Watch interview with music star Jake Bugg ahead of Rock & Roll Circus in Sheffield

The Star, Sheffield

Rock & Roll Circus is back once again in Sheffield this August and will feature the iconic and much loved Jake Bugg.  He sat down for a quick 10 minutes interview ahead of the Circus' return in 2024.

Transcript

00:00But I couldn't help but notice that you have got a new album around the corner,

00:03A Modern Day Distraction. Starting with that, what can people expect from the

00:08record, Jake, and why are you excited about it?

00:11I'm pretty excited about this record. I think for me,

00:15I mean, I don't know what like the fans or anything will think about it, but for

00:17me it feels like a natural progression from the first two records, I think, in

00:20terms of sound. And I just thought it'd be best,

00:24you know, I thought I'd give it a go, trying to play to my strengths

00:28and just kind of like, you know, add some influences in there that I grew up

00:31listening to. So yeah, I'm really happy about it. It

00:34feels like a record that feels like me again.

00:38Oh, well, that's exciting stuff, mate. And this will be your

00:41sixth studio album? Sixth one. Do you have to pinch yourself, because it seems like

00:46I've kind of feel as though I've grown up in recent years with Jake, but

00:50you're one of those people that's been around for a little

00:52while now. Do you have to pinch yourself that you've done so

00:56well and you're only, what, 30 still? Which is pretty wild. You have to

01:02pinch yourself of how well you've done and how much your career has progressed

01:05over the years. Yeah, I mean, there's been some amazing

01:08highlights for sure and, you know, I'm definitely grateful for

01:13you know, for the, you know, to be so fortunate to do the thing that I love

01:17for work. But yeah, I mean, you know, there's times when, you know, there's

01:20times when it hasn't gone so well as well, but that's part of the journey.

01:22And, you know, that's what makes it interesting, I guess. But

01:26yeah, there are times when you think, it's usually when someone else brings it

01:29up and they're like, oh, do you remember when we played this gig? I'm like, oh yeah,

01:31bloody hell, I like it. And it kind of like, it can throw you

01:34off sometimes. So yeah, but at the same time,

01:37quite focused, I'd get the head down, get the songs written and

01:40go out there and perform. Oh, excellent. Well, I remember seeing one of your

01:44early shows, it was at the Head of Steam in Newcastle, probably about 12 years

01:48ago. And I remember driving back from a

01:50festival and the promoter said, you need to come and see this guy, he's

01:54amazing. And I remember being like, totally blown away. There's only about 80

01:58people in the audience. It was a really intimate show.

02:01How do you think over the years, because you've been in the business now for well

02:04over a decade, how do you think your approach to

02:07songwriting has changed? Or do you feel as though now that you kind of went full

02:10circle a little bit, backing track to what you just said

02:13earlier? Yeah, I think it's changed. I think, you know, I think I've become,

02:17if any, well, I think, you know, it's not that hard, you know, to go from being

02:2118 year old to 30, and then, you know, to be a bit more disciplined when it comes

02:24to your craft. So definitely take it a lot more

02:27seriously. And it's that thing, you know, the more

02:30you learn, the more you realize you don't know.

02:33So I think, you know, it's developed a lot. And I think, you know, there's been

02:37a lot of experimentation. But if that's what it's taken for me

02:41to get back to, you know, the thing that I'm best at, and a record like this one

02:45that I'm very happy with, then so be it. I'm sure there'll be plenty of

02:48records in the future that, you know, are more experimental, and

02:52people probably won't think they're that great. But, you know, that's part of it.

02:55You know, my favorite artists make albums that I don't,

02:58I think, you know, are not great at all, but like some of the best ones as well.

03:03But that's the way it is. And so, yeah, I think it's developed, but

03:06at the same time, I think I've just realized, you know, what is probably,

03:10you know, best to stick at for me and a little bit, I don't know.

03:13You're going back to the roots. I'm getting excited now, Jake. This is sounding

03:16like an interesting project. Now, at the end of the month, we've got

03:19the small matter of Rock and Roll Circus in Sheffield that's taking place at

03:24Don Valley, and you're performing on Saturday, Saturday the 31st of August,

03:28alongside the likes of the mighty Milburn, Sheffield's finest, and Peter

03:33Dougherty. Why are you looking forward to this one, Jake?

03:36Well, yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. We've had a great festival

03:40run this year, and all the ones we've played have been fantastic. The crowds

03:44have all been brilliant, and I'm sure Rock and Roll Circus will be no

03:48exception. So, really excited for it, and we're playing on the Saturday now,

03:51you mentioned, so that's got me even more excited for it. And it's just, you

03:55know, we're looking forward to it as well, because we've got new songs in the

03:58set, and so it really adds a new dynamic, and they're a little bit more

04:02tempo, the ones we've added. So, yeah, I feel like we're playing, the band's

04:06playing better than ever, and yeah, the new songs are sounding good. So,

04:09really excited for it.

04:11Fantastic, mate. And also, as well, I love Rock and Roll Circus. I love the

04:15whole concept, you know, with the circus theme, and you've got the trapeze and

04:18the flamethrowers alongside the live action. Are you a fan of the concept?

04:24Yeah, I'm a fan of the live action.

04:27Yeah, and Rock and Roll Circus, you know, like it being a circus-themed

04:30extravaganza, so you've got all this stuff running alongside the live music.

