Ste Roberts on Happy Accidents, Hardware and Finding Freedom in the Underground
For Ste Roberts, the most interesting moment in the studio is often the one he never planned. A machine behaves unexpectedly, a sound takes an unfamiliar turn, and a track begins to move somewhere beyond its original idea. After more than two decades in the UK underground, that willingness to follow the unexpected remains at the heart of his music.
His debut EP for Cyphon Recordings is a four-track expression of that approach. Moving through mutant house, electro, techno and more reflective electronic territory, it brings together weighty club rhythms, unstable textures and melodies that emerge from the machinery rather than sitting neatly on top of it.
“I actually don’t,” he says when asked how much he knows about a track’s destination before starting. “I will normally start by just playing around on one of the machines in my studio, and then everything just evolves from there.”
Once a track finds its direction, even that is subject to change. Roberts has little interest in forcing an idea towards a predetermined genre, preferring to let the equipment and the moment dictate what happens next.
The EP’s opening track, ‘There’s a Schizophrenic In Our Park’, began somewhere far removed from the studio. During a train journey, a man sat beside Roberts and began sharing his life story, including his experience of homelessness and living in Alexandra Palace park. The encounter stayed with him and eventually became the starting point for the record.
“The track turned into fun, I was playing around with vocoders, and had my 101 rippling,” Roberts recalls. Its warped voices and psychedelic details might sound unconventional, but he found his answer to whether it belonged on a dancefloor by playing it out.
“The track felt strong and whenever I would play it had a solid reaction so I guys this gave me the faith that it would work on the dance floor.”
He adds, with a smile: “Safe to say I play stranger tracks than this that work on the dance floor :)”
‘Queen Bee (Live Version)’ offers a different kind of transformation. Originally produced years ago, the track marked a turning point in Roberts’ development. When he began assembling his live show, he knew it had to be included, but the original drums no longer felt right.
“For the live show I created new drums and it was a full rebirth of the track for me, so as a first, and one off we have a reborn version of one of my tracks.”
Elsewhere, ‘Ey Aye’ explores stripped-back machine rhythms, while closer ‘Lemon Top’ moves towards the deeper, more emotive side of electro and techno. Although the latter recalls the atmosphere of early IDM, Roberts does not frame it as an exercise in nostalgia.
“I love electro and the deeper side of techno, and especially deep and meaningful. I don’t seem to produce enough of it, but when I do it’s always a special time for me in the studio.”
His fascination with machines runs through all four tracks. Rather than treating imperfections as problems to correct, he sees them as opportunities to discover sounds that a more controlled process might never produce.
“I am a happy accident man! I love just working sounds on machines, hitting record and then pushing them around a bit. This is how a lot of my more obscure sounds are produced.”
That instinct has developed across a career that began in Leeds, where Tribe Records played a formative role. Roberts went on to become part of the early Hypercolour and Glass Table story, hold a decade-long residency on Rinse FM and release across a wide range of underground labels. Yet he identifies a much more recent development as the moment his musical direction came into sharper focus.
“Leeds and Tribe records was a real shaping point for me. That really has the longest lasting effect on me,” he explains. “I would say since launching my Private Parts imprint in 2022, and almost doing things my way, this has been the most effective point of my musical journey. I feel I properly got started at this point.”
Private Parts gives him a platform for artists whose music he believes in, alongside his own productions and occasional reissues. With its eleventh release approaching, he remains confident in the catalogue he has built. STEDIT serves a different purpose, providing a white-label outlet for his edits.
Running those imprints is an extension of the independence that has guided his career. Roberts has moved between styles without allowing one sound, label or prevailing trend to define what he makes.
“I guess I’ve always stuck to my guns. I make music I want to make, and I buy and play music for the same reason.”
It is a straightforward philosophy, but one that helps explain why his catalogue remains difficult to pin down. The Cyphon EP is not an attempt to reconcile house, techno and electro into a single identifiable formula. It is the result of following each idea wherever it leads.
And despite the years he has spent surrounded by hardware, the machines have not stopped catching him off guard.
“I’m always surprising myself in the studio… I have to thank the machines. There will be plenty more madness coming via me so stick around for the ride.”
