MY LOCKDOWN JAKE BUGG
THE SINGER-SONGWRITER HAS BEEN BUSY COMING UP WITH A NEW SINGLE, AN ALBUM AND A FILM SCORE
MUSICIAN Jake Bugg, 26, famed for hits such as Lightning Bolt, has released four albums. New single All I Need is out now, ahead of a fifth album later this year.
What is your daily lockdown routine?
I wake up, go through the news, have a shower and then I work on my music from 12 to six. At weekends I chill out and watch the footy.
How has your working week changed?
I’ve never been at home without touring for this length of time before. I haven’t been on a plane since January 2020, so that’s been the biggest change – spending more time at home. The last gig I did was in February last year. We did The Graham Norton Show recently a nd it was a lot of fun just to play with the band again. I’ve also been working on music for a film score over the past year, which has kept me sane and given me an objective each day. It’s been a nice creative output, in addition to doing my own record.
What exercise have you been doing?
I’ve been trying to go to the park a couple of days a week but I’ve been too busy working on the film score to do much else. I was playing tennis in the summer when we had the Tier system. It was good to hit a ball around on a court for a couple of hours.
Did you panic buy anything during the original lockdown?
No, I just bought what I needed. I didn’t understand the panic.
Have you taken up baking or any other lockdown trends?
I’ve been cooking a lot more recently. I make my own pasta – I get my egg and flour out and put it together. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years but I’ve got into it during lockdown. I might get another pasta maker so I can do different shapes. I’ve been doing carbonara, meatballs, lasagnes. For meatballs, I use sausage. I’ll have put the tomato sauce on for three hours so I do the meatballs an hourand-a-half in. I fry them with garlic – but don’t put the garlic in too early or it will burn. Burnt garlic in a pasta dish is the worst thing.
Has social isolation given you any insights into your personality?
I’ve always been quite independent but lockdown has just reminded me of that – I haven’t found it too difficult. I would usually spend a lot of time with the band and road crew, we’re like a big family, so to go from that to complete isolation… I thought it would have had more of an impact on me than it has had. I think that having an objective to achieve each day with this film score has been a big help. I get to wake up and do music each day, which I love.
Which ‘non-essential’ activity do you miss the most?
Going to the pub. I’m not enjoying these warm cans any more. I’ve got a local pub I go to in Kensington and it feels like a lifetime ago since I was last in there. Because I work from home doing music, it’s good to get out and go somewhere at the end of the day. I’ve got regular friends I go to the pub with but the pub is quite small and it wasn’t able to offer takeaways, so I’m hoping they will be able to reopen properly soon.
Will this change society?
I’d like to think it will make people more aware of other diseases that are out there, so people will keep sanitising their hands and so on. It’s not just Covid that’s out there. Hand sanitisers should be in pubs anyway.
How do think the government is handling the pandemic?
When you see the news conferences and the officials being interviewed… it would be nice to get an honest answer. People want to be spoken to like they’re human beings. They just want a bit of honesty.
■ Jake Bugg’s new single, All I Need, is out now.