04:35Yeah, absolutely. I think that's a great thing, like, you know,

04:39for festivals to have the other things aside from music that just keep it

04:43more interesting, and you know, as glamorous as it is seeing the band

04:47sometimes at festivals, there's sometimes nothing to do apart from

04:51walking through the mud, is there? So, I think it's great that there's, you

04:54know, there's other stuff going on, and yeah, it's just another reflection

04:58of, you know, how great the festival circuit is in the UK as well.

05:01Fantastic, and you're no stranger of performing in South Yorkshire, and

05:05you've got lots of fans in Sheffield. Have you got fond memories of playing

05:08in that part of the world? Yeah, definitely. Yeah, you know, I always,

05:13they always like shouting Yorkshire, don't they, whenever you play a

05:16gig or anything, and it's great. It's, you know, it's clearly a place where

05:21people are very enthusiastic about live music, and just music in general, so

05:26yeah, we only have, yeah, there's only good memories of playing up there, for

05:28sure. Fantastic. Now, before I ask my last

05:33question, which is going to have a few quick-fire, silly, light-hearted

05:37questions, if you don't mind. Sure. If you weren't a musician, Jake, what

05:42career do you think you would have pursued?

05:46Not to put you on the spot.

05:49I don't know. I would have probably tried to go for football, but I very, very

05:55doubt it would have happened, and I think I'd find, I found the

06:00cigarettes and the alcohol a little bit too early for that, I think.

06:06Didn't we all say. And what is the strangest thing that has ever happened

06:11to you on tour? Oh, the strangest thing that's ever

06:15happened on tour? That is, oh, there's been so many as

06:21well. The strangest thing that's happened on

06:25tour? Oh, come back to me on that one. I'll

06:29answer, but I think of something wider. We'll come to that one at the end, or

06:33maybe it's a bizarre moment or a weird encounter. There's been loads

06:37that's why my brain's trying to work through them all, like which ones

06:40actually, which was the maddest. Yeah, there's been a few. Fantastic. Well,

06:45we'll come back to that one, and this one comes from some readers.

06:49Do you have any pre-show rituals or lucky charms that you

06:52always bring with you to a show? No, not really pre-show

06:56rituals. I like a shower quite close to the

07:00show, you know, get all the steam going, you know, just like

07:03get the muscles flowing, and it kind of freshens you up before the gig.

07:07Yeah, a shower, you know, the voice isn't feeling too good like a honey lemon, but

07:11nothing crazy. Like, no, we're not, like, I think some of the, I think maybe

07:16the drummers start doing a few stretches or something before the gig, but there's

07:19no Pilates or anything happening so far.

07:23No chanting or any weird pre-gig rituals for J-Pub, nice and traditional.

07:27It's all about the Manuka honey these days. Well,

07:31you know, it's a festival, it's a shorter set, it's a shot of vodka, isn't it?

07:36It depends how long the set is. That's a very good point,

07:40and my second last question, just in terms of music that's turned you on

07:43this year, Jake, is there any sort of standout tracks or albums that you've

07:46really enjoyed over the last 12 months from other artists? Oh, so 12 months, if

07:51you say 12 months, then yeah, there's a record from last year,

07:54so I went to see the Lexington actually here in London, and

07:59she's called Aura Kogan, and it's a great record. The record is called

08:03Formless, and it's just kind of all that stuff I

08:06like. It's like, you know, it's a bit country, it's

08:08quite dark, and it's very psychedelic as well, and it's kind of got,

08:11and there's like one or two songs that have got, like, a bit of tempo about them

08:15as well, like, so it brings it into the indie realm as well a little bit,

08:18so that's a really cool record. I've been listening to that one a lot.

08:22Oh, fantastic. Well, there'll be at least another 5,000-6,000 streams on that

08:26record when this eventually goes live.

08:29Fantastic, and before I finally let you go, what message do you have

08:33for your fans in Sheffield and South Yorkshire ahead of your short rock and

08:37roll circus this summer? Yeah, I just want to say I'm really

08:40looking forward to playing for you guys, and

08:42yeah, as I say, we've got new songs for you, and we'll be playing old ones as

08:45well, so yeah, there'll be a bit in there for

08:47everybody hopefully, and yeah, we're just really excited for it, can't wait.

08:51Oh, that's amazing, Jake. Thank you so much, buddy. And do you have a strange tour

08:54memory, or should we count it? Strange tour memory?

08:59I mean, there has been a few. I mean, my brain keeps going to somewhere in

09:03America, it always seems to be somewhere in that part where it gets a little bit

09:06crazy, but no, I'd say, like, I remember one

09:10time we played, I think it was at Isle of Wight

09:15Festival or something like that years ago, and there was a

09:17bloke dressed in the crowd as a baby, and he was in, he had a

09:22dummy and everything, and he had an inflatable, it was like

09:26an inflatable cot, so he just looked like a baby on a cot,

09:29and then there was some bloke on someone's shoulders in a g-string,

09:33this is all in the same crowd, it was just like, because I think they're

09:36like, I don't know if they dress it up a bit down there, but there was a lot of

09:38mad stuff, and that's just one of the things I could think of, there's so

09:41many I could probably tell you that probably aren't best for interviews, to

09:44be honest, but yeah, that's what I remember very well,

09:48a grown man dressed as a baby in an inflatable cot.

09:53I mean, it doesn't get, it doesn't get more bizarre than that, and I can imagine

09:56you've seen some very strange things out on the road in America,

09:58but Jake, you've been awesome fun, and I really do appreciate it,

10:02and thank you so much, and we can't wait to see you at Rock and Roll Circus in

10:05Sheffield this August.

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