Kevin Saunderson on the return of Inner City

Kevin Saunderson on the return of Inner City

7 December, 2011 | 11.07AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: inner city, interview, kevin saunderson

Kevin Saunderson’s Inner City project is, hands down, one of the most iconic acts in electronic dance music. Their late ‘80s records ”Good Life” and ”Big Fun” helped introduce Detroit techno to a worldwide audience, topping the domestic dance charts and also breaking into the UK overall top 10; they also served as a crucial bridge between techno, house and pop, offering a hybrid model that continues to inspire artists around the world, from the underground to the FM dial.

Now, for the first time in 15 years, Kevin Saunderson has reunited with Inner City’s Paris Grey and frequent contributor Ann Saunderson (née Ann Nanton, Kevin’s wife) for a new single, ”Future." Co-produced by Orlando Voorn, “Future” is out now on Defected along with a remix from Kenny Larkin; it’s the first of what is projected to be a string of new singles from Inner City.

We spoke to Saunderson about his reasons for reuniting the group, his revival of the iconic KMS label, and more; read on for the full interview.

INNER CITY – FUTURE [DEFECTED]

The first and most obvious question—what made you get Inner City back together?

Well, you know, we did some live dates a couple years ago, went out and really just appreciated touring, and the appreciation of the fans. So I guess we got re-inspired. We had never officially stopped the group, just our lives had changed. We toured for so many years, put out three albums, and my singer had a kid, as well as me; I have four kids now. But she had a kid, and was really dedicated to being at home and not wanting to travel, and just bringing her up. So [her daughter] graduated from high school, and I think after touring and realizing that she was gonna be graduating, [Paris] said she wanted to get back into it and start doing some recording. I would always keep in contact with her, every couple years, or once a year, twice a year, see how she’s doing, you know, see if she had some interest, and she just wasn’t ready. I just really waited on her ‘til she was ready, because you can’t force stuff like that.

So now, yes, we’re older, but I’m still traveling, I’m still a part of the scene, I still know what’s going on, I still very much love music, love making music, and it’s still a part of me and it’s still a part of her. I guess it’s like an expansion, just years later with all our experience, getting back into the studio and getting re-inspired.

How did “Future” come together? Were you specifically working on an Inner City track, or is it something you were working on independently that made you think, “This would be good for Inner City”?

We decided to do a recording session, so we recorded four different tracks. All of which were kind of different and unique. The main thing, I think, we chose “Future” because it had that kind of time-stamp of experience, and about life. It’s also about life, and learning from life, and moving on. At the same time, it’s years later for us. So we just thought, it’s a great track that we love, and we thought it was the right track to release.

What I did, originally, I gave them the music for “Future"—I started it, it was kind of downtempo, a really different direction. It actually evolved from that music. I didn’t even end up using the original music; I had Orlando Voorn work on the track, just kind of a remix, you know. Kenny Larkin also. I was so into Orlando’s mix, I thought, this is really perfect. It needed some work, some adjustments, a few things changed around, so I just developed what he had already developed, based off of the original that I sent him. So it was kind of a different way than I’m used to working. But it was kind of perfect. So I went back in and I recreated it based off what I liked in what he started. That’s kind of how “Future” developed. It was a team effort, really.

Ann did a lot of work with the vocals, and Paris, and we also added Ann as an official Inner City member. She’s been a part, she’s wrote some songs, with “Pennies From Heaven,” and she’s wrote some of the other Inner City songs with Paris, but she’s kinda always been more in the background. Now things are different, so we added her as a different twist, and she adds a great element to performing on stage, and her unique writing ways, too.

Just the time, man, it was just the time. And like I said, a team effort, the track was produced by me but also Kenny Larkin and Orlando Voorn. Just a great team effort.

INNER CITY – FUTURE (KENNY LARKIN TENSION MIX) [DEFECTED]

Speaking of team efforts, I saw on your Facebook page that Amp Fiddler is involved as well.

Amp is more the live stuff; he does work on some of my sessions. We tour a few different ways. We tour with three or four different musicians, including myself and Paris and Ann. We also tour with me, Paris and Ann, it’s just more scaled down. When we do more club-type events, it’s mainly them doing vocals, and I’m pushing buttons on the computer and making the tracks work, stuff like that. Sometimes we just carry a percussion player with me, Ann and Paris. So we have a few different ways; we like to take the whole band when we do bigger festivals, it works great on big stages, and it’s a real complement to our music and has a great feel to it.

