Notts music 2015

January 1 2015

2014 saw a sold out show at the Capital FM Arena by Jake Bugg, a Top 20 single for Indiana, critical acclaim for Ronika and Sleaford Mods, plus a two-month arena tour with Ed Sheeran for Saint Raymond. So what in store for Nottingham musicians in 2015?

THERE has been no date set for Jake Bugg’s third album but you could bet your house on Nottingham’s biggest music star releasing it by the end of the year.

Remember, Shangri La followed just a year after his No. 1 self-titled debut but that was at the end of 2013.

While touring the world this year, the 20-year-old (he turns 21 in February) has been crafting new music, playing a number of fresh tunes at gigs such as Looking Down The Alley and Hold On You.

We can also expect an arena tour to follow and a return to the Capital FM Arena, which he played in February.

Snapping at his heels is Saint Raymond, 19-year-old Callum Burrows from Bramcote, who has been building momentum all year for the release of his debut album.

As well as three songs in the iTunes Top 30 (a fourth single Fall At Your Feet is out this week), he went on the road with Ed Sheeran for two months playing arenas across the UK and Europe, including two shows in Nottingham.

“2014 has been insane, all the shows, recording the album, and obviously the tour with Ed Sheeran,” he said, promising the album would be out “earlyish 2015”.

One would hope it lands before he plays his sell-out show at Rock City in February, only the second Notts artist to do that. The other? Jake Bugg, of course.

The album was finished months ago, as was the debut by his mates Amber Run, the anthemic guitar band who got together at uni in Nottingham.

They released three singles on RCA and a fourth, I Found, is due in January.

What we do have a date for is Indiana’s No Romeo album, which will be released on January 26.

The 27-year-old mum-of-two, who lives in Long Eaton, has had phenomenal support from Radio 1 this year, earning her a Top 20 single, Solo Dancing.

Don’t be surprised to see her at Splendour this summer after a year off from the festival when she joined the line-up for DHP Family’s new No Tomorrow festival in Wollaton Park last summer.

Expect more new music from Ronika, whose Selectadisc album picked up phenomenal reviews.

As did Sleaford Mods. The punk duo’s latest album Divide And Exit made a number of end-of-year polls including the NME and The Guardian. Their Rescue Rooms gig on January 27 is sold out.

Dog Is Dead, now called D.I.D., have been exploring a sludgier, if still melodic, sound. Hear them at The Bodega in March.

Notts-raised soprano Lucy Kay goes on tour with Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro this month, including the Royal Concert Hall. The 25-year-old has been performing for celebrities and royalty, here and in Hong Kong, following the Top 20 success of her debut album, Fantasia.

Grime star Gino, who has a phenomenal following on social media, should break through this year.

Others expected to build on their success in 2014 are Gallery 47, who toured with Paul Weller; Joel Baker, who had Radio 1 support from Huw Stephens and Fearne Cotton; Harleighblu who played festivals across Europe, and guitar band Lacey, fresh from winning a support slot with James Blunt at the Capital FM Arena.

Gino Bonazzi

October 2014

KIDS stop him for photos in his neighbourhood. Over a million people have watched his videos on YouTube (more than Jake Bugg). But Gino Bonazzi isn’t a household name. Although he has every confidence that will happen.

“I’ve been networking and travelling from city to city,” explains the 22-year-old from Radford of his huge following.

“I’m a friendly guy, I’ve got a friendly face, I carry myself with good vibes,” he adds.

He started MCing aged 13.

“I did music as a hobby but people liked what I’d been doing so I thought I’d better start taking it seriously and putting in the hard work. I’d go to events in Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Walsall, London... sometimes on the train on my own, to gigs and open mic nights.”

After school he worked in construction and plastering, played football for Notts County juniors and had trials for Forest. He also studied music technology with now manager Courtney Rose at Take One Studios, where he launched his new single Turn It Up this week.

“Courtney has got me together. I was all over the place. I love being organised,” he admits.

The single #OK, the video for which has notched up over 400,000 YouTube views, and Now That I’m Out has 770,000 views.

The latter was about his spell in prison.

“It was case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” says Gino, who won’t say what the sentence was for.

“I got caught up in a situation. I’ve been blamed.

“Everybody knows who’s actually done the crime but from where I’m from, I can’t say ‘this is the chap that’s done it.’”

He was in prison for six months.

“I knew people in there. I didn’t have a hard time. All it makes you do is give you a kick: ‘What am I doing?’. I got my head down and I realised that when I come out I know what I’ve got to do and I’ve stuck to my word. I haven’t been anywhere near silly foolish people.”

The video has also been played on Sky TV channel AKA. Gino is currently shooting one for the new single that he expects to be aired on the channel, along with music station Flava.

He has big hopes for Turn It Up.

“I’ve already had serious conversations about the Top 40,” says Gino, who has been a member of a group in the past but found it too restricting.

“When there are seven people, it’s hard to go places. Someone has missed a bus or we have to wait for another to finish work... we were missing out on too much because of that.

“And out of all of us, people were drawn to me. I was getting all the bookings, I was getting all the hits on YouTube... and I got a lot of jealousy. So I had to move on.”

He adds: “I’m not a follower, I’m a leader.”

His confidence is down to his mum.

“Everything she’s wanted to do, she’s done. She’s a single mum and has worked really hard,” he adds, although he does see his dad “nearly all the time”.



Turn It Up is out now at HMV and through iTunes. For more about Gino find him on Twitter: @GinoGmanGi 

George Akins - 'Nottingham's Mr Music'

