Biography Wikipedia
Wikipedia:
Joe Pug (born Joe Pugliese) is a singer-songwriter from Chicago. He has released two EPs, Nation of Heat and In the Meantime, the latter of which has been made available for free on his website. He has toured extensively since 2008 and has opened for alt-country pioneer Steve Earle, singer-songwriter Josh Ritter and folk rocker M. Ward among others. Pug released his first full-length album, Messenger, in February 2010.
Bio
Origins and Nation of Heat
Originally from Greenbelt, Maryland, Joe Pug attended Eleanor Roosevelt High School (ERHS), where he was active in the school's drama department, playing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Argan in Molière's The Hypochondriac, among other roles. Pug was also a member of his high school's extracurricular improv comedy ensemble, ALONIZ! Pug graduated from ERHS in 2002 and was accepted as an undergraduate student at University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, where Pug studied playwriting. The day before his senior year fall classes started, Pug left the university in order to begin his career as a musician.
Pug packed up his belongings and began traveling; shortly after hitting the road, he arrived in Chicago and decided to stay. Working as a carpenter by day, the then-23 year old Pug spent his nights playing the acoustic guitar that he hadn’t picked up since his teenage years. Using ideas originally slated for a play he was writing called "Austin Fish," Pug began creating the lyrical arrangements that would later become the "Nation of Heat" EP.
The songs were recorded fast and fervently at a local Chicago studio, where a friend sneaked him in to record during late night slots that other musicians had canceled. Finally, the EP known as "Nation of Heat" was released in 2008.
An EP of songs that were recorded but not released on "Nation of Heat" was released in 2009 as "In the Meantime." This second EP was made available for free on Pug's website for anyone who joined his mailing list.
Messenger and Future
After extensive touring Pug stepped back into the studio to record his first full length studio album, "Messenger". The album would be different from the original EPs in that they included a full band on some tracks. A more somber set of recordings, "Messenger" was released in 2010 to great reviews.
Once again Pug embarked on a lengthy tour to promote himself and his music across North America with opening act "Strand of Oaks". The two of them would record a two song EP of each act covering a song from the other before Joe finally prepared to step back into the studio the following summer. The unnamed album will be completed sometime in 2011.
In response to chronically high service fees on tickets, Pug has also begun experimenting with ticketing his own tours, selling directly to fans via his website with substantially lower fees, and often no fees at all.
