Imposter Syndrome – Student Musician Pip Roberts and his first EP Feel

Philip ‘Pip’ Roberts, the musician behind the new EP Feel is a bundle of joy to work with at our regular retail job- where we both spend our weekends stocking, organizing, and selling fast fashion to the masses. Where he has perfected his Canadian accent purely for the purpose of making fun of me, and I get to flip him off every time we’re in the same room. Outside of that building, though? This is what I do, and now I get to come on here and talk about what he does, music.

Roberts is a 20-year-old Music Production student at the University of Chester, and a part of the band Frontier, working out of Liverpool and Chester. I conned him into this interview to discuss his recently released EP titled Feel, which he did for one of his final modules in university.

Roberts playing on stage

THE COURSE- THE FINAL PRODUCT

“At the start of the year, it got announced that the production module was called Production: The Final Product, which was quite scary to hear. Like, it’s been three years. You’ve got a three track EP to make, and it’s got to make sense. You can’t just do three different genres. The main guidance for it was make it the best you can.”

Roberts grew up surrounded by music, having been taught piano by his mother at the age of six. He took it in school at the GCSE level, then did a B. Tech at college, to go to university in his chosen field. He came to university with his friend James Richardson, the drummer of the band Frontier. He never liked the theory aspects of music much, preferring to just play what sounded good, and that forced him to learn to write his own.

“I think everyone who’s always wanted to make music was like, ‘Oh, this is it now’. I’d never released any music before this. I think the issue when you’re in this industry is, you’re going to wait for ages to release music, because you never know if you’re going to be good enough. This kind of forces you to just do it.”

Album cover of Feel

THE EP – FEEL

Roberts went into recording his EP with nothing ready. Feel, the song the EP is titled after, was written the night before his first recording session.

“I was just messing around, and sometimes you get those days where you’re in a really good state of mind and everything just comes out at once. It’s not ideal, but I have had times when it’s taken ages. Luckily, in the second year, we did a songwriting module. There were loads of tips and tricks on how to deal with writer’s block.”

Feel, the first song on the EP, is a classic indie rock song. For contrast, is the third, a cover of Dakota, by Welsh rock band Stereophonics, reimagined in an orchestral fashion. The middle, Us, is a ‘Billie Eilish’ style electronic track. Roberts wanted to show off different subgenres, but still kept the EP consistent by having them all in the same key.

Listening to the EP altogether feels like a journey, and that is what it is- an audible journey through Roberts’ three years at university. The first year is very fun, it’s very upbeat and exciting. Then in second year, when there is much more work, it’s gruelling. Many students find second year a struggle, and Us represents that. Dakota is third year, the big finish, and that is what ties them all together.

“It just kind of represents how I feel, which is maybe why it’s called Feel… I was in my room when it was released, and I wasn’t really planning on doing anything that night. I checked my email, and I saw an email saying it was out and I was like, ‘surely not’, because I expected at least a week… I went on iTunes, and it was there.”

Roberts mixing sounds for his EP

CAREER- AS A CREATIVE

The music industry is demanding, competitive, and overwhelming, but that doesn’t extinguish Roberts’ fire. As a young musician, you always dream of seeing your music on Spotify, one day being able to listen to your own music on streaming services. Roberts had that dream, and now that it’s come true, it’s exciting.

The goal is currently to focus on finding an identity, and maybe an album by the end of the year. A short one of around five songs. If you listen to the EP and hear something you like, you can look forward to more music.

“There’s a bit of imposter syndrome as well, but you have to kind of block that out because you have worked hard, and you deserve it. There’s a lot of stuff out there that you think, ‘you know, I could have done that’… so do it then.

“I speak to my friends about this who are in the industry. It’s like, we literally have no choice. We have to do this. I’ve done it all my life and I’ve always worked towards it. I love it and, if my career isn’t successful but I am still doing music… I’d rather do that than have a successful career in something I don’t enjoy.

“I think I’m quite secretly confident that I can do something with this. I just love it so much and I think that’s what people see. If you’ve got passion, then that’s all you need.”