Bug

Artist Biography, Bug

Ronan Burke, aka Bug, was born in the Wild West of Ireland, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway, population: 14,000. He entered the world on New Year's Day 1980 and found that he liked his first taste of fame as television stations and newspapers scrambled to get an interview with one of the First New Irish Babies of the Decade. Of course, they didn't get much sense out of the newborn, but over the years his conversational skills have improved considerably.

The young Burke was musical from the start - or so his mother says - and taught himself to play the guitar.

Fast-forward through the usual scrapes and grades at school of childhood and we find Bug at the fabled crossroads of his life. Except that, luckily for him, there was no Devil challenging him to a musical duel. Always good with his hands, Ronan entered the world of carpentry, making beautiful - and practical - things, with his soul intact.

In fact, he made the guitar that he wrote songs to play on for his debut album 'Leave Town Behind.' And not only that, he also built the recording studio in which he played the guitar on which he played the songs he wrote for the album.

Along with the guitar, and being a singer-songwriter, Ronan has also made a mandolin and would like to craft instruments for other musicians.

He performs solo and with local bands around the country, and has supported Mary Coughlan and Aslan.

'Leave Town Behind' has an alternative indie rock feel and includes the songs:

'Gingerbread Man' which is inspired by the book of the same title which Ronan's father used to read to him when he was a child - 'I run as fast as I can, you can't catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man'.

And 'Comes Down To' which is about life's lessons - 'I've made mistakes and I've been around, I've gone through this and I've gone through that, it all comes down to, it all just happens to be life.'