May 2014

IN the book on a shelf behind George Akins’ desk, the writer refers to him a “Nottingham’s Mr Music”. It’s Jake Bugg’s unofficial biography that is as much about the local music scene as it is about the rise of the kid from Clifton to international star.
“Does it really say that?” he frowns, admitting he’s not yet had time to read it.
He’s not keen on the label but it sits well with the boss of a company that dominates Nottingham’s music map.
DHP Family owns and operates Rock City, Rescue Rooms, The Social and Stealth, where everyone from U2 and Oasis to Simply Red, Nirvana, The Smiths, Iron Maiden and more have played.
It promotes gigs in all of its own venues but also around the country, putting on around 1,200 gigs every year for the likes of Ed Sheeran, James Blunt and Lana Del Ray, winning national awards in the process.
There are other venues in Bristol and London, where it has a second office.
Rock City is also home to concert ticket agency Alt-Tickets.
In more recent years they’ve added artist management to the portfolio, enjoying success with West Bridgford indie band Dog Is Dead and Long Eaton’s Indiana, who last week landed her first Top 20 single.
The 39-year-old father-of-two, the son of Nottingham entrepreneur George Akins (George junior named his son George), recently moved operations from behind Rock City to the Lace Market, taking two storeys in a Victorian building behind wrought iron gates on Plumptre Street.
It’s next to St Mary’s School House where George senior left at the age of 12 in order to start making a bob or two for himself.
It is from here that DHP Family also organises festivals. There are five in all, the most by any promoter.
The indoor variety include Everywhere, Hit The Deck and next weekend’s Dot To Dot across Manchester, Bristol and Nottingham.
“Dot To Dot is our longest-running festival at nine years and it’s all about showcasing the new bands that are the future of music.”
DHP Family has been putting on outdoor festivals, mostly at Wollaton Park, since 1997 with the first City In The Park. More followed with the Corrs, Bryan Adams, Ronan Keating and All Saints, then Green Day for Distortion.
“Although they weren’t unsuccessful, they weren’t particularly successful events,” he admits.
“It is hard to make a one day production work. They were not profitable overall and that was why we stopped doing them.
”It wasn’t until we got into a partnership with Nottingham City Council that we were able to stage the Splendour Festival in Wollaton Park as a sustainable event.
“That has been a success since it started and long may it continue. “
Splendour is now in its sixth year but they’ve added a new festival to the summer diary in early June called No Tomorrow.
“It’s like an end of term party for students,” says George, who never made it to university, thrown out of boarding school in Rugby for smoking and drinking.
“We’ve made overtures to both of the universities for a number of years about getting involved in an end of term party,” he says.
“And we’ve seen the success of Parklife in Manchester and Love Saves The Day in Bristol. They’ve now become proper festivals running over two days and attracting up to 60,000 people.”
Each started out at 10,000, which is his expectation for No Tomorrow on June 7.
“The vision is for it to become a bigger event,” he says of the one-day festival that is targeted at students but is for anyone 18 and over.
“It’s delivering a beginning of summer experience and we’re confident we can do that.”
London Grammar, who met at the University of Nottingham, will headline, with Sam Smith and Clean Bandit joining them on the main stage. All three have number one albums.
Indiana, who is managed by DHP Family, will also appear, following the success of her Top 20 single, Solo Dancing.
Opening the main stage will be a student band, chosen through a competition between both universities.
“It’s a different vibe to Splendour,” says George of the annual festival that returns on July 19.
“That’s more of a day out for family and friends.”
Hence the mix of old and new acts.
“We try to have acts that have had more than one hit. Happy Mondays have had a long and successful career. Boomtown Rats don’t play very often and they had a number of hits back in the day. Scouting For Girls sold 8,000 tickets at the Arena a couple of years ago and they’ve had several top ten hits.
“The same goes for The Beat, who will also be playing the main stage.
“The newer artists are Tom Odell. Although he’s still on his first album there are five hit singles on there. And Foxes are likely to have a Top 5 album this week .”
While No Tomorrow will have two DJ tents, Splendour’s three live music stages will return as normal, the second being the Confetti Stage with Boomtown Rats, Reverend and the Makers and The Rifles.
“It’s a mix of indie and mainstream, old and new,” he says, with expectations that the event will match the 17,000 people that saw Jake Bugg headline last year’s festival.
“The line-up isn’t as Nottingham heavy as it was last year but it couldn’t have been any more Nottingham than that with Jake Bugg, Indiana, Dog Is Dead, Saint Raymond, Georgie Rose and so many others.”
Those have all played the smallest Splendour stage in the Courtyard, which continues to be a showcase of Notts music talent.
“The Nottingham music scene is very vibrant today,” he says.
“There is this excitement because we are producing so many artists that are coming through. We’ve had Dog Is Dead and Jake Bugg, Saint Raymond and Indiana are coming through in the next wave. A lot of industry people are checking out what is going on and the talent coming out of this city.
“Everyone is talking about it. It is a small industry and if there is a enough talk, it builds.”
Nottingham’s Mr Music has never had a go at being in a band himself. He’s not really had the time. At 19, six months in to a jaunt across the Far East and Australia, he was summoned back by his dad to join the family business.
“You just learn quick,” he says of those early years.
“I started doing some of the bookings, probably made a hash of it, learning from my mistakes.”

Dot To Dot at Rock City, Rescue Rooms, Stealth, The Bodega, Spanky Van Dykes and other venues, is on Sunday, May 25. Tickets are £20.
No Tomorrow is at Wollaton Park on Saturday, June 7. Tickets from £20.
Splendour is on Saturday, July 19 and tickets are from £10 to £42.50.
Tickets for all events are on sale from Rock City box office, call 0845 413 4444 or go to alt-tickets.co.uk.
For more about DHP Family go to dhpfamily.com.

Notts music's week in the spotlight

May 14 2014

NOTTINGHAM musicians have been experiencing national attention again this week, with the likes of Saint Raymond, Indiana and Jake Bugg entering the charts and being played on Radio 1.

Saint Raymond’s latest EP, Ghosts, was at No. 4 on the iTunes chart yesterday.

The 19-year-old from Bramcote, real name Callum Burrows, said: “Getting in to the Top 5 is a real honour. I had no expectations for the EP so it’s great!”

His last EP, Young Blood, peaked at No. 3, while his debut Escapade, reached No. 24. Unfortunately, EPs aren’t eligible for the Official UK Singles Chart due to the extra tracks that are included.

The musician, who played the Great Escape Festival in Brighton at the weekend, recently returned from Los Angeles, his second trip there.

“I’ve been working on my debut album out there. I’m heading back on Thursday.”

As well as playing Nottingham’s Dot To Dot Festival at the end of May, which takes place across city venues, including Rock City and the Rescue Rooms, in October he’ll be opening for Ed Sheeran’s two shows at the Capital FM Arena.

“I can’t wait,” he said. “Two shows with him in my home city is going to be a bit surreal but that’s so exciting.”

This week Callum has been in session on Radio 1 with Huw Stephens. Last night he played his biggest headline show to date at the Scala in London.

On the current iTunes chart is Jake Bugg’s latest EP, Messed Up Kids, at No. 18.

The 20-year-old has just announced his most high profile tour to date, playing the likes of Cardiff Arena, Liverpool Echo 2 and Alexandra Palace in London throughout October, before heading off to the US on a tour supporting blue rock duo the Black Keys.

