A BUGG'S LIFE
ALEX GREEN LEARNS HOW A DECADE IN MUSIC HAS TAKEN JAKE BUGG FROM TEEN FOLKIE TO A DANCE-MUSIC AND 70s ROCK-DABBLING POP CHAMELEON
JAKE BUGG is riding high after his first weekend of post-lockdown concerts around the UK.
The 27-year-old singer, from Nottingham, headlined Tramlines Festival in Sheffield, played to cricket fans at his local ground, Trent Bridge, and took to the stage at Hertfordshire’s Standon Calling.
“It was surreal, to be honest,” he admits.
“To be spending that much time away, to being on stage in front of a crowd. I couldn’t ask for a better show to come back to and just see the audience really up for it having a great time. I was pretty nervous before I went on. It was strange. As soon as I went on there, it all went away and it just felt normal again,” he says of the Tramlines gig.
Jake was a wiry teenager with an acoustic guitar and a handful of bluesy songs inspired by the likes of the Beatles, Dylan and Hendrix when he rose to fame with the release of his Mercury Prize-nominated debut in 2012.
His combination of hard-scrabble storytelling – tales of growing up in Nottingham’s Clifton council estate – and a devil-may-care attitude, not unlike that of his heroes Noel and Liam Gallagher, made him a hit with critics and casual listeners alike.
Since then he has developed his sound and incorporated country rock and Americana, with some experiments more successful than others.
Now on his fifth album, he has gone a step further and turned to his passion for 70s soft-rockers Supertramp, Abba and the Bee Gees.
Jake is not alone in looking back to a decade that until only recently was considered decidedly unhip – Rag’n’Bone Man, Jessie Ware and Dua Lipa have all mined that era for earworm gold.
“I’ve never felt like I’m not allowed to do anything,” he explains.
“But obviously you always put yourself in a vulnerable position trying something new. But yeah, working with (English DJ duo) CamelPhat definitely showed me that if I was to do something like that, then it would probably work. Even if people think I shouldn’t be doing something doesn’t mean that I won’t give it a go.”
Written before lockdown then tweaked during it, many of the singles emerged towards the end of the creative process. Lost is most likely to surprise fans – a house music stomper worlds apart from the retro folk of Lightning Bolt or Two Fingers from Jake’s debut.
“I was prepared for the criticism,” he admits.
“I knew what was coming my way and of course there were a lot of those comments that you expect. But at the same time, I knew I had other songs that were very in contrast to songs like Lost, other songs on the record like my new song Downtown for example. “I knew that once people hear those, they know that I’ve not totally gone the full distance in the pop world. So I wasn’t too worried. I felt like I had other songs to back up what I was trying to do.” The name of the album is also important. It was inspired by the 1960 film adaption of author Alan Sillitoe’s book Saturday Night And Sunday Morning – regular viewing during Jake’s youth.
“Because of how mad life has been in the last few years and the different experiences and places I have been, I wanted something that was reminiscent of my hometown on this record,” he offers.
“I thought that the title Saturday Night, Sunday Morning was quite apt because I thought it made sense with the songs – some songs sound perfect for a Saturday night and some for the hangover on a Sunday.”
Lockdown also allowed Jake to explore other areas of interest. He wrote music for a film about Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho, by filmmakers Andrew and Stuart Douglas, who worked on some of his past music videos. The project, he explains, allowed him to indulge his dual loves of football and film.
“It made me more appreciative to go back to the world that I know best,” he says. “Because I’ve had the chance to experiment and create things I never thought I would.
“It’s been brilliant to work on the film, just to write to picture and not have to listen to my voice for a change,” he adds with a droll laugh.
“When I was growing up, he was probably the best player in the world,” adds the avid Notts County supporter.
“It was one of those – once Ronaldinho had tried something on the television, you could guarantee every kid to be trying it in training that week. When you’re watching the footage, it’s just really not difficult to be inspired watching that guy do his thing.”
Jake was 17 when he signed to Mercury Records and understands more than most the pressures of the spotlight.
“I guess it was a bit of a crazy thing to happen,” he says in typically understated fashion.
“But at the same time, I’m never one to reflect very much or stop and think about how crazy things were or what could have been.
“I guess it was a bit of a mad time. But at the same time, you have just got to carry on, just do what you got to do. For me, I don’t really think about those things too much.”
After a pause, he adds: “I was quite lucky actually.
“Because when the first record came out, and when it topped the charts, I went to tour America with Noel Gallagher. So that’s probably the best thing that could have happened. I got out of the country and started touring in a country that didn’t know me.”
Still, comparisons to Gallagher and even Bob Dylan couldn’t have been easy to shoulder as a teenager. “That’s just how it is,” he replies. “It’s a high-pressure job, especially in this industry. You’ve got the pressure of the comparisons.
“But you’ve also got the pressure on the label side of trying to sell records.
“And to be honest, there’s always a lot of pressure no matter what. You just either deal with it or choose not to.”
■ Saturday Night, Sunday Morning by Jake Bugg is out now.