The Essex lyricist has one rule, that he gets to interview whoever he finds interesting. This is a premise which differentiates Pip from other podcasts that may feel forced or uninformed because of the hosts lack of insight into their guest. "What is it exactly that you do?" said the host to his guest with 200 twitter followers and a verified account. You never get that with Distraction Pieces.
In addition to this, Pip takes a secondary role in each of his podcasts as he is able to take a backseat whilst asking relevant and journalistic questions, whilst keeping interruptions to a bare minimum. It happens far too often with the most conversational podcasts. The hosts are unable to step back for a second without cutting in with a personal story/joke something that makes me feel far too uncomfortable to bear. If I wanted to hear constant interruptions I would just talk to, I don't know everyone I know? Either way this podcast doesn't suffer from this, and I tip my hat off to Pip for his fantastic interviewing skills.
Hitting it off in a big way, the podcast starts at episode one with controversial comic Russell Brand, guaranteeing exposure from the start as it sets the tone in terms of its topic and its political perspective (left), and the guests get better from there. Billy Bragg (really left), Simon Pegg (quite left) and Zane Lowe (music, only ever music) all feature, and you can rely on Pip to coast through 90+ minutes of an intelligent in depth conversation with all of them.
Pip seems to be a master of trades and now podcasting is one of them and unlike his first interviewee Russell Brand, the hope is that he wont quit this craft whilst he's ahead. Distraction Pieces is one of the best podcasts in Britain and a popular one with a lot of freedom in terms of its time constraints and creativity is a winning combination.
Recommended episodes: Rou Reynolds, Josie Long, Stewart Lee
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