What can you tell us about the other three tracks you recorded?

Very hooky, very catchy, you know, always an uplifting, positive message. One is really downtempo, like 95 BPM, so we kind of experiment. But futuristic sounding, too, at the same time. Very hooky. Very Inner City-ish, I guess, because Paris writes in a unique way. It’s just more modernized because of the technology; we can do our thing a little faster. I haven’t finished the other ones, they’re kind of still in their early, rough stages, but the elements are there, you can hear that they’re songs, I just have to develop and finish them off.

You mention the positive message—that’s always been a hallmark of Inner City, no? There’s always a meaning beyond it being a simple club track.

Yeah, because that’s the way we grew up. We grew up, at least myself and Paris, in church. My background, going to the Paradise Garage and living in New York originally, is all about songs. You can extend those songs to be great club records. I come from the disco era, into the technology era. It’s my way of bridging that gap, bringing them together. I think vocally, I used to listen to people like Evelyn “Champagne” King, Chaka Khan, Annie Lennox. Vocally, it’s all inspirational. They all had pop records, but they also had club records. Maybe not every record on the album, but it was always something that inspired me, from those singers, that made me not want to do just a straight-up house or instrumental or just a techno record, it was always more about the music with the vocals and the melody and hooks. That’s always been kinda mandatory with me, we had to have those elements, and that’s what made Inner City.

Are you ever going to return to E-Dancer or Reese?

Oh yeah, definitely. I’m already working on some E-Dancer stuff. Of course! I love my dark, dirty, underground, techno, deep vibes. That’s just another side of me. Between Inner City and E-Dancer, mainly. I don’t know that there’s going to be any Reese projects. But as far as E-Dancer, yes, there’s gonna be the other side too.

That’s really exciting. “World of Deep” is one of my all-time favorite tracks.

Appreciate it, appreciate it. I just do my thing, man, let it all come out.

If it sells one copy or if it sells 100,000 copies, I’m good either way. That’s all you can do: do what you feel.

What are you doing with KMS these days? It looks like there’s new material coming out, right?

I got a few new artists, and obviously I’m gonna release my E-Dancer stuff there. Kweku Saunderson, he’s my nephew, he’s done a remix with me on the “Future” track, he’s very talented, and I’m not saying it because he’s my nephew, because he is talented. He’s very creative. I seen him one day, he was working in New York with his father, had his Logic set up; he was mainly doing R&B, but there were just some great rhythms and grooves and concepts, and I thought, “Wow.” He started coming with me on some trips, seeing what I was doing, and he ended up getting inspired. He wanted to know more about what I’d done and the music that I do. He started to create music. So I released a record of his, he’s done a couple remixes for me, and he’s involved. He’s a part of the whole movement of KMS, and he’s working on his next release now. And he’s young.

Then Brandon Decarlo, he’s just a cat that does some tribally, funky, tech kinda stuff. I just dig his stuff. I think it’s very experimental, very cool grooves, very rhythmatic. I’m releasing stuff from him as well.

So we’re doing a few things on KMS, not too much, but between them two, maybe another artist and myself, you’re going to see more activity.

I didn’t know Brandon’s work until recently, but I’m really impressed. It’s really classic, but it’s not stuck in the past. Like you said, it’s experimental—it’s really trippy but also very driving.

Yeah, I think he’s been inspired from the past but he’s still ahead of people in a way, because it’s not as straightforward. It’s just good stuff, and it’s real, and you can feel it. Simple as that.

With KMS, given the legacy that the label has, does it make it harder to move forward and put out new material again?

No, I don’t think I look at it like that. I look at it like, I have a gift, given by God, and I love what I do, and I’m just going to do what I do. If my gut feels good about it—if it sells one copy or if it sells 100,000 copies, I’m good either way. That’s all you can do: do what you feel. That’s part of being experimental. I don’t try to recreate records that sounds like records that’s gonna sell a lot. I just create, because that’s part of being creative. That’s how we started making music in Detroit. We all get inspired by music, but we came up with a sound that was unique, that spread throughout the world and shaped in many different directions now. I don’t have a problem, I just put ‘em out, let the people hear ‘em, and I can be proud of what I release, either from me or the artists on the label. Whether I sell 10 records or 100,000, you just can’t worry about that.