The Clifton chart-topper, who has been all over the world touring in support of his second album, Shangri La, told his 400,000 Twitter followers: “What a long tour that was, went to some great places though, thank you all very much, look forward to seeing you all soon!”

In the past two weeks alone he’s played Australia, South America and Japan.

Jake is also lined up for some major summer festival appearances including Glastonbury and Reading/Leeds Festivals.

There are no new dates for his home city yet, to follow his sell-out at the Capital FM Arena in February.

Messed Up Kids is taken from Shangri La, the follow-up to his self-titled No. 1 debut, which has sold over a million copies.

Indiana, who is currently in the studio working on her debut album, recently enjoyed a Top 20 single with Solo Dancing, which is still in the Top 100 and continues to be played on Radio 1.

The 26-year-old Long Eaton mum-of-two has been confirmed for a string of summer festivals including Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Glasgow (where Saint Raymond is also to appear), Bestival and Nottingham’s newest festival, No Tomorrow, at Wollaton Park in June.

George Akins, boss of DHP Family, which organises the festival, plus Splendour and Dot To Dot and is also Indiana’s management company, said: “Both Indiana and Saint Raymond are enjoying success now which is really exciting. You’ve also got Amber Run coming through, Kagoule, Georgie Rose, Ady Suleiman... there’s more to come.

“It’s the beginning of something much bigger. The Nottingham scene will just grow and grow.”

Other recent successes include Joel Baker’s Every Vessel EP reaching No. 6 in the iTunes Singer Songwriter chart, 80s dance pop revivalist Ronika being played on Made In Chelsea and Kagoule being playlisted on Radio 1.

Jake Bugg: The Biography

May 2014

The first book about Nottingham’s most successful musician also throws the spotlight on the city’s burgeoning music scene. Manchester journalist and author of Jake Bugg: The Biography David Nolan reveals why he wrote the book and why he thinks the city could be on the way to having its own Madchester...

Why write a book about Jake Bugg?

I was commissioned to do it by the publishers, John Blake, who are very keen on catching things at the right moment. The last two books I’ve done for them have been about, at the time they were commissioned, relatively unknown people: Ed Sheeran and Emilie Sandé. There’s an art to that. If you don’t get it right you end up with a warehouse full of books that no-one’s interested in.

So you’re a fan?

Yes. The hallmark of good music to me, most of the time, is that it’s played by a skinny lad with a guitar. I turn down offers to write books because I’m not interested in the music or I feel there’s no story there. With Jake, I like the music and it’s a great story.

The story being, that he’s the first major music star from Nottingham in a long time. If ever. And that he was leading a scene that is now enjoying recognition nationally. How long was it before you realised that was going to a major part of the book?

I was unaware of the whole Nottingham story at the very beginning. I am now. It runs through me like a Blackpool stick of rock. As soon as I came to Nottingham last summer and started talking to people, that was what came out; ‘We’ve been waiting for this for such a long time’. In addition to that people said to me ‘Please don’t let this be a flash in the pan. Don’t let Jake Bugg be another Paper Lace.’ I was asking people like you, Dean Jackson, Mark Del, George Akins... when this book comes out, is it all going to be ancient history or is this the start of something? And you all said ‘this is the start of something’. And the names mentioned were people like Indiana, Saint Raymond, Kagoule... you were all on the money. It made me wonder if this is the last time it will happen. This could be the last city-wide music explosion that will happen in this country.

Why?

Because these days you can just as easily access music from Idaho as you can from Beeston. All the walls that existed years ago have come down. It’s hard to imagine it happening again, like it did in Liverpool in the early 80s, like it did in Manchester in the late 80s, which was the last one.

You think Nottingham is going to do a Madchester?

It looks like you might. The success of the music scene has exceeded everyone’s expectations. And Jake’s success is international. There are fan sites and Twitter accounts from fans in Indonesia, Brazil, France... to think that this is the same lad Gaz Peacham at the Maze remembered tipping up with a guitar on his back using a boot lace as a strap and thinking ‘he looks about 12 this lad but if he wants to play he can play.’ Even you guys at the Post, who have supported him right from the start, must be thinking ‘even we didn’t think he was going to be this big!’ So it’s a great story. From after school gigs at the Maze to Splendour and the Arena... and beyond. For a writer it’s a great story.

What has been the reaction to the book?

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve had tweets from Indonesia, Japan, Brazil, Poland, France... asking ‘can I get the book?’ That has completely taken me by surprise. It didn’t happen with the Sandé and Sheeran books.

And can they?

Of course. I’ll take one round their house if they want. With Amazon and Kindle, that book is a click away. It’s the same as music.

Did you approach Jake about the book, to tell his own story?

I approached one of his managers Jay (Hart) and initially he seemed interested but then backed off from the idea. I think it’s deemed to be a bit uncool to be in your own book anyway. And if he had been involved it would have changed the dynamic. It would have become like a ghosted autobiography. With an unofficial biography, I can write what I want. And I have.

What do you think is the key to Jake’s success?

There’s a musical history lesson with Jake Bugg, in terms of where he’s drawn it all from. People always mention Bob Dylan and Donovan but I can hear Glen Campbell, John Denver, Bruce Springsteen... and that is the secret of his success. He’s pulled it from sources than no-one else has. Three years ago if I’d have said the next big thing will be a teenage rockabilly, Johnny Cash, folk hybrid, you’d have spilt your pint.

Had you been to Nottingham before?

I’d been to the BBC with work before. Apart from that all I knew was that there were an awful lot of roundabouts.

And how did you find the city when you visited last summer?

I like that can walk everywhere. Everything is just 15 minutes away from the centre. And everyone was so open. If you had come to Manchester to write a book about the music scene, there’d be a gang of us at the train station sending you on your way. Because it’s a very insular scene.

What is your background?

I left school at 16 with no qualifications, was an apprentice journalist at the local newspaper, went on to magazines, radio, then television. I was a journalist and news editor at Granada, a producer and director, and worked on Tonight With Trevor McDonald until I left to write books. I got into it by accident. I did a documentary about the famous Sex Pistols gig at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1976 that everyone claims to have been at. And someone suggested doing a book about it. Now I write, do a bit of lecturing and training. and still some TV documentaries.

Jake Bugg: The Biography (John Blake) is out now, priced at £14.99.

WE gave Jake's dad, David Bugg, 40, from Clifton, a copy of the book and this is his verdict...

It's quite surreal seeing your son's life documented in so much detail, from the age of around 13 when he became interested in music.

