Singer-songwriter Jake Bugg is returning to the region to play headline and support-act shows ahead of the release of a much-anticipated sixth album. What’s On caught up with him to find out about the new record, live gigs and supporting rock royalty...

If you want a reminder of how quick time flies, how about this: precocious singer-songwriter Jake Bugg, who performed at Glastonbury at the age of 17 and had a number one album the following year, has just turned 30. In the interim, he’s released four more albums, toured the world, supported the Rolling Stones and even recorded the soundtrack to a documentary about football superstar Ronaldinho. It’s been a whirlwind 13 years for the boy from a Nottingham council estate, a background that keeps him grounded as well as amiably matter-of-fact during our chat.

It’s been a while since your last album, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, and the Ronaldinho soundtrack. How are things coming with the next one?
I did the soundtrack, and I’ve been writing ever since then, really. I was in the studio all of last year and the record’s pretty much there - we’ll be playing a few new songs from it on the upcoming tour. I’m really happy to have a new record pretty much ready to go, although it’s always a funny one - you’re excited about it but you’re worried at the same time.

Tell us a bit about how the album has come together.
I’ve been working with these guys at Metrophonic, and they’ve been great and done the whole record, really - it’s been a great experience. It’s just picking up a guitar and jamming around and seeing what comes out - it might be a riff, it might be a few chords or a melody - and just going from there. 
I didn’t do too much sitting at home on the acoustic with the laptop because I spent two years doing that for the soundtrack during Covid, so I wanted to get into the studio.

And play with other people?
Yeah, exactly. I love playing and writing on my own, but it’s good to go and work with other people. You learn new things, and you come up with stuff you probably would never have done on your own.
What can fans expect from the new album? Saturday Night Sunday Morning took you in a poppier direction - does the new one continue in that vein?

I’d say this one has gone back the other way - it’s a lot more gritty, more energetic, more uptempo… definitely more on the rock side than pop side this time, which I think is a good place for me. Obviously there’ll be some traditional kind of Jake Bugg things in there as well. I like to think the fans will be quite happy with this one; it seems a bit more like something I would do. I really like the songs, and I just hope other people can relate to them like I can - that’s always the interesting part.

The Your Town shows are set to feature two sets - one solo acoustic and one with a full band. How do you choose which songs appear in which section? Is the new material best suited to a full band, to make it more palatable to audiences hearing it for the first time, or do you like the idea of leading people in with an acoustic rendition?
With these shows the acoustic section of it is more of a nod back to how I grew up playing. I used to play shows just me and my guitar, kinda half an hour every now and then, so we’re playing some older songs from that period. I think when you’re playing brand-new songs, you want them to have the biggest impact they can have, so I do them with a band. There’s obviously a few songs on this new record that are slower - not every song’s uptempo with a full band - so maybe there’s an argument to sneak a new ballad one into the acoustic set. So that’s an option, too.

So audiences will get a few brand-new songs and, by the sounds of it, a few very old ones?
Yeah, pretty much. We’ll give people a flavour of everything, really. It’s nice to mix it up and do stuff we haven’t done for a while -  and stuff that we’ve never played before as well.

And at venues you’ve not played before, since many aren’t on the traditional touring map…
Yeah, it’s something we realised last year when we were playing festivals and going to places we wouldn’t usually go. The reception and appreciation from the audience was fantastic, so we thought why don’t we go to some of these places on the tour, as we hadn’t really done some of them before.

There’s a gap in the middle of the tour when you’ll be opening shows for Liam Gallagher and John Squire. Does that mean you knew about their unexpected partnership before everyone else?
Oddly enough, I didn’t! It was by some miracle that the dates worked out in between mine. It’s a pure coincidence but one I’m quite happy with. To go out on the road with those guys will just be a great experience. I love my guitar, so getting to see John play each night will be a great inspiration.

You weren’t even born when the Stone Roses were in their pomp, but it sounds like you’re a fan?
Absolutely. I actually supported the Roses when they did their comeback around the 2012 Olympics and played a small show in the Village Underground in East London. It was great to support them - but more than that, I got to watch them in a 500-capacity venue, which was amazing. They were really on it that night.

Playing on the same stage as such a legendary act and then having a number-one album all at the age of 18 was obviously an amazing experience, but you’ve said before that you suffered a lot from insecurity and imposter syndrome. Have you got a bit more relaxed about that as you’ve got older?
I’m a bit more relaxed in general, I think. It’s always a funny one when you see your mates doing the graft and going to work while you’re getting to travel to all these lovely places and just play shows every night…

...with Liam Gallagher…
Yeah, exactly! A lot of our mates grew up listening to Liam, so it does feel quite surreal. But yeah, it’s fine - you’ve just got to get on with it. The music keeps me sane!

Jake Bugg plays headline shows at Keele University, Staffordshire, on Friday 8 March and Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, on Sunday 28 April. He supports Liam Gallagher and John Squire at Civic Hall at the Halls, Wolverhampton, on Thursday 14 March.

By Steve Adams