In this interview spotlight, I chat with LeftLukas about his latest music, technology, challenges and more.

Full Q&A along with links and music below.

Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)

I’m from Germany and atm living in a small state called “Thuringia”.
Since I’m a kid I’m was growing up alongside diverse music so I love to keep that in my art.

I like to describe my music as follows: It’s a unique, steady growing tree with branches of different genre elements such as Hip Hop, Rap and EDM – but all connected through common sound roots derived from artists like Mike Shinoda, Logic and Machine Gun Kelly who deeply influenced my own style.

For me it’s important how much passion you put in your music and to show respect for the work of other artists. If I feel the music that I hear or make I don’t care about the genre.

What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?

It all started with an old Yamaha PSR-740 Keyboard I got as a present from a remote relative. At this time I was about 9 years old. So cause I didn’t take piano lessons in the beginning I started freestyling and experimenting with sounds and lyrics.

Later I started taking piano lessons but not very long cause as an autodidactic child I wasn’t a fan of reading music. A few years later I joined my first rock band.

Back then I was still the Keyboarder but I also learned playing the guitar during this time.

After 3 years of these band and live gig experiences me and my best friend formed the DJ Duo “Malukka”. This step played an important role for me as a producer and songwriter.

I started producing my own beats which turned into creating whole tracks with an EDM character. In this DJ chapter of my life I also began comitting myself to songwriting in form of rap and vocals.

Because I didn’t feel that my real pontential could be exploited while being a part of a DJ Duo I finally decided to do my own thing in 2017. And it was the best decision cause this led to the formation of “LeftLukas” – the artist I am now. Since January 12th (the date I’ve started making music under the name “LeftLukas”) a lot of things happened.

Things I haven’t dreamed about at all when I released my first Song as LeftLukas. I was playing a lot of shows, peformed on large festivals here in Germany, released a lot of songs which count more than 900.000 streams to this day, met so many new people and musicians and one of the most important happenings: I’ve joined the independent label (back then artist collective) Room Of Understanding. Without the powerful influence of ROU this all would have not been possible.

How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?

With my new EP Carryon I want to share a part of my journey with the listeners. The darker part of my journey. You know despite all of these amazing happenings and experiences I was blessed with I often felt lost and overwhelmed. There was always something new and I hardly had time to reflect upon what was actually happening. I was always focused to put my hands on the next project, the next song, the next opportunity because I was afraid of missing something.

I didn’t take away some time to really appreciate what I’ve already achieved and I wasn’t sure about who I really am. That made me feel kinda lost and unhappy. On “Carryon” I’m expressing these feelings and creating as well as releasing this EP (writing all the songs) really helped me to overcome these fears.

It helped me to face the cause of all these fears and uncertainties: my weaker self.

By the way my track “Conversation” is reflecting that situation.

Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?

Uh good question! Yes I think the biggest challenge is to establish yourself as a successful independent artist. I mean of course we have a lot of opportunities and methods that the internet is providing us but because literally everybody has access to those nowadays it’s hard stand out sometimes. You need to be patient and consistent.

I think one of the most important aspects thereby is the creation of your own sound. Finding your sound leads to attracting the right people who will love your music and turn into your fans.

So to be honest without the internet I wouldn’t be where I am today. Especially platforms like Spotify gave me the chance to spread my music across the world and get it in front of new listeners ears. Even social media (for me especially Instagram) is a powerful weapon to share my art and visions with the world. But it’s also dangerous. We should stop to make our success dependent from our online appearance. The greatest feedback I’ve received so far came from live shows or live performances. In my opinion this is the best way to attract new fans cause they can gauge your real skills, energy and passion when they see and hear you live.

What was the last song you listened to?

Damn. I listen to so much music during the day that I’m often not even aware of it haha.

But I think it was my latest single collaboration “Forever” this morning.

Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?

Definitley MP3s or better: WAVs. You need your music as digital files to put them out online since this is the way how listeners discover new music nowadays.

CD’s are great (I still buy the ones of my favorite artist) but I, as a rising independent artist, have to upload my music online to find new listeners and fans worldwide.

How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?

Oh yeah Spotify. As I already said it gave me the opportunity to share my music with the world and also opened new doors.

Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?

So if you wanna discover more of my music and wanna listen to the latest releases Spotify is the place where you have to be. I’m do also upload content to my YouTube channel but not as much as on Spotify. My goal before the year ends is to put out a couple music and videos on my channel to let it be more present again. If you wanna connect with me on a more personal level you can follow me on Instagram. This is the social media platform where I’m most active at. There I do also share some things that happen in my life apart from my music career.

Anything else before we sign off?

I want to thank you for this interview and to let me share my art with your community. Also to every independent musician out there: Keep working! I know it ain’t easy sometimes but as G-Eazy already said: “If it was easy everyone would do it.”

The independent scene is stronger than ever before so keep creating and use the opportunities we have as independent artists. Everything is possible as long as you believe it. DREAM IT -> LIVE IT

Shoutouts and thanks to my label Room Of Understanding for always inspiring and supporting me!