# The Bug Club
**The Bug Club** are a Welsh indie rock band from Caldicot, Monmouthshire, formed in 2016 and currently consisting of Sam Willmett (guitar, vocals) and Tilly Harris (bass, vocals). Known for short, riff-heavy garage-pop songs with humorous, everyday lyrics, they have released several albums since 2021 and are signed to the Seattle label [Sub Pop](https://www.edgepedia.org/sub-pop).[16](https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/122522732)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Origin | Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales; formed 2016[16](https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/122522732) |
| Members | Sam Willmett (guitar, vocals) and Tilly Harris (bass, vocals); past members Ross Willmett, Ed Hayes, and Dan Matthew[16](https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/122522732) |
| Name | Taken from Ross Willmett's childhood group of friends who collected insects[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/bug-club-concert-dc/) |
| First releases | Debut single "We Don't Need Room For Loving" and EP *Launching Moondream One*, April 2021, on Bingo Records[17](https://pastdaily.com/the-bug-club-marc-riley-2026-past-daily-night-session/) |
| Breakout album | *Rare Birds: Hour of Song*, a 47-track, poetry-infused double album released in autumn 2023[2](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club) |
| Sub Pop debut | *On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System*, released August 30, 2024[3](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club/discography) |
| Latest album | *Every Single Muscle*, released May 29, 2026 via Sub Pop[3](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club/discography) |
## Origins and name
Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris met at school in their mid-teens and began playing music together; Harris has said they met "at about 15", while a later profile puts the meeting at age 14.[4](https://nation.cymru/culture/a-bugs-life-getting-to-know-wales-cult-pop-stars/) • [1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/bug-club-concert-dc/) The band proper formed in 2016 in Caldicot, a market town between Chepstow and Newport in south Wales, while the pair were at university and Sam's older brother Ross joined them.[5](https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-bug-club-on-the-intricate-inner-workings-of-the-system-interview-radar-3774278)The name comes from Ross Willmett's childhood circle of friends, who collected insects; Harris gave a fuller version in a 2023 interview, explaining that her brother-in-law-to-be was a [Steve Irwin](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-irwin) fan who could not find lizards or crocodiles in Welsh school fields, "so bugs had to do".[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/bug-club-concert-dc/) • [4](https://nation.cymru/culture/a-bugs-life-getting-to-know-wales-cult-pop-stars/)
## Early years: blues and small stages
The band's early repertoire was blues music written by Ross Willmett, played with a rotating lineup that came to include Ed Hayes on bass and Dan Matthew on drums.
## 2021: debut single and rapid output
BBC 6 Music DJ Marc Riley supported the debut single.[6](https://getinherears.com/2021/04/26/introducing-interview-the-bug-club/) From the start, the band's releases carried a consistent visual and sonic identity: cover art by Ben Hall of Mr Ben & the Bens and production by Tom Rees of Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, who has handled every release since.[17](https://pastdaily.com/the-bug-club-marc-riley-2026-past-daily-night-session/)
Output came quickly. By October 2023 the band had released three albums in two years, *Pure Particles*, *Green Dream in F#*, and a live album credited to a fictional group, *Mr Anyway's Holey Spirits Perform! One Foot in Bethlehem*, alongside numerous EPs and singles.[4](https://nation.cymru/culture/a-bugs-life-getting-to-know-wales-cult-pop-stars/) The live record was invented as a fake band the duo used to support themselves on tour.[5](https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-bug-club-on-the-intricate-inner-workings-of-the-system-interview-radar-3774278)
## Rare Birds and the Sub Pop era
*Rare Birds: Hour of Song*, released in October 2023, was a 47-track double album mixing compressed indie rock with spoken-word interludes of poetry and prose; the band likened it to "south Wales' *Double Nickels On The Dime*".[2](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club) • [5](https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-bug-club-on-the-intricate-inner-workings-of-the-system-interview-radar-3774278) It was their second studio album and found the band testing poetry and narration.[7](https://fkpscorpio.de/artists/detail/the-bug-club/) • [8](https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/ones-to-watch-the-bug-club-band-rare-birds-hour-of-song-interview/)
The album brought them to Sub Pop, the Seattle independent label. Their label debut, *On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System*, arrived on August 30, 2024, and returned to a compact format: eleven songs in under thirty minutes.[3](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club/discography) • [9](https://ink19.com/2024/09/magazine/music-reviews/mxbzln-the-bug-club) A further release, *Quality Pints*, followed on May 8, 2024.[3](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club/discography)
