Jake Bugg

With his self-titled debut among the ten best-selling albums in Britain, 19-year-old Jake Bugg recently released his second CD, creating a buzz in the music industry.Reviewers have drawn comparisons with everyone from Bob Dylan to Noel Gallagher.Bugg was born in Nottingham, to musical parents and raised to the sound of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Neil Young, among others.Jake Bugg expanded on the origins of his passion for music:“I picked up a guitar when I was about 12,” he said. “My uncle came around and I just fell in love with it straight away. I carried on playing covers until I was about 14. I thought, ‘Well all these songs I really love playing are written by these people.’ Some of the songs can make your day, or the album can put you in a nice mood. I thought, ‘Well if I could do something I love, (and) hopefully help people in any way possible in the process, then that is the best job ever.’ That is what I would love to do.”For the follow-up to his debut album, Bugg enlisted the help of legendary producer Rick Rubin, considered one of the most influential producers of the last 20 years. Rubin has worked with a range of artists, from Beastie Boys to LL Cool J, from Black Sabbath to Mick Jagger.Bugg explains what working with Rubin was like:“I think with some people, as a songwriter you can be defensive. It can easily feel like people are imposing on what you do. They are trying to change too much. Rick (Rubin) doesn’t ever make you feel like that. You get the impression he is trying to get the best out of the artist. He will say very simple things. It might be something as simple as, ‘Why don’t repeat that line?’ Very little things that have such a big impact on the song. It was just really pleasant. It will be quite hard to work someone else I think.”Jake Bugg is at the start of a European tour. His second album, Shangri La, is out now.For more information on Jake Bugg’s tour dates, see http://jakebugg.com/gigs/