I have to say it's a fantastic book and well written. There's a lot of detail about the Nottingham music scene and rightly so. We have a very diverse scene and it is doing remarkable things out there.

It's not just about Jake but also the environment where he learned his craft.

And all the key players are mentioned like the Post and Zoe Kirk, the BBC and Dean Jackson, and all the bands he was playing with during the early years.

There is some information in there about Jake that I didn't know. The first few chapters made me realise just how determined and hard working he was when he was 14 and 15. A lot of the gigs he was doing when he was that age, I was unaware of.

He didn't know how I'd react if he said he was playing in a pub in Nottingham city centre so he kept me out of the loop. There was a chance I'd say no. The idea of my 15-year-old son playing in a city centre pub on his own, in a room full of people drinking alcohol, doesn't sit well with me but I probably would have been OK with it as long myself or his mum went with him.

His work ethic during that period really impressed me.

Reading it was quite emotional at times. Mine and Jake's lives touched and parted on a number of occasions as he embarked on his music career. His mum and I split up when he was quite young but I was just around the corner and I'd still be a dad to him. But there were things about his music career that I wasn't aware of.

The part in the book where Dean Jackson told him to get some CDs together to take to the workshop at Abbey Road... I didn't know Dean had told him to do that. But Jake came to me and asked me to do the CDs for him. I thought it was to send to A&R people. It's interesting to see where I fitted in with the chain of events.

There are things that are missing from Jake's story, such as his passion for football. He had no interest in any music up until he was 12 or 13. He was playing for quite a few teams and he'd got medals, trophies and certificates. At one point he was being scouted.

Then, all of a sudden, his uncle Mark gave him a guitar and the football just stopped.

He was writing and playing in his room but it was all hidden. I had no idea until he came to me to record him. And straight away I realised how much effort he'd been putting in to this new direction in his life.

I had a 32-track at home that I was using to record my own music. I recorded him doing three covers: If You're Going To San Francisco (Scott McKenzie), Empty Chairs (Don McLean) and Vincent (Don McLean).

This was before his voice had broken. I've a copy of that recording and no one will ever hear it. I think Jake would kill me.

I had another 16-track that I gave to him there and then so he could learn about recording.

There are a few mistakes in the book, such as him being named after the boxer Jake LaMotta. That's not true. When we first fell pregnant with him, my cousin Carl Duffy and I were great friends and his son was named Jake. We asked if he'd mind if we named our son Jake.

And he was never Jacob. It has always been Jake. It was annoying me so much that I had it changed on Wikipedia.

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Review: Jake Bugg, Capital FM Arena

February 20 2014

Pictures by David Baird

There is a line in Storm Passes Away, the final track on Jake Bugg's second album, Shangri La, that sums up what a lot of us have been thinking.

"They keep telling me that I'm older than I'm supposed to be," sings the 19-year-old, stood in front of 9,000 people in the city's largest venue, his latest achievement in a two year career that includes two hit albums, tours with Noel Gallagher (a mate who he texts music queries to), a show with the Stone Roses, another with the Rolling Stones, US TV appearances, a worldwide fan base as far as Japan and South America, award nominations, a million record sales... and then some.

It's hard to believe he is still a teenager, from Clifton, who four years ago was playing open mic nights for free at the Maze and the Rescue Rooms.

After tonight's gig Wollaton actress Vicky McClure, currently starring in the BBC drama Line of Duty, who appeared in Jake's video for Two Fingers, admitted she was mouth agape for much of it. "He was incredible. I can't believe how good he was up there on that stage. And so young..."

That older-than-his-years songwriting attracts the broadest fan base I've seen at any gig. There are kids here, some as young as six. One mum at the bar said her three-year-old is a big fan and sings along to the words of his songs in the car. One imagines she skips past Two Fingers on the CD player - a toddler singing "skin up a fat one" at nursery wouldn't go down well.

There are the Mod cropped middle-aged blokes who miss Oasis. And even granddads who just appreciate classic songwriting that they first fell in love with during the Sixties.

Jake's music is drawn from that decade's folk, psychedelia, garage rock and pop but also the Seventies for country and even punk.

But it's back further still for the intro music, an old blues number accompanying the dimmed lights before he appears with a four-piece band and rips into Shangri La's opening track There's A Beast Inside And We All Feed It, before treating the crowd to their first singalong; Trouble Town, the early single about growing up in "speedbump city".

The lights from a sea of phones illuminate the thousands standing on the arena floor, who sing every word to Seen It All, another track from his million-selling self-titled debut.

He's in black, of course, but it's a suit jacket rather than leather, maybe smartening up because mum, dad and grandparents are there.

He does country rocker Me And You then another homegrown anthem, Two Fingers, about his escape from a Nottingham council estate.

No-one begrudges that. The boy done good.

It's half-an-hour before the acoustic is replaced by one of his two £20k vintage electric guitars, as the jacket comes off to reveal the uniform Fred Perry shirt, collars up.

Messed Up Kids, Kingpin, Slumville Sunrise, Taste It, What Doesn't Kill You... they're the rockier side of Jake, prompting a spray of beer and old school moshing in the middle of the floor.

But then he sedates with the tender Broken, the highlight for many of his debut. 

Like his heroes Bob Dylan and Neil Young, Bugg says little on stage. He never has. He isn't a talker, a showman, an extrovert... just a musician. But he knows this is special.

"Thank you for making this night very special," he says, adding: "I never thought i'd get to play here."

Apart from introducing the odd songs and thanking us, it's all he says for the whole 80 minutes he's on stage.

Yes he's played to bigger crowds; 17,000 saw him headline Splendour last summer. But this was a landmark gig. Family and friends were in the crowd. He even had his cousin Scott Bugg's band The Swiines open the show. They looked nervous, almost apologetic, but no doubt lived up to little cousin's expectations, keeping the crowd busy with a set of powerful Mod rock.

For the encore Jake stood alone and delivered Song About Love, the new single that is Shangri La's answer to Broken. But he was always going to end with an explosion and Lightning Bolt did just that, the crowd at their liveliest.  

As the band walked off, Jake stayed to applaud those who'd supported him along the way, waving to every corner of the vast arena and no doubt taking it all in.

Those of us who have been following Nottingham's music scene for a decade or two know his success is unprecedented. For Jake, well, he doesn't know anything else. When I spoke to him last year as this gig was announced, he was dreading turning 20, as if time was marching on. But when he does leave his teenage years behind next Friday, what else is there left for him to achieve?