Three more releases have followed on Sub Pop: the single *Have U Ever Been 2 Wales* (February 27, 2025), which was released to coincide with St David's Day and became more successful than the band expected; the album *Very Human Features* (June 13, 2025), a 13-track garage rock record described by reviewers as friendlier and more polished than its predecessor; and *Every Single Muscle* (May 29, 2026), an 18-track album focused on the human body that critics noted as the band's punkiest offering.[3](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club/discography) • [1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/bug-club-concert-dc/) • [10](https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/bug-club-very-human-features-album-review/) • [11](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-bug-club-every-single-muscle/)
Sources differ on how to count the albums: Sub Pop calls *Every Single Muscle* the band's fifth LP, while Pitchfork's review describes it as their sixth album in four years.[2](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club) • [11](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-bug-club-every-single-muscle/)
## Songwriting and sound
The duo write quickly and deliberately. Willmett tries to build the framework of a song in the time it takes to make a cup of tea, finishing in one pass rather than overthinking; Harris then adds to the skeleton he provides, and vocal arrangements of unison singing and call-and-response largely sort themselves out.[1](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/bug-club-concert-dc/) Willmett has described writing in bursts between tours: "We've been really busy gigging and then we write as much as we can when we're home."[8](https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/ones-to-watch-the-bug-club-band-rare-birds-hour-of-song-interview/)
Their style has been described as garage rock, punk, and indie pop with dual vocals, and the band themselves call it "rough and ready". Cited influences include [Patti Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/patti-smith), Jonathan Richman, Daniel Johnston, Fanny, Mike Bloomfield, and [Violent Femmes](https://www.edgepedia.org/violent-femmes).[12](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bug-club-mn0004390770) • [4](https://nation.cymru/culture/a-bugs-life-getting-to-know-wales-cult-pop-stars/) Critics have highlighted their knack for turning mundane subjects, such as loving war movies or an unremarkable love life, into short, memorable guitar-bass-and-drums songs.[9](https://ink19.com/2024/09/magazine/music-reviews/mxbzln-the-bug-club) On *Every Single Muscle*, Pitchfork's reviewer noted lyrics that address the body and vulnerability without euphemism or bravado.[11](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-bug-club-every-single-muscle/)
## Reception and touring
The band tours extensively in the UK, Europe, and North America, and has been championed by BBC 6 Music and KEXP.[2](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club) A consensus of eleven concert reviews rates them as an impressive live performer.[13](https://www.liverate.com/artists/the-bug-club) *Every Single Muscle* received a critic score of 73 based on five reviews on Album of the Year, with reviewers praising its range and its shift toward punk from the band's classic garage rock sound.[14](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/1691907-the-bug-club-every-single-muscle.php) The band seldom gives interviews and does not make music videos.[15](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/the-bug-club-doing-it-for-themselves-interview)
## References
1. [Whimsy and efficiency are key to the Bug Club's alchemy, The Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/06/18/bug-club-concert-dc/)
2. [The Bug Club, Sub Pop Records](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club)
3. [The Bug Club Discography, Sub Pop Records](https://www.subpop.com/artists/the_bug_club/discography)
4. [A Bug's Life: Getting to know Wales' cult pop stars, Nation.Cymru](https://nation.cymru/culture/a-bugs-life-getting-to-know-wales-cult-pop-stars/)
5. [The Bug Club are Wales' weirdest, most prolific new band, NME](https://www.nme.com/features/music-interviews/the-bug-club-on-the-intricate-inner-workings-of-the-system-interview-radar-3774278)
6. [Introducing Interview: The Bug Club, Get In Her Ears](https://getinherears.com/2021/04/26/introducing-interview-the-bug-club/)
7. [THE BUG CLUB, FKP Scorpio](https://fkpscorpio.de/artists/detail/the-bug-club/)
8. ["We write in albums for people to listen to as a whole", Buzz Magazine](https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/ones-to-watch-the-bug-club-band-rare-birds-hour-of-song-interview/)
9. [The Bug Club: On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System, Ink 19](https://ink19.com/2024/09/magazine/music-reviews/mxbzln-the-bug-club)
10. [THE BUG CLUB: Caldicot indie duo refine their approach on VERY HUMAN FEATURES, Buzz Magazine](https://www.buzzmag.co.uk/bug-club-very-human-features-album-review/)
11. [The Bug Club: Every Single Muscle Album Review, Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-bug-club-every-single-muscle/)
12. [Bug Club Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/bug-club-mn0004390770)
13. [The Bug Club, LiveRate](https://www.liverate.com/artists/the-bug-club)
14. [The Bug Club: Every Single Muscle, Album of The Year](https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/1691907-the-bug-club-every-single-muscle.php)
15. [The Bug Club are doing it for themselves, The Line of Best Fit](https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/interviews/the-bug-club-doing-it-for-themselves-interview)
16. [The Bug Club: albums, songs, concerts | Deezer](https://www.deezer.com/en/artist/122522732)
17. [The Bug Club - Marc Riley - 2026 - Past Daily Night Session – Past Daily: A Sound Archive of News, History And Music, pastdaily.com](https://pastdaily.com/the-bug-club-marc-riley-2026-past-daily-night-session/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Ensembles and groups › Rock, pop, and metal bands › Rock, indie, and pop groups › Indie and alternative bands › Indie pop bands › British and Irish indie bands*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license