Name: Inner City
Members: Kevin Saunderson, Dantiez Saunderson, Steffanie Christi'an
Nationality: American
Current release: Inner City's "Reach" is out via KMS. There is also an EP with remixes by Will Clarke, Reggie Dokes, and DJ Minx.

If you enjoyed this Inner City interview and would like to stay up to date with their music, visit them on Instagram. To keep reading, read our second part of the conversation, which deals with the importance of house and techno's black music history. 



To me, your new single “Reach” sounds like the start of an intriguing new chapter for Inner City. It retains the project's core feeling, but there is something distinctly fresh about it. Tell me a bit about how the song came together, please.

Steff: I believe that Kevin, Ann, Dantiez and Damari were making new music under the moniker “The Saundersons” during the covid lockdown when they created “Reach.”

Kevin: That's right, the song came together during the pandemic. We were just recording, not travelling as much. Ann Saunderson wrote “With Pennies From Heaven” with Paris Grey as the original singer. It was inspired by her.



We had the music, she heard it, and she felt this vibe and I immediately gravitated towards it because it was hooky, but it had this very spiritual feeling to it. It was uplifting and I’m all about uplifting, and touching people with music and lyrics in a positive way.

Dantiez: I probably finished the demo around 2 years ago now. During the end of the pandemic. It started as a feel-good house track. Deep bassline and some chords and then I sent it to Kevin who liked the vibe, and then he sent it to get additional keyboard parts played and some additional lines.

We were probably sitting on that for a year and then we decided to finish it up recently - only a few months ago - and put it out as our first release after the pandemic.

On your remarkable comeback album We All Move Together, there was a track called “Your Love on Me” which playfully picked up the “Good Life” riff. Tell me a bit about the balance between aiming for progress and innovation, while acknowledging your roots and identity?

Steff: Kevin is a master of his craft and clearly passed that down to Dantiez. Inner City has a sound that is original and solid. Dantiez and hope I as well, breathe a new life into it. Something different but still essentially the Inner City sound and vibe.



Dantiez: I think there’s always a bit of a balance to retain your identity and something that you can connect with as an artist. Your fans can as well, and it’s something that’s instantly relatable. So, using that Good Life riff kind of plays on that.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using similar sounds but also adding new sounds and new vocals. Every track is unique, so it won’t be exactly the same, but these certain sounds and riffs help build artist character in my opinion.

From your experience, what makes a club track great? Have these factors changed from “Good Life” to “Reach”, would you say?

Kevin: A hook makes a club track great. A great sound on the record, making sure the kick is balanced right and in tune. The bassline. The balance between all the elements, obviously the melody is always very important to me. And the sounds that you create, the sound that you create around it is important to make that unique sound.

Dantiez: A big kick and a great bassline. You just feel it, that’s the best I can explain it. But also, sometimes the ones you think are gonna be great, end up not doing very well and the ones you think aren’t going to do very well do. So like I said, If you feel it, put it out into the world and see where it takes you. I can tell you a great Inner City club track has uplifting chords, a deep bassline, and uplifting powerful vocals, and a great kick.

Steff: I can appreciate dynamics and a track that just grabs you either with vocals or a bumping drum beat. As a rock artist as well, instrumentation is always a sweet spot for me as well. The track has to make me wanna DANCE!

Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Steff: Well for me, my role of breathing life into the vocals is essential. Ann wrote the lyrics and melody for “Reach.” I love Ann and we have such a good rapport. She too is a master of her craft and her vocal production is top tier. She knows how to pull out exactly what she wants from you and it is a total pleasure working with her always.

Ann explained to me the lyrics dealt with some emotions she was experiencing after the passing of her mother. It was important to me that she got the result and vocal performance she was looking for.

Kevin: Creation comes in many different forms. I had a dream once and woke up right after that dream - I'm dreaming I was in Africa, playing these Congos, and I had this rhythm in my head. It was a song I eventually created called “The Sound.”



Now, it didn't sound like congos, but it was real raw, minimal, but that's what I visualised in my dream and I actually woke up to create that. So it can play a role, obviously politics can play a role depending on your inspiration, not necessarily so much for me. But depending on the producer.

Dantiez: The impulse to create something comes from all sorts of places and emotions … and sometimes if I’m just bored. I like to sit down and write music because I enjoy it, and I want to see where it can take me that day and in that moment.

I’m a pretty impulsive creator, I don’t plan my sessions out to far unless it’s a remix I’m working on for someone specifically. So it’s just whenever I get the feeling.

Kevin, when I interviewed you for German magazine “Beat” a few years ago, you told me you would bring instruments to your CD sets. How, conversely, do DJing techniques influence your production work? What can these two disciplines learn from each other?

