From the streets to the stage: Sara n Junbug to headline King Tut’s
THEY have gone from busking on Buchanan Street, to making it on the small screen with Emeli Sande and now they’ll take the stage at King Tut’s – Sara ‘N’ Junbug are taking over.
“It’s our first time in King Tuts and we’re buzzing,” Junbug told the Evening Times.
“We’ve just finished the Emeli Sande street symphony, and it’s almost sold out now. We’ve been gigging for years but this is the biggest crowd that we’ll be playing to, so we’re really chuffed with that.”
If you ever do your shopping on a Saturday on Buchanan street, you’ll be sure to have seen Sara N Junbug. A four-piece of multiinstrumentalists, Junbug and Sara met in Langside College when they decided to start making music together and, as they say, the rest is history. It was on the streets that Emeli Sande found them to feature in the Street Symphony series with BBC Scotland.
“Doing the show was great, it was good fun. Me and Sara busk full time and it was a great experience that really opened our eyes.
“We see ourselves as professionals but only after being thrown in with professionals on the show, we realised the leap that you have to take to get at any professional level. It was an amazing experience.
“Sara and I started busking full time about a year or so ago; we both packed our jobs in and thought to just give music a full time go. It’s working out so far.”
The headline gig on Saturday in King Tut’s is a pretty monumental achievement for the band, taking to a stage that has hosted the likes of Oasis, Radiohead and Snow Patrol.
Supporting Sara ‘N’ Junbug are fellow buskers Liam Doyle and Glasgow’s own Jodie Knight, the daughter of TV personality Carol Smilie and emerging musical artist within her own right.
“I’m well excited” said Jodie. “King Tut’s is a good venue, and it’s quite a notorious venue in Glasgow. No pressure,” she laughs.
Although studying songwriting and music production in Liverpool, Jodie is travelling up to join the others for Saturday’s gig.
“I have a half-hour set, so I’ll do some originals and a couple of covers, because everyone loves a good cover. I’m really bad for just deciding what to play on the actual night.”
Both Junbug and Jodie feel that they have the streets of Glasgow to thank for their musical confidence.
“Being able to play on any street in Glasgow has just helped us with our confidence so much,” says Junbug. “I don’t feel phased at all at playing to a sold out crowd, because I know that I’ve played to that many people on a Saturday afternoon.”