Jake Bugg on the Brits

February 2014

JAKE Bugg will be heading to the Brit Awards in London tonight to see if he can beat the likes of David Bowie and John Newman to pick up the British male solo artist gong.

But the 19-year-old from Clifton doesn’t think he’ll win. And nor is he a fan of the event.

“It’s boring,” he says. “I don’t really want to go but I might as well. I’ve got nothing else to do.”

The ceremony at the O2 Arena, which will be broadcast on ITV1 tonight from 8pm, includes performances by Katy Perry and Arctic Monkeys.

“I love the party afterwards, don’t get me wrong, they’re great but the actual event is pretty boring when you have to watch those crap acts perform,” says Jake, who is also up against Tom Odell and James Blake in his category.

He went to the awards last year when he was nominated for British breakthrough act, losing out to Ben Howard.

London Grammar, the band who met at the University of Nottingham, are up for British breakthrough act tonight.

“I haven’t got a speech prepared – I don’t expect to win,” says Jake.

After shows in Australia and the US, he recently started his UK tour that comes to the Capital FM Arena tomorrow.

It will be his biggest indoor gig to date, with 9,000 people expected, and follows his headline slot at Splendour in Wollaton Park in front of 17,000 people.

He will be the first Nottingham artist to headline a show at the city’s biggest venue. It follows the No. 1 success of his self-titled debut album, which has sold more than a million copies, and the No. 3 success of the follow-up Shangri La.

It will be the first time he’s been back to the city since Christmas, when he spent three days with his family.

Prior to that was a fleeting visit in November when he played a secret gig in front of 200 people at The Maze in Mansfield Road.

Later this year Jake, who turns 20 on February 28, will be touring South America for the first time.

Today and again on Friday, Jake will be teaching songwriting skills to 16-18-year-old students at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

He’ll be showing them how to perform his song Broken and one of the students will join him on stage at the 5,000-capacity venue on Friday night to perform it.

“We need initiatives like this to inspire young musicians,” he says.

It will be his first gig at the Royal Albert Hall.

“It’s such an iconic venue and so many of my idols that inspired me have performed there. I can’t believe I am following in their footsteps.”

The Swiines

February 2014

THE band opening for Jake Bugg at the Capital FM Arena tonight admit they’re more than a little nervous about facing 9.000 people in their home city.

“Every time I think about it my stomach’s going,” says The Swiines guitarist Scott Bugg, Jake’s 29-year-old cousin.

“The lads have been texting each other all morning. One of them is a mechanic and he’s serviced the wrong car. No-one can concentrate.”

Scott asked Jake if they could open for him at his biggest indoor gig to date, “as a bit of cheek” says Scott.

“I didn’t think he’d let us do it. He could have any band he wants. He said yes but I didn’t believe him. When he came round at Christmas he said ‘are you still up for the arena then?’ I thought, hang on, let me just change my pants.”

That he’s got his cousin’s band opening for him will no doubt attract accusations of nepotism.

“But he’s not going to have a substandard act on first when people have paid good money to see him,” argues Scott.

“He wouldn’t want us to embarrass him.”

The Swiines have been together for around eight years and a pre-fame Jake was an occasional member.

“He was always coming to gigs and in the studio and when we were doing interviews,” says Scott, who is an engineer by trade.

“When we lost our first bass player, Jake stepped in. He was only 14 but he was good. And when I broke my hand he played guitar for a few gigs.”

He jokes: “I’d say I’m about 99 per cent responsible for his success.”

He adds: “I’m just so proud of him. He deserves everything he’s got.”

That success inspired Scott and the rest of The Swiines to make more effort with the band, whose biggest crowd to date was around 2,000 people when they supported The Subways at Rock City.

Although have been on stage at the Capital FM Arena before in a battle of the bands competition..

“It has given us a kick up the backside,” he admits.

“That little rat has come along and done amazingly well.”

Scott is allowed to call him such names; he’s his cousin and best mate.

Every time Jake is back in Nottingham he heads straight to Scott’s house in Clifton for a few beers.

“Well, it’s where the party’s at,” he laughs.

“He comes round, we have a jam in the kitchen and have a few beers.”

As well as the Capital FM Arena tonight, their own headline show at the Rescue Rooms on Saturday and a support slot with Circa Waves at The Bodega on Sunday, next month they’ll support Reverend and the Makers at Rock City and then join The Rifles on their UK tour.

“I don’t want to say it’s all down to Jake” Scott says.

“We’ve been down London every week and getting a following.”

They played the Queen of Hoxton in London a couple of weeks ago and Jake was there to watch.

“We had to double security and get a room for him. I thought ‘hang on, it’s our gig not yours’” he laughs.

“I’m glad he came. It was a good gig, the vibe was there. He knows we’re up to it.

“Besides he’s got no choice but to keep us on the bill; I’d just tell our grandma and she’d slap him.”

He adds: “Jake has chucked us a massive bone and we are going to go for it. Now is the time to get two Buggs out there. I’m sure there’s room.”

Jake Bugg and Clifton zombies

February 2014

HE may be able to breeze through an arena gig in front of 9,000 people in his home city but when Jake Bugg sleeps he has bad dreams. Well, one in particular.

“I have a recurring nightmare that I’m being chased by zombies through Clifton,” said the 19-year-old yesterday, ahead of his headline show at the Capital FM Arena.

“I survive for ages but then at the end of the dream I always get eaten. I sometimes wake up sweating.”

He added: “Nothing else really bothers me but I do keep getting those dreams. I met a bloke the other day who had them as well so I think it’s pretty common.”

Where does it come from? Perhaps being chased in a dodgy tracksuit through the streets of Nottingham for his Slumville Sunrise video?

“My sister’s dad used to watch all these Seventies films when I was about four. It’s probably that,” said Jake, who has appeared in front of millions of people on US TV and attracted 40,000 people to his Glastonbury set last summer.

He started a UK tour last weekend and last night’s homecoming was his biggest one on the tour. In fact, it’s his biggest indoor gig to date.

“I have been to gigs at the arena. The amount of people there for the Kings Of Leon was crazy.”

And last night he faced the same size crowd playing songs from that self-titled debut and the follow-up, Shangri La, which reached No. 3.

His visit home was fleeting.

“I’m only back for the one day,” said Jake, who is off to London to the Royal Albert Hall today for the second of two workshops he’s leading with 16-18 year old music students.

“I can’t tell them how to write a song or how to sing or anything like that but I hope I can inspire them,” said the Notts County fan.

