The Bug Club
Memo Arts Centre, Barry.
More information about The Bug Club tickets
As part of Memo's ongoing programme of in-house original music nights, we're bringing one of Wales' most distinctive and relentlessly inventive bands to Barry this June.
Caldicot's finest, The Bug Club return with their fifth album Every Single Muscle, released 29 May 2026 via Sub Pop. The 18-track record is their tightest and punchiest statement yet: a high-velocity blast of anxious, hook-loaded garage punk packed into gloriously economical sub-two-minute bursts.
Lead single "Watching the Omnibus" sets the tone, while tracks like "A Good Day for Dying", "Make It Count" and "My Uncle Warren Drives a Passat" showcase the band's knack for cramming razor-sharp riffs, melodic left turns and bone-dry humour into compact, maximalist forms. Produced and mixed by Barry's own Tom Rees at Rat Trap Studios in Cardiff and mastered by Mikey Young, the album captures the wiry immediacy that has made them favourites of BBC 6 Music and KEXP.
Lyrically, Every Single Muscle zooms in on the absurdity of being human, dissecting bodies, egos and everyday existence with surreal detachment and deadpan wit. It is garage rock with a conceptual streak, smart without being self-serious, playful without losing bite.
Formed in 2016 by Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris, The Bug Club have built a reputation as a formidable live act: sharp, chaotic, deceptively tight and always entertaining. With a packed UK tour this May and June, including a major support slot with Super Furry Animals at Brixton Academy, their Memo date promises to be a standout South Wales show in the run.
Supports to be announced.
For audiences who care about new music, restless creativity and bands doing things their own way, this is one not to miss.
The Bug Club’s name does a good job of introducing the band and their music: a tight-knit, collaborative effort focussed on telling tales of the everyday that we often take for granted, shot through with humour and riffs-a-plenty. Comprising the creative trio of Sam Willmett (guitar/vocals), Tilly Harris (bass/vocals) & Dan Matthew (drums), The Bug Club formed in 2016 in the little-known rock n' roll hotbed that is Caldicot, Monmouthshire. The band were picked up by Bingo Records and released their first single 'We Don’t Need Room For Lovin’ in Feb 2021. The announcement of the EP Launching Moondream One followed.
In Nov 21 the band released the 'Pure Particles' EP including the singles 'The Fixer' and 'My Baby Loves Rock & Roll Music'. So far in 2022 the band have offered the multi-song track 'Intelectuals' and the Two Beauties release featuring 'Lay Down Your Roses' and 'Pretty As A Dog In The Light'. The second half of 2022 will bring us the debut album and more!!!