Inland Knights Mark 25 Years Of Drop Music With Undrtone x Jake Tomas & Paul HG & Friends Guest Mix
- Mar 25
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 30
There aren’t many acts in house music that can trace their identity back to the UK free party scene and still feel completely in step with today’s dancefloors.
Inland Knights can.
Andy Riley and Laurence Ritchie built their foundation in Nottingham’s late 90s underground, where fields and warehouses shaped a generation of DJs long before club culture became institutional. That environment didn’t just influence their sound, it defined it.
“Free parties, illegal parties, proper underground parties — they were the best ones, and they always had the best music,” Laurence says. “When you’ve actually lived that culture and put those parties on yourself, it stays with you for life… I wouldn’t say it taught us — it moulded us.”
That sense of identity still runs through everything they do, including their contribution to the Undrtone x Jake Tomas & Paul HG & Friends guest mix series. It isn’t driven by trend cycles or short-term aesthetics. It’s rooted in groove, patience and a deep understanding of how a dancefloor actually moves.
The mix arrives at a meaningful point in their story.
Drop Music turns 25 this year, a label that has quietly shaped the direction of underground house without ever needing to reposition itself for relevance. Its catalogue holds a certain weight, records that feel tied to a moment but continue to work long after it has passed.
Looking back now, Laurence hears that evolution clearly. “Some of the early tracks sound a bit rough and raw to me now, but that’s exactly what some people love about them. There’s a real honesty to it.”
That honesty is what keeps them in rotation.
“The ones that stand out are the tracks that still feel solid all these years later.”
Marking that anniversary on vinyl felt like a natural decision rather than a nostalgic one. “We come from a vinyl background — for 20 years that’s just how things were done. It felt right to celebrate it that way,” he says. “We actually played a full vinyl set the other weekend and it was brilliant.”
That connection to format and process carries into how they build a mix. There’s a physical logic to it. Tracks are given space to develop, transitions feel considered, and energy is allowed to build without being forced.
Across their career, Inland Knights have played every kind of stage, from BBC Radio 1’s Essential Mix to Fabric, Tomorrowland and now Montreux Jazz Festival. The scale has changed, but the approach hasn’t.
“My mindset’s always been simple — play to the crowd, wherever you are.”
That clarity is what keeps their sets adaptable without losing identity. It’s also why their music continues to resonate with a new generation of artists.
When Fleur Shore called them her “heroes” live on Radio 1 before inviting them to remix her work, it spoke to something deeper than influence.
“It’s amazing really,” Laurence says. “Seeing a new generation playing our music means it keeps living on… It’s very humbling to hear things like that.”
Hearing their catalogue reframed through someone else’s perspective, like DJ Peach’s full Inland Knights deep dive on NTS, brings that idea full circle. “Hearing someone else interpret your music makes you listen to it differently. It almost makes the tracks feel new again.”
If there’s one constant across nearly three decades, it’s their refusal to chase direction.
House music has shifted repeatedly, through deep, tech, minimal and back again. Inland Knights have moved with it, but never because they felt they had to.
“We’ve always just stayed true to ourselves,” Laurence says. “We write and play what sounds good to us — we’ve never chased trends.”
That approach gives their sound a kind of elasticity. It evolves, but never loses its core.
“Our sound moves around those styles, but it’s always house, the Inland Knights way.”
You can hear that clearly in this mix. It doesn’t rely on quick peaks or obvious moments. It builds through groove, letting tracks breathe and settle before moving forward. There’s a control to it that comes from experience, but it never feels static.
After 25 years, global touring and a catalogue that still circulates across dancefloors worldwide, the motivation hasn’t changed.
“Same thing as always really — the buzz of making a track you genuinely like and hope other people will connect with on a dancefloor.”
That’s what holds everything together.
Not legacy. Not status. Just the music, and the people it reaches.
This guest mix doesn’t try to reframe Inland Knights or position them for a new moment. It simply reflects what happens when artists stay consistent long enough for the wider scene to meet them where they are.
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