The first session was on Wednesday and part of it was to teach them how to play Broken, one of the singles from his million-selling self-titled debut album.

One of the students will then join him on stage tonight to play the song with him during his Albert Hall gig, in front of 5,000 people.

“We’ll see if they can nail it,” he said.

“If they can then it’d be great for them to do that.”

The last time he was home was at Christmas for three days.

“That’s the longest I’ve been here in something like two years.”

He didn’t move back in to his old bedroom at his mum’s in Clifton but stayed in a hotel.

“I was just knocking around and minding my own business. On Christmas Day I was round at my grandma’s with my dad,” said Jake, of David Bugg, who lives near Jake’s mum, Leeysa Kennedy, in Clifton.

“It was nice to have a break. It’s not like I’m going to be sat round at my grandma’s and she’ll say ‘Play Slumville Sunrise!”, he laughed.

“I saw my mum, my nana and grandad, my cousins Grant and Scott.”

Scott Bugg is the singer and guitarist with Nottingham band The Swiines, who opened for Jake at the arena last night.

“I think they’re a cool band but I might be biased,” he admitted.

“They’re a good act to have on before me to get the crowd riled up. They did a show in London last week and I went down to see them. It was pretty cool. The crowd were great. I haven’t been to a gig and had a few beers in ages so it was cool.”

Scott is ten years older and The Swiines have been around for eight years. Jake played with them a few times, even as young as 14.

He’ll still have a jam with Scott round at his house in Clifton when he’s back home but he’s a little too busy to play gigs with them these days.

The Swiines have secured support slots with Reverend and the Makers at Rock City and a tour with The Rifles.

Said Jake: “Things are going pretty well for them. Scott is writing some good songs. If he can keep doing that things could get even better.”

Jake, whose next single will be A Song About Love, has played across Europe, Scandinavia, the US, Japan and Australia over the past two years and he’s just booked his first tour of South America.

And that has meant back to back phone interviews.

“I did 26 the other day,” he sighed.

“And it isn’t easy when their English isn’t that good and the connection is poor. You feel like an idiot asking them four times what the question was.”

The most common question was about Noel Gallagher, whose band High Flying Birds, he toured with across Europe and the US two years ago.

He recently sent a text to the former Oasis guitarist asking about seventies musician Terry Reid.

“Apparently he got asked join Led Zeppelin and he turned it down. Everyone thought he was a bit stupid but he went on to make these cool records. There’s one called Super Lungs which is a cool album but my favourite is River.”

There was hope that he’d pick up the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist on Wednesday night as it was Gallagher presenting the awards but Jake lost out to the 67-year-old David Bowie.

He’s up against Bowie again in the same category at next week’s NME Awards.

Said Jake: “I never prepare a speech because I never expect to win.”

Jake Bugg: Shangri La

November 2013

WAYNE Rooney has more guitars than he has but the England star can’t play a note.
“He came to the gig in Manchester the other night and he wanted his guitar signed,” says Jake Bugg.
“He’s got about 40 guitars but he can’t play; he gets them signed by people. He said he’d got one signed by Paul McCartney.
“It was nice because he gave me the shirt he wore for his last England game against Poland and signed that.”
The Manchester Utd forward tweeted a photo of the meeting saying: “Just been to see @JakeBugg in Apollo. Great gig.”
On this tour Bugg has also had the likes of comedian John  Bishop and British tennis player Laura Robson turning up to see him.
“To be honest, I don’t know who most people are,” says the 19-year-old, making a rare visit back to the city.
He was only here for 12 hours before heading off again to continue with his sold out UK tour.
After checking in to his hotel (he no longer stays with his mum in Clifton), he went to see his cousin and “had a few cans.”
There was a lie-in,  a couple of interviews, then the gig at The Maze.
“I’ve only been back to Nottingham maybe three or four times this year. It’s pretty full-on.”
And it will continue. Tomorrow he’s heading to Scandinavia, then Europe, back to the UK, more European dates, then North America in the New Year.
“Hopefully the routing of the tours will be a bit more organised so we’re not going from New Zealand to Canada to Japan,” says Bugg, who kills time on the road by playing darts, table tennis, football and computer games.
In February, he’ll be at the Capital FM Arena, not just his first headline arena show but the first for a local musician at the city’s biggest venue.

“Yeah man, it’s great,” says Bugg, who headlined the Splendour festival in Wollaton Park in July.
“I never thought I’d be playing it. Obviously you dream of it but you don’t actually think it will happen. I remember how many people were there for Kings Of Leon; it’ll be crazy.”
Tickets to the Maze gig on Saturday afternoon were free to those lucky enough to win them through his website. It brought him back to one of the first places he played four years ago as a 15-year-old.
“It’s nice to do those little gigs again,” says Bugg.
“The first time I played The Maze there weren’t many people there. A lot of venues wouldn’t let me play because of my age. I played a few Monday night gigs in the little bar at the Rescue Rooms after school. People were eating their dinner and not taking much notice. I was probably wearing a tracksuit, maybe that freaked them out.”
Not as hideous as the one worn in the video for Slumville Sunrise, filmed in Nottingham by director Shane Meadows.
“That was a pretty bad one but that was the idea,” he laughs.
“It was a fun day shooting that. I was in Malibu finishing the album the day before. Coming back brought me back to reality. Although I was robbing a jewellery store in a shell suit with old ladies running after me, which I’d never done before.
“It was funny, man. I haven’t had that much fun for a while.”
The video featured Rosamund Hanson and Andrew Shim, both graduates of The Television Workshop. Its director has watched the five minute scene at the end of the video where Bugg has to deliver dialogue. He reckons he’s good enough to join the Workshop.
Bugg seems surprised: “Acting is an exaggerated version of yourself. I can probably express more emotion like that than I can by being interviewed. I’m not very expressive in interviews.
“I like the idea of putting myself in a situation that I’m not used to.”
There won’t be much of an opportunity for any more acting as the momentum gathers pace with the release of Shangri La next week.
It comes just 13 months after his self-titled debut topped the chart.
“Music is about making records,” he says of the quick turn around.
“You’ve just got to get on with it.”
Shangri La is released the same day as the new Robbie Williams album and it’s not a battle he thinks he’ll win.

