Jake Bugg: Label rejected third album in favour of demos

Jake Bugg's debut album went to number one, while its follow-up reached number three

Jake Bugg is self-producing his third album, after his record label said the demo recordings were better than the finished studio versions.

"Weirdly enough, the label preferred my recordings to [the producer] I'd been recording with," he told the BBC.

"It wasn't my choice, it was their choice - so they [the demos] must be ok. I've been mixing them and making them sound real sharp and real nice."

The singer had previously been in the studio with Beastie Boys star Mike D.

However, he did not confirm whether it was those sessions the label rejected.

'Bluesy feel'

The Nottingham-born musician was speaking at Westminster, where he was supporting a music industry campaign, calling for the BBC's music services to be protected from cuts.

Bugg said he owed his career to the BBC, which championed his music after he sent a track to his local station's BBC Introducing programme.

"It's a big thing," he said. "It's about supporting young, unsigned talent. It helped me a lot and I wanted to show my support."

The star played two songs to an audience which included Sam Smith, Sandie Shaw, members of Pink Floyd and the Kaiser Chiefs, as well as record industry figures and the All Party Parliamentary group on Music.

One of them was a new track, possibly titled Lonesome, which featured lyrics about his upbringing as "a poor boy from Nottingham" and playing "400 shows in three years".

"That's the first time I've played that song," he said. "It's very bluesy - it's only two chords, as well."

Although the song is autobiographical, Bugg said the rest of the album would "not necessarily" follow suit.

"That's what everyone would expect me to write about - but that song kind of wrote itself. The other songs on the album have different lyrical content. I think it's good to mix it up."

Bugg's last album, 2013's Shangri La, was produced by rock legend Rick Rubin and reached number three in the UK charts.

He said work was still continuing on the follow-up and "I want to see how things go".