JAKE Bugg is refusing to back down after his war of words with One Direction.
Relaxing backstage at the recent Stone Roses gig at Glasgow Green, the singer calmly weighed in on Britain’s most popular boy band by claiming they are only famous because of their looks.
His comment follows the 19-year-old singer-songwriter’s clash with 1D and their fans in February, when he branded the group “terrible” in an interview.
At the time, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan retaliated on Twitter, with Louis writing: “Do you think slagging off boy bands makes you more indie?”
Speaking exclusively to 7 Nights, Bugg refused to back down and claimed that, instead of trying to make good music, One Direction and others exploit teenage girls to become millionaires.
The Lightning Bolt star told me: “Their popularity is just because young teenage girls are becoming women.
“When good looking lads sing, it attracts female attention, it seems."
Bugg is quick to add that he also gets female attention, but largely because he is a talented songwriter.(lol)
“I get female attention, but not on the scale they do,” he says.
“I wouldn’t want to.
“There are always going to be boy bands around.
“In a few years there’ll be a new one and then another one after that.
“People love the controversy of social media but what I said was nothing personal against One Direction.
“I could have gone for any of those bands like Union J or whatever their names are. I write songs and they don’t.
“I don’t hold anything against them as individuals or as people because I’ve never met them.
“I’m sure they’re probably nice guys. I’m just not necessarily a fan of what they do. I have an opinion and, if you don’t like it, don’t listen to what I say.
“I write my songs and I go do my gigs.
"They can sing as many meaningless tunes as they want and probably make quite a bit of money from it. But that’s not the way I go about things."
While One Direction have an army of teen girl fans, Bugg counts The Stone Roses, Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller among his fans – a fact he puts down to having impressed their kids.
“It’s great to have that support from anyone,” he says. “Those guys have been an influence on what I do and that’s an incentive to carry on.
“Apparently Weller’s son is a fan and that’s how he got to hear me.
“I believe Noel’s daughter is a fan.
“It seems the young ’uns are into what I’m doing, which is nice, because a lot of them are even younger than me.”
But while Noel is a fan, Bugg is less than impressed with his brother Liam’s decision to perform on TV talent show The Voice with his band Beady Eye.
He says he’ll never follow in the former Oasis singer’s footsteps and has also ruled out guest spots on Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor.
“It’s not for me, man,” Bugg says.
“As long as I can pay the bills and keep the house warm, I’ll feel I’m successful at what I do. You never know what the future is going to hold but at this point I don’t feel it’s necessary to do that.
“Those shows would be brilliant if it was about music rather than popularity. A few of those judges see who is most appealing to the public rather than someone who is more talented or more musical. If those shows focused on the talent and what musicians can do, it would be cool.
“The bottom line is these judges aren’t really in the position to say who is talented.”
Bugg is busy working the festival circuit, including a recent stint on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds and the upcoming T in the Park.
even more pretentious bleating at the source