Most of you don’t know him, but his name is wug… and he’s leaking the world’s most sought after files.

This interview was originally taken in June 2019. We assure you it was worth the wait.

I first discovered wug when my brother downloaded a copy of Carly Rae Jepsen‘s Dedicated album that was released earlier this year on May 17th, 2019, using SoulseekQT.

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the software, Soulseek is a P2P file-sharing utility (much like the now discontinued Limewire) that allows users to share files on their computers with others as long as both users are simultaneously online.

The search was made, and he thought he had the files. Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated (2019) [LEAK] by wug68 seemed like a sure thing from the list of files, track lengths and intro. A single played with no interruptions and he assumed he was in the clear.

…and then the off-key melancholy vocals kicked in.

I’M CARLY RAE JEPSEN. I LIKE TO SING SONGS.

wug AKA Dark Ashley (listed as Carly Rae Jepsen in iTunes) – No Drug Like Me – Dedicated

We both had a laugh, and my brother deleted the files shortly after, but not before I could quickly snap a picture of the user’s Soulseek account that shared the files. I was in luck. It turns out that wug had leaked more of my favourite artists (and surprisingly the final season of HBO‘s Game of Thrones).

An iPhone picture taken of the laptop computer screen when I discovered wugs.

After about a week of me searching for wug I finally found him online and immediately downloaded every file that he shared without inspection or thought of consequence. I couldn’t get a hold of the Carly Rae Jepsen files as they had been removed from his ‘shared’ folder (most likely by mistake, at the time of writing I’ve asked for him to re-leak the files), but I was eager to listen to his other leaks.

Luckily, wug leaked even more of my favourite content.

A screenshot of wugs’ currently leaked folders. Carly Rae Jepsen, Game of Thrones, Rammstein, and Tyler, The Creator are currently empty folders with no files.

I had just listened to TIM, the posthumous album from Avicii‘s camp in the car, but the copy that I downloaded had a couple beat-skips in it, so I decided to give wug’s version a try.

wug AKA Dark Ashley (listed as Avicii in iTunes) – SOS – TIM

As an Avicii fan, I immediately thought this was both disrespectful but hilarious. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I then loaded up his leak of the Jonas Brothers‘ Happiness Begins album.

wug AKA Dark Ashley (listed as Jonas Brothers in iTunes) – Sucker – Happiness Begins

wug AKA Dark Ashley (listed as Jonas Brothers in iTunes) – Cool – Happiness Begins

Immediately after listening to these two songs I knew I had come across something special. It’s not everyday that someone takes the time to come up with original content that pushes boundaries while eliciting a variety of different emotions.

Anger from the people that just wanted their files; comedic relief from the ones that think this music might be a joke; nostalgia from those reminded of getting Crank That by Soulja Boy when trying to download a Britney Spears song on Limewire; confusion from people that don’t know what they just received; and of course joy, from the people like me that have probably experienced all the above while listening to wug’s leaks.

After exploring wug’s world (which is hosted on NeoCities – a newer remake of the classic internet phenomenon GeoCities that lets anyone have a website) and finding his Bandcamp page, YouTube and more where he uses the Dark Ashley pseudonym and produces more original content, I decided to reach out to him via the chat tab in Soulseek.

I sent him a list of questions and he responded with a link to a pastebin file containing responses and some other users’ information which I’ve decided to keep private. The pastebin file with his answers has been translated to an interview format below.

The following is my interview with wug.

TFG: Hi wug, I’m a fan of your leaks, […] can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

wug: I went for a drive to go buy ice cream to think about this question and I have decided that the answer is no (I told him it was perfectly acceptable if he wanted to remain anonymous given the nature of his art) .

TFG: How did you get into making these leaks?

wug: I had this idea for a while but then I forgot about it, and then I remembered it but now I don’t know anything about what music sounds like or what movies look like anymore. It’s all like beep bop boop skrrt skrrt and “help me spiderman” and shit so I have to look up upcoming popular albums and upcoming movies lists on the internet and just kind of go along with what I think those things are like, maybe based on the title but instead, what if I made them and they were better.

TFG: What does your recording setup look like?

wug: Here is a picture of what the audio studio thing part of my stuff looked like a couple weeks ago. (Now) […] I’m perpetually constantly rearranging everything forever because it gives me purpose and hope.

wug’s audio studio setup.

TFG: How long does each leak take to make?

wug: Like fifteen or twenty minutes longer than the actual total time of the leak itself. The only preparation is asking a friend what a movie is about if I’ve never heard of it, or what a musician is like if I’ve never heard them because I refuse to listen to their music or watch a trailer about anything. The leaks write themselves.

TFG: Have you ever received any messages regarding them? If so, what’re they like? Do people get mad?

wug: Yes, they get mad. Other people like them and tell me (they’re) […] good. Other people think I have been tricked by someone else and are trying to let me know that I have been pranked by some sort of world wide web fraudster. One time someone just sent me a YouTube link to Michael Jackson – They Don’t Care About Us. I prefer the ones where people are mad, but those are for my eyes’ pleasure only. I’m going to paste two that aren’t mad or glad or bad, but I’ll cherish them and you can censor the names or whatever if you want. Who cares.

[20:35:47][USERNAME REDACTED] :c the Rammstein 2019 album that you have is not real, do not you have the real ??

[14:30:34][USERNAME REDACTED] Don't believe them, Wug ! The Darkthrone album is fake :) But ! Only 1 week to wait anyway. And yes- you don't know me. Complete stranger

TFG: Is there a place online (not Soulseek) where any readers are able to listen to, or download your leaks?

wug: https://wugs.neocities.org/

Since our interview wug has even opened up a storefront to sell energy drinks that he describes as “100% LEGAL!”. For those that have seen the light, you can watch his masterfully created Aladdin leak below. For anime, video games, and everything in between that’s wild and weird, make sure to follow us on social.

wug’s leak of the 2019 feature film: Aladdin, starring Will Smith.

Image Source: @diseaselover