Besides, if it does reach No. 1 next Sunday, it’ll mean knocking One Direction off the top spot and he’s not keen on the tabloids reviving his verbal spat with them.
Like the debut, Shangri La is a diverse collection, jumping from hillbilly Elvis, to Neil Young country rock, with a fair few folk and pop ballads.
Lyrically, it doesn’t name-check Clifton like the debut but still includes tales of working class life; of drugs and fighting.
“That life is strange to me now because it’s not mine any more,” he admits.
“I’m an outsider looking in from a completely different perspective.”
It was named after the studio in California where it was recorded by Rick Rubin, the co-founder of Def Jam Records and producer for the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z, Metallica, AC/DC and Adele.
Rubin also revived the career of Johnny Cash during his final years with a series of acclaimed  American Recordings albums.
“We became friends and I’m sure I’ll go back to hear a few Johnny Cash stories because when I was there I had to be pretty focused on making the record and didn’t really have time,” says Bugg, who has sold a million copies of his debut album.
He has indulged in his passion for guitars, buying two vintage models worth over £20,000 each but he has yet to buy property, despite rumours that he had bought a house in Southwell and a Mercedes with the personalised number plate 8UGG.
“I don’t know what that was about,” he says.
“I can’t drive. And I’m not sure I’d live in Southwell. Is it a nice place? I’ve never really been.
“I’d like a little retreat in Malibu or a flat Paris.
“But I’m not in one place for long enough to buy anywhere. The two weeks that I recorded the album in Malibu was the longest I’ve stayed in one place for two years.”
Does he miss home?
“I miss the people. I don’t really miss Clifton because I was there for 17 years. I knew there was a big world out there and I wanted to see it. That’s what I’m doing.”

Shangri La is released on Monday. Tickets for his date at the Capital FM Arena on Thursday, February 20 are £22.50 from the venue, call 0845 413 4444 or go to alt-tickets.co.uk.

Jake Bugg: The Maze (secret gig)

November 9. 2013

He was never going to do a Take That or a One Direction song but the tongue-in-cheek requests shouted out from the crowd of around 100 people when asked "Right, what songs are we playing then?" reflected the good humour in the room.

Indeed it was the most we've seen Jake Bugg smile during a gig, this one a secret show at The Maze in Mansfield Road where those lucky enough to win the free tickets through his website, could get the 19-year-old to do their favourites from his No. 1 self-titled debut album.

There were a few songs from his follow-up album, Shangri La, due out a week today, including the opener, There's A Beast And We All Feed It, a blast of lively country-meets-rockabilly.

As he sauntered on to the small stage at the venue where he'd played one of his first gigs in the city four years ago (yes, aged just 15) there were chants of "you Pies", from fellow Notts County fans, mixed confusingly with opposing calls of "you Reds".

Bugg dodged a bra thrown at him but, if reluctantly, accepted and downed a shot handed to him by a fan.

Trouble Town was the first singalong of many, each a hit single. Two Fingers included a stamping beat from those near the front, Broken's howling chorus was turned in to a football chant, likewise Slumville Sunrise, although they'd not quite got to grips with the verses on new single.

The skiffle/garage energy of that and his first single from Shangri La, What Doesn't Kill You, suggest that the album is harder than the first but songs played tonight, the folk balled Pine Trees and the countryfied love song You And Me, a highlight of the new album, showed otherwise.

Older numbers Someone Told Me, Simple As This and Saffron were also requested, suggesting not everyone just wanted to party but were keen to hear his musicianship. "Go on JB!" someone bellowed, encouragingly. Not that he needs it; every vocal was as strong as you'd expect from a teenager who has played hundreds of shows in the UK, Europe, the US and Japan.

He'd been back in Nottingham, only his fourth return this year, since Friday night. Less than 12 hours later, straight after this 5pm show, he was off again, this time to continue on his sold-out UK tour in Doncaster.

"This is one of the first places I played when I started out... thanks for coming out," he said before ripping into set closer Lightning Bolt, leaving the first verse to the crowd who were drowning out his own voice.

A film camera was trained on him throughout; a documentary about his journey from Clifton to California, where he recorded the new album with Rick Rubin, is due next year. As is a book of images from renowned music photographer Kevin Westenberg, who was tucked at the back of the stage; he's been following our most successful musician this century all over the world.

"It'll be nice to be back at The Maze," he said before the show.

"It was one of the first places I played and there weren't many people there. The promoter gave me a tenner for doing it which was nice because I didn't have the bus fare to get back home."

He added: "A lot of venues wouldn't let me play because I was 15. It's one of the reasons we chose the Maze for this show. We aren't doing Nottingham on this tour so I thought I'd do a little gig for anyone that wants to come along. It'll be good fun; an intimidate show, letting people shout out what songs they want me to play."

Bugg headlined Splendour at Wollaton Park in July in front of 17,000 people. His next show will be at the city's largest indoor venue; the 10,000 capacity Capital FM Arena, on February 20. He'll be the first Notts musician to headline a show there.

"I never thought I'd be playing the Arena. Obviously you dream of it but you don't think it will happen. I saw the Kings of Leon there and remembering how many people were there... it's crazy."

He was looking tired having recently awoken after a late night.

"I got in last night and went round my cousin Scott's and had a few cans. Then I came back to hotel. I'm just a bit tired in general because it's been pretty full on.

"But that's what it's all about; you've just got to get on with it."

Jake Bugg: Slumville Sunrise video

October 2013

THE video for Jake Bugg’s next single sees the 19-year-old acting for the first time – and dressed in a shocking tracksuit.
Directed by Bafta winner Shane Meadows, Slumville Sunrise follows the Clifton chart-topper as he is chased through the city after stealing a ring from a jeweller.
The Benny Hill-style pursuit through St Ann’s, Sneinton Market, Holme Pierrepont and other locations ends with him reaching home, where his pregnant girlfriend, played by This Is England and Life’s Too Short actress Rosamund Hanson, is waiting.
Another Nottingham actor in the video is Andrew Shim, who appeared in Meadows’ This Is England and A Room For Romeo Brass.
He joins the chase dressed as Elvis, along with the shop owner, police, a traffic warden, a “granny” and others.
Much of it is shot intentionally clumsily with everyone running on the spot; the action is superimposed on to a backdrop of Nottingham locations.
Meadows said: “I had a great laugh making it. It was the best craic I’ve had in ages.”
The Nottingham-based director, whose documentary about the Stone Roses, Made of Stone, was released on DVD this week, has only made two music videos before, both for Richard Hawley.
“It was nice to do one again,” he said.
“It was an honour to do it for Jake – I owed him big-time for playing at my 40th last year.”
Of the tracksuit Bugg wears in the video, Meadows told the NME: “We wanted to pick the most awful tracksuit we could find – something he just wouldn’t want to wear.”
He described the video as “like a short film” as it is book-ended with two scenes that show Bugg acting for the first time with dialogue.
At the beginning, the musician, dressed in the blue-and-white tracksuit, which M , is seen browsing engagement rings at a jewellery shop in Pelham Street.
He fires a party popper into the face of the shop assistant and runs out with a £20,000 ring, just as the music begins.