Kevin: DJ techniques can always influence production because we plan for the crowd. If you think about it now, little tricks the DJs were doing and several tricks that DJs did back in the day, now is automatically part of mixers and you can push a button and it can imitate what you do so.

So, you can also use that, and DJs have used some of these techniques in production with the newest technology. So it definitely plays a role. It's your chance to work crowds, test stuff out, do some stuff that maybe was an accident and then bring it into the studio.

What does your studio look like today? Have there been technologies which have profoundly influenced, changed or questioned the way you make music?

Kevin: A lot of in the box plugins, a few synthesisers. It’s not completely analogue, sometimes I mix out of analogue studio for the warmness and to go back to that sound.

But in general we mix out of the box. And usually record vocals in an outside studio. But plenty of plugins, maybe four or five cents, So not too much hardware, but some.

Dantiez: Barefoot, some Yamaha speakers, a mic for recording, some rolling gear, a couple other synths - Arturia Synth, Matrix Brut. I switch it up, sometimes I might create it all in the box and use synthesizers on the laptop. That’s my on the road studio.

Technology has continually taken on more steps of the compositional process and "creative" tasks. From your point of view, where does "technology" end and "creativity" begin?

Kevin: Technology ends when that tool has been put into the market. And then creativity takes it over by what you're inspired to do with it. And that's what's important. Without technology this music wouldn’t have been created and our inspirations let us use that technology in a way that we can be creative, and inspired from the technology itself.

Dantiez: I think that’s a tough one because there is never just one way to get to the spot you want to be at or to create something. There’s always multiple different ways you can go about it so I think it’s all about what you want to do and the user of the technology.

For instance, I might use a compressor to get my kick a little fatter and retain the peaks, but someone else might use the same compressor to completely squash the kick and take out all the dynamics and change the sound completely. So you can see how two different people can use the same technology or programming and both be creative in a different way.

It’s all about perspective.

From my point of view, the three key factors which have driven music technology over the past decades are mobility, affordability, and (easy) usability. How important are these for your own work – and did I miss any?

Kevin: It’s more flexible, it's faster. In some ways you can get it to sound great, but you got to know your tools and technology. It definitely helps anybody who wants to jump into production.

When I jumped into production I did not know anything about music, I did not go to school, I took one little music course and when I was 13. But in reality, I did not know how to read or write. I didn't know anything about chords, I didn't know anything about different keys, key signatures, all that stuff. But with technology it’s definitely so much more advanced, It can help a new producer with all that. And it’s doing the work for you, but it's helping you be creative, and not worry about the fundamentals at the same time.

Even though back then you didn't necessarily need to worry about the fundamentals, I’d just play what I could play, and what I thought sounded good and kept it minimal, so I wouldn't have any clashes.

Example playing all the white keys, even though maybe that wasn't the key I wanted to play in, but I knew I could always play all white keys, and there wouldn't be any clashes. So, it's a very important part, and it is easier. In the end it’s down to your ear, what you feel, and how it all comes across at the end.

To some, the advent of AI and 'intelligent' composing tools offers potential for machines to contribute to the creative process. What are your hopes, fears, expectations and possible concrete plans in this regard?

Kevin: Artificial intelligence is a whole other level, but it's part of our new world. I mean Tesla's and Lucid’s, technology has advanced. The bottom line is, it's the future, and it can be a little scary – Terminator like, right? We just have to be careful, and not rely on stuff like that. And use it sparingly. I think a true artists will always have a creative process, so you gotta make sure your creativity still comes.

Dantiez: I don’t think I fear AI, I think it’s really cool actually. I’ve used some of the AI composition tools in recent works and they’re fun to work with and open up a whole new creative outlet and a creative process that you can then use the AI and have it come up with a random sound or bassline, then you take that bassline, convert it to audio, chop the bassline, pitch some notes around, put some effects on it, and you have a whole new sound.

There are multiple ways you can use this to your advantage with retaining the human feel. I think retaining the human feel is important.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Steff: Music is my safe place, and when I create, I feel like a giant. When I perform, all of my insecurities, social awkwardness, and perceived flaws disappear as I embrace my authentic self. I am tough. I am strong. I am honest, unashamed and raw. When I am on stage, I perform with no guidebook. It takes focus, experience and dedication.

Kevin: Yeah, I mean writing a piece of music is definitely something you have to feel, something that comes from your soul to me. The real inspiration, the real vibe, the essence of what you create comes from your inner soul, and how you visualise it. When you reach that, it's a powerful thing. When you can touch on it, and it feels like “that's what I was trying to get to” “this feels right”.

Making a cup of coffee - you know what kind of sugar you need, and how much cream you need. But music I think is more inspired than making a cup of coffee, and the benefits are very satisfactory when you can achieve that.