How do you feel about the fact that ‘90s-inspired house and techno is so popular again right now, with so many sounds that you guys pioneered being studied and remade?

They say everything goes in circles. I think there’s a time for everything. If you have a sound that’s unique—I notice what the people are doing, they’re grabbing the popular stuff. The hooky stuff, the stuff that was classic already. Those records were big back then, and they continue to be classics. And then the hooks, and certain parts, they modernize them a little, so that helps for the new generation. They’re just making it more up to date. But in general I think these young producers are looking for something that will help them keep that moving. I don’t have anything negative to say about it, but I think producers still have to find a way to be more creative on creating a sound. I guess it’s not the easiest thing, everybody can’t necessarily do that. It might be easier for me, but not as easy for some of these young guys coming up.

The difference between when I first started making music and now, you have so many different tools, so many different directions, you can lose your focus. Instead of mastering a synth or a software synth, you find it easy to switch to the next, to try to find something that you like instead of taking something that’s interesting and creating something else to make that hook or make that sound unique.

Do you find yourself getting distracted by the tools these days?

No, because, you know, I’m a family man, I travel, I DJ, but I don’t work like I used to, where I’m working 17 hours a day and sleeping at the studio. It’s a different kind of inspiration. For me, I still try and master an element. Sometimes I miss certain elements, because there are so many different tools, I can’t possibly try to keep up with it all. I move on to maybe a different tool if I’m struggling in an area and I can’t get where I’m going; I might experiment with another tool. It might not be to make music, it might be just to experiment, test it out, check it out.

Are you DJing much now?

Yeah! I’m still out there, man, I still play quite a bit. I played most of the summer, did a lot of the festivals. I play a lot in Holland, especially the festivals, and Europe in general. I played Awakenings, Mysterylands, a couple more festivals in Holland, I did this festival in England—Bestival. Played at the Loft club in Barcelona two or three times a year, I play in Madrid. You know, me and Derrick May did a four-deck tour we’re just finishing; this is the last segment coming up, at Loft in Barcelona. We’ve been playing with four decks together, playing all over—Australia, Singapore, Bali, you name it. So I’m still out there, for sure.

There’s been so much talk in the U.S. this year about the return of electronic dance music, but you’re mentioning mostly overseas venues, the same way it’s been for Detroit musicians for the past 20 years. Are you finding that there’s more interest in your music in the States, or do you still have to go overseas for recognition?

I think I’m still going overseas. I’ve been DJing a little more in the States. I think people, because they hear it on radio now, it is definitely more pop-driven. It adds elements that people will go out and party, but there’s still something missing here in our country. They still don’t really get it. Maybe in five years it will evolve into something, but it’s not the same as playing in Europe, in most places in America. It’s quite different. If I’m playing this music, this maybe funkier, groovier, different sounds, but related, and they’re used to hearing music that’s a little more commercial, they’re used to hearing certain anthems, they’re not so open-minded to hearing what they haven’t heard before. That’s the problem. But, I think it’s still better than not having a scene that has a chance to develop. Maybe the underground will still develop here. We have the festival in Detroit that’s still quite good, and it’s been going 10, 11 years now, and people do come. You have these other festivals, Burning Man—there is pockets of things going on, it’s just that it’d be nice to play more consistently at home, and to crowds that appreciate the music.

It’s more about the trend of going out here than the music. Whereas in Europe—I think there’s less of it in Europe now, but it’s still about people that are a little more educated on the music.

Are you based in Chicago now, or Detroit?

I have a place in Chicago as well. I just moved to Chicago, I have a place out there, but I guess you could say my base is still Detroit.

That makes sense—KMS always straddled the two cities.

Yeah, for years, I went back and forth, I just never lived there. I grew up with all the house cats, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Steve Silk Hurley, Marshall Jefferson, all of them. Byron Stingily. There’s always a connection, that’s the beginning of me promoting my music to a place that was so close, that I knew would support it. And that’s what happened.

• (0) Comments
• (2394) Views
• Get Inner City on Beatport