He’s seen running through Hockley, Alfreton Road and Talbot Street car park, then in a boat with Meadows at the National Watersports Centre, at Holme Pierrepont.
The closing scene lasts two minutes and is an exchange between Bugg and Hanson.
“I want to have a family,” he tells her.
“Me, you and the baby.”
But as he hands her the ring she says “that’s stolen” and then complains that he doesn’t have the box.
He takes it back and says he’ll “sell it on eBay”.
Bugg acted briefly for the video for his single Two Fingers, alongside Wollaton’s Bafta winner Vicky McClure, but without dialogue.
Slumville Sunrise is taken from his second album Shangri La, due to be released on November 18.
Yesterday, he won Best New Act at the Q Awards.
Next week, he will find out if he wins the 2013 Mercury Music Prize, although he has said: “That’s not why I make music, to get awards. It’s great to be nominated, but the Mercurys don’t mean a whole lot to me.”
His self-titled debut album, which topped the chart last October, is up against the likes of David Bowie, Disclosure and Arctic Monkeys for the award. He is 33/1 in the bookies’ odds, with Disclosure as favourites.
The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony on Wednesday, October 30.
He is on a UK tour that will include a “secret” show in Nottingham.

Splendour interviews: Jake Bugg, Dog Is Dead, Indiana, Georgie Rose, Gorgeous Chans

July 20, 2013




JAKE Bugg isn’t known for his happy-go-lucky banter or cheesy grin, preferring to let the music do all the talking on his behalf.

And while he wasn’t exactly channeling Freddie Mercury during his one-hour headline set at Splendour on Saturday, he was smiling and talking more than he has at any show in Nottingham – and probably anywhere else.

And he was much the same backstage an hour before he was due on the main stage in front of 17,000 people in Wollaton Park.

Although he’d flown in to Nottingham from Ireland the night before and landed around midnight, he’d gone back to Clifton to see an old friend.

“I was at my cousin Scott’s,” says the 19-year-old chart-topper, sat in a portacabin, dressed in black like an early Sixties Beatle.

“I thought ‘who’s still going to be up at midnight?’”

They stayed up in to the early hours and now he’s paying the price.

“I’m tired, mate,” he admits.

Jake arrived at the Splendour site around 7pm after spending the afternoon sleeping and working.

“I went through some songs for the second album.”

He’d not seen any other friends or family?

“No. My phone’s been going off all day but I’ll see them later,” he promises.

During the set, Jake plays three songs from the next album, which he’ll finish recording at the end of August in Malibu with legendary producer Rick Rubin. It’ll be released in November.

He sayd: “I’ve got about 20 songs and I’ll record all of them to see how they come out.”

Before that he has a show to do.

“It’s amazing to be back and to be playing in my hometown and to be headlining but I also have to stay focused; just so I can play as well and not get carried away with familiar faces in the crowd.

“Or when a girl takes her bra off. It happened in Portugal the other day. Some girl lifted her T-shirt up and she didn’t know the camera was on her and it came up on the big screen,” he laughs.

Jake played Splendour on the main stage last year, but fellow Notts success story Dog Is Dead were notching up their fifth appearance.




I first saw them in the Courtyard at the first Splendour in 2008.

“We knew it was going to be a big hometown gig and something special and it happened, it was really cool, “ says frontman Rob Milton, 22, from West Bridgford.

“Something always happens here; when we play the first chord they open the circle pits and start moshing. I have to remind people it’s not a Slayer show.”

He adds: “It’s nice to play an all-age show. It was actually the first show my nan’s been to. The family were super proud, so it’s good.”

There are more festivals for Dog Is Dead to play before they record their follow-up to last year’s All Our Favourite Stories.

Of their status as Splendour veterans, he says: “It’s five times in six years. Next time we get a free cappuccino.”

Less than 18 months ago, Indiana played her first gig in the Old Market Square in the Future Sound of Nottingham, a competition to open the main stage at Splendour.



She didn’t even reach the final but since then she has signed to the Epic label, been played on Radio 1, appeared at Glastonbury and performed for the Queen with The Script.

She is the second artist to be signed to DHP (the Nottingham-based organisers of Splendour, owners of Rock City and much more) after Dog Is Dead.

And she’s pregnant! Baby Etta is due in September.

“She was kicking a lot,” says the 25-year-old from Long Eaton. “When you’re halfway through a song and you’re really into it... it’s really off-putting,” she laughs.

She has one more festival next weekend then will be on maternity leave from the world of pop until October when her debut single is released.

She’s thankful that the scorching weather settled down for Splendour, a largely cloudy, if warm, day.

“It was my first main stage, ever,” she says, adding that it was a better experience than Glastonbury.

“That was the most special performance ever,” she says of her early afternoon slot.

“I could really feel that everyone was like ‘we like you actually Indiana... it made me want to cry. I wasn’t expecting to be so overwhelmed.”

It would have been understandable for The Gorgeous Chans to have felt overwhelmed by opening the main stage as the winners of the Future Sound of Nottingham competition but the indie/ska band of mostly teenagers enjoyed it.

“It was great fun, “ says 19-year-old saxophone player Liam Webber.

“We were a bit worried the samba wouldn’t go down well but it seemed to,” he adds, of their sound, a mix of Paul Simon’s Graceland and Vampire Weekend.

Although the line-up was buoyed up to a ten-piece, two core members were missing.

“Our trumpet and organ player couldn’t make it so we replaced them with a samba band,” he says.

After the set they sped off in all directions and reported back with positive reviews about fellow Notts artists Rob Green, Dog Is Dead and Georgie Rose.

The latter, an 18-year-old from Mansfield, is one of the region’s most-talked-about female singer-songwriters and yet she’s only been performing for just a year. Her set was on the smallest stage in the Courtyard but she is a contender for the main stage next year.



“The security were turning people away,” she says.

“I wasn’t expecting it to be that busy so it kind of blew me away a little bit.”

She adds: “I’ve got a lot of work to do but I aim to get on the main stage.”

Dozens of artists played over the three music stages with an afternoon of chuckles delivered on the comedy stage, plus a market, a funfair and cabaret.