Baby Bugs

Baby Bugs is an alternative music project from Richmond, Virginia, led by Bowie Rabas, who also performs as Bowie Bugs. Bowie uses they/them pronouns and is non-binary. The project is active from 2021 and is associated with the label VERSION III. Its sound sits across alternative rock, dark folk, indie folk and neofolk.

Early releases

Bowie begins releasing music online in early 2021 as Bowie Bugs, starting on SoundCloud, before adopting the name Baby Bugs later that year. The first song, “Hey Bunny,” appears on 21 January 2021. It deals with intrusive thoughts and imaginary friends, and it becomes the project’s most listened-to track, with more than 10 million plays. The song also appears in season 2, episode 5 of the Netflix series Ginny and Georgia.

In the same year, Baby Bugs releases the debut EP Little Jars of Blood. It includes both acoustic material in the style of “Hey Bunny” and heavier rock songs. The record features Ben Seay on drums, Drew Ertzner on bass, and Tanner High, Bowie’s boyfriend, on guitar. A rock version of “Hey Bunny,” titled “Hey Bunny (Remix),” also appears in this period.

Album and EP releases

In 2022, Baby Bugs releases the debut album Genesis. The record keeps a similar musical approach while focusing on mental illness, religious trauma and unhealthy relationships. It is preceded by “Autotheist,” a punk rock single about religious trauma that becomes a fan favourite.

After Genesis, Bowie moves further toward folk, pop and singer-songwriter material and steps away from using a full band. In spring 2023, Baby Bugs releases the second EP Heavenly, produced by Nxghtshade.

In October 2024, during the Bugs & Butterflies Tour with Solya, the project releases the second album In My Bones. The album includes Halloween-themed songs such as “You Can’t Hide” and “My Corpse Friend,” and mainly uses acoustic instrumentation inspired by Bowie’s late grandfather, who was also a guitarist. A deluxe edition follows with two additional tracks, “Decay” and “Wicked Nature.”

Themes and later songs

Bowie is chronically ill, and several songs address experiences of feeling broken and being failed by the medical system, including “Diseased,” which also features the same bunny character from “Hey Bunny.” In 2025, these songs are released physically through Vertigo Vinyl as the world’s first bunny-shaped vinyl.

More recent songs include “Bible Belt,” which continues the project’s focus on religious trauma, “Holy Water,” which Bowie describes as a love song, and “Wishing for Wounds,” which deals with childhood abuse.