About Jake Bugg
Early Life
Bugg was born in Clifton, Nottingham, to musical parents who separated when he was young. His father, whose last name was Bugg, was a nurse, and his mother worked in sales, both having previously made recordings. He grew up in the Clifton council estate of Nottingham and started playing guitar at the age of 12 after being introduced to the instrument by his uncle Mark. He also states that his formative musical moment was hearing Don McLean’s “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” on an episode of The Simpsons. He was enrolled in a music technology course, but by the age of 16 he had dropped out and was writing and performing his own songs influenced by The Beatles, Johnny Cash, Oasis, Donovan, The Everly Brothers and Jimi Hendrix.
Career
Bugg was chosen by the BBC to appear on their “Introducing” stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival aged 17, and because of this was given a contract by Mercury Records. His songs were then placed on various BBC Radio playlists and one of them, “Country Song”, was used in a national TV beer commercial for Greene King IPA.
In an interview for The Daily Telegraph, when dubbed ‘an East Midlands Bob Dylan’, Bugg said “Bob Dylan’s cool, you know, he’s great, but he’s not a major influence”.
On 22 May 2012, Bugg appeared on the BBC music programme Later… with Jools Holland. In August 2012 Bugg was a supporting act for Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds at Belsonic Music Festival, Belfast. On 1 October 2012, he performed live on the BBC Radio 6 Music programme Live at Maida Vale.
Bugg was one of five nominees for the 2013 Brit Award for “British Breakthrough Act”, which was voted on by BBC Radio 1 listeners. Bugg rated his chances of winning as “very slim”, but also said, “I don’t really need an award to inspire me to keep writing music and playing my songs.” The award was won by Ben Howard.
Self-titled Album
Bugg’s eponymous debut album was released on 15 October 2012. Talking about Bugg and his debut, Clash hailed the “precocious talent fusing retro folk with blistering contemporary rock riffs”. On 21 October 2012 the song “Two Fingers” charted at 28 in the UK while the album reached number one in the UK charts.
Shangri La
Bugg has been in Malibu working with Rick Rubin and Iain Archer, and has had some interactions with Chad Smith from The Red Hot Chili Peppers, working on the drums to some of his songs, including the single “Broken”. On 8 September 2013 Jake Bugg tweeted the following “2nd album done! Hope you’re all well!” On 23 September 2013, Bugg announced his new album, Shangri La, along with a new single, “What Doesn’t Kill You”. Shangri La was released on 18 November 2013. This album is named after the studio Bugg recorded it in. Shangri La includes Elvis Costello’s drummer and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album has generally received positive reviews from the music community.
Appearances
On 1 January 2013, Bugg appeared on Jools’ Annual Hootenanny on BBC2, and on 5 January 2013 he appeared on The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV1. At the London 2012 Olympic games, Bugg’s song “Lightning Bolt” was played during the build up to the 100m men’s final. On 17 January, Bugg performed “Two Fingers” on the US TV talkshow Conan. On 26 January, he performed the same song as well as giving a short interview on the talkshow Lindmo on Norwegian television NRK.
On 22 April, Bugg performed “Lightning Bolt” on the US TV talkshow The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Bugg performed at the Evolution Festival in Newcastle upon Tyne on 27 May 2013 before headlining act Paloma Faith. On 8 June, he was the session guest on the influential Bob Harris show on BBC Radio 2. On 15 June, Bugg was one of three support acts for The Stone Roses at Glasgow Green. On 28 June, Bugg performed an afternoon set on the Pyramid Stage at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival, making him the first artist that has moved from the BBC Introducing Stage to the Main Pyramid stage in successive years. On the same day, Bugg performed his new single “Broken” live on The Graham Norton Show.
On 12 July, Bugg played the Radio 1 Stage at T in the Park. On 20 July, Bugg headlined at the Splendour festival in Nottingham. On 2 August, Bugg performed at the Osheaga Festival in the Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, Quebec. On 23–25 August, Bugg performed at the Reading and Leeds Festival on the Radio 1/NME stage. On 13 October, Bugg performed at The Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, California. On 8 October, Bugg played three tracks on the UK’s “Later… with Jools Holland” show. On 13 October, Bugg performed at the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City. On 11 December 2013, he performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo.