home. I would say my home is my carry-on luggage. If I'm home, I'm there for about two or three days tops. And then I'm off traveling again. I take over 200 flights a year. So yeah, it does get intense.

GC: So what is the Choy Lay Fut equivalent of a bass drop?

LL: Probably a Kap Cheui (扱捶). My teacher always says it's like dropping the piano. So it's like the most heavy hit you can give going down into the floor. And I feel a bass drop does that.

GC: Have you stole a page from the Hip Hop music sheet and sampled Kung Fu music yet? Please tell me you haven't sampled Carl Douglas' "Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting".

LL: No, I haven't.

Actually, I have! I did perform once. We had DJ battles where us House DJs needed to battle Hip Hop DJs. Hip Hop DJs are very versatile when it comes to scratching and everything. And sure enough, they thought they could take on a House guy. But I can scratch as well, and I can fancy things, and at a certain point I dropped "Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting" and I did like a spinning kick. And I landed my foot on the platter to stop the music. It was "Everybody was Kung Fu…" and then my foot ended up on the deck. And so there was silence and then everyone cheered.

GC: Ever consider sampling Shaw Brothers movies like Wu-Tang Clan?

LL: No, not at all, and funny enough, some people have been telling me that – or like to do Kung Fu moves on stage or something. With me, it's less obvious than that. The way I promote this is more for a lifestyle instead of just flirting with those days.

GC: So you're not going to whip out a Guandao on stage?

LL: I mean it would be spectacular, but hey.

GC: Taylor Swift did it.

LL: Did she?

GC: Well, not on stage exactly but her Bad Blood video was very martial artsy. Sampling martial arts has a long tradition.

LL: Yeah, for sure. So no, I've never dabbled into that. It's like a very different angle for me.

GC: The music and martial arts connection runs through so many genres. I interviewed Ziggy Marley a few years ago and we found connections between Kung Fu and reggae.

LL: Wow!

GC: Ziggy was the one that told me Carl Douglas was Jamaican. I charged him to compose a reggae Kung Fu anthem. He still hasn't. Should I do the same to you? Can you make an EDM Kung Fu anthem for us?

LL: That would be interesting.

GC: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

LL: Well, eventually, I do think there's a limit to the age of performing on stage and being a DJ. I mean there's still old DJs. I think the oldest DJ is about 55 right now. But obviously when we look at our great grandmasters of Kung Fu, you can do Kung Fu for life. So I am planning on slowing down the touring within ten years and focus more on opening my own school, or schools, and teaching.

GC: Your own Kung Fu schools? Really?

LL: Absolutely! Yeah.

GC: Do you have students now?

LL: I have a few private students and they're spread out across the world, I guess. Whenever I'm there, they'll come and train with me.

GC: I imagine you train yourself whenever you're near a Plum Blossom Federation school. Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong has schools all around the world.

LL: Yeah, that's right. But yeah, I can see myself doing Kung Fu until I'm ninety hopefully, and I will definitely continue doing that. And so right now, my music is my number one career and my Kung Fu is number two, but I could see that flipping in the next ten years.

Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong and Sifu Luke Tai Chi Single Whip

 

Brian Kuttel: Does music influence your Kung Fu?

LL: It's funny that you just mentioned that I'm a teacher as well. In music, I've been a teacher for a long, long time. It's something I do naturally. So I have a lot of students in music and in Djing under me and some of them became really big and really famous, which is something I actually implement with my Kung Fu as well. Basically whenever someone asks a question or needs to know something, and I know the answer, you have to share it with them. This has been very much a natural progression with me. When it comes to like strictly musical notes – no. See, I even wanted to say that performing in front of big crowds has helped me. But it hasn't. If I'm on that mat and Sifu Kuttel and Sifu Duong are judging in the Plum Blossom tournament, I get super nervous. I can perform in front of 50,000 people, but if they're in front of me and I need to perform something, that's going to be very hard.

BK: Through your social media, do you get more interest in martial arts and healthy lifestyle or music?

LL: I think both. I mean right now it is more of a niche that is really interested in the Kung Fu stuff. But I think people love the arts and seeing what you can do with weapons, and what you're capable of doing with your body. And then there's some people that aren't interested and only want the music. But still, seeing how much it benefits your health, there's an interest in that. For me, all of it blends actually. If I didn't have Kung Fu right now, I wouldn't be able to do my DJ job successfully and I would have probably been burnt out by now, not being able to do as many shows as I do. So it's a very important balance for me.

GC: What’s your favorite weapon?

LL: My favorite weapon is probably the straight sword. I love the whole painting aspect of it. And it's fast. And it's precise. And yeah, see, if I would be an animal, I would say I'm more of like a leopard. And so, with that, and the straight sword, it's like a fast type of weapon. Not like a Dan Dao, where it's more choppy and you don't have to be as precise. I mean I guess the spear is precise as well but it's just a bit more majestic of a weapon. Straight sword will be my choice.

GC: Have you ever taken disciple vows?

LL: I did one when I joined our Black Sash club, just for my Sifu testing, I had to sign the contract where I will not distort the system… My Sifu gave me a Chinese name, especially for the tournaments in China, so he wanted something to sound like Luke. So it became Liu Ke which means honest and true.

GC: How many international tournaments have you participated in now?

LL: About eight. Ten perhaps.

GC: Do you get recognized?

LL: No, not in Hong Kong necessarily. There's a lot of mainland China people and this type of music hasn't blown up yet. I say "yet" because it's actually happening right now in mainland China. Over here in San Francisco, I do get that. Some of the students that I'm really good friends with from the White Dragons, they used to come to my raves. And this was before they knew I did Kung Fu... They have like videos of me from like 2010 from the crowd.

GC: I do work in drug crisis management at concerts, so I just have to ask you about the drug scene in EDM. I hope you don’t mind.

LL: No, no, that's fine. I mean, I have no clue. I've never done drugs – never needed drugs to enjoy music. But yeah, it's like a big thing, for sure at the raves. I don't know. You know we have this whole PLUR movement – Peace Love Unity and Respect – which is great and it's all like a loving environment. I have no clue how that works with those people. I'm totally not associated with it.

L-R: Gene Ching and Laidback Luke