Butch Vig
| Butch Vig | |
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 Butch Vig in Madison's Smart Studios recording studio in 2010, recording the Muse song 'Neutron Star Collision' |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Bryan David Vig |
| Also known as | Nevermind Man |
| Born | 2 August 1955 |
| Origin | Viroqua, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Genres | Rock, alternative rock, grunge |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, record producer, remixer |
| Instruments | Drums |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Labels | Geffen, A&E, Atlantic |
| Associated acts | Garbage, Firetown, Spooner |
Butch Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician and record producer, best known internationally as the drummer of the Madison, Wisconsin-based alternative rock band Garbage and the producer of multi-platinum selling album Nevermind by Nirvana.[1]
Now a resident of the Silverlake district of Los Angeles, Vig had been based in Madison for much of his career, from studying at the University of Wisconsin, to performing in local bands Spooner and Fire Town, and then to setting up his own recording studio, Smart Studios, in the town.[2] After becoming well known as a producer, he returned to performing with Garbage, who sold 17 million records over a ten-year period. Vig returned to producing full-time once Garbage was put on hiatus.
Vig is married to his second wife, Beth Halper, a former DreamWorks A & R executive, and they have a daughter, Bo Violet.
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[edit] Life and career
[edit] Early life
Butch Vig was born Bryan David Vigorson to Dr. DeVerne and Betty Vigorson, a music teacher,[3] in Viroqua, Wisconsin.[2] Vig has two siblings, Chris and Lisa.[3] Vig acquired the nickname Butch as a child, due to the severe crew cut his father gave him.[2] Vig studied piano for six years. After seeing The Who perform on The Smothers Brothers, he swapped his piano for a $60 drum kit.[2]
Moving to Madison, Vig enrolled at the University of Wisconsin to study film direction, where he first met Steve Marker. Vig contributed several soundtrack pieces to low-budget films, including one song on Slumber Party Massacre, a Hollywood B-movie. While in Madison, Vig joined a number of garage pop bands, including Eclipse, and in 1978 formed Spooner with Duke Erikson, Dave Benton, Jeff Walker and Joel Tappero. Spooner founded their own label, Boat Records to issue their own recordings, including their 1979 debut EP, "Cruel School", and releases for around twenty local acts.[2]
In 1984, Vig and Marker founded Smart Studios in Madison, while still performing drums in Spooner at night and driving a taxi cab during the day. When Spooner lost momentum, Vig formed a band called First Person with Marker and Phil Davis and a side-project called Fire Town featuring Davis and Erikson. Fire Town quickly became Vig's priority, and after their first album were signed to Atlantic Records. Atlantic hired producer Michael Fondelli to work with Fire Town on their second album. While the sessions did not do well, and the resulting record sank, Vig learned a lot of production techniques from the process. Fire Town split, and Vig reformed Spooner for a final album before Vig's production work became a full-time career for him.[2]
[edit] Production career
Vig's first high-profile production work was in 1991, when he produced The Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Nirvana's Nevermind. Vig incorporated overdubs and vocal doubletracking, whereas Nirvana's previous album, Bleach (produced by Jack Endino) had a more "lo-fi" sound. Kurt Cobain originally refused to double-track his vocals and guitars but Vig reportedly got him to comply by saying "John Lennon double-tracked". Cobain would later criticize Vig for the album's slickness, although this might be due to Andy Wallace's mixing of the album.[4] Cobain said that "Butch Vig...recorded the album perfectly," in a 1993 MTV interview. Billy Corgan welcomed Vig's elaborate production on The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. This album met with great commercial and critical reception, also breaking another indie band into the mainstream. Vig also produced two critically lauded Sonic Youth's albums, 1992's Dirty[5] and 1994's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
Vig worked with Jimmy Eat World on their sixth album, Chase This Light, released in October 2007. He is also working on soundtracks for two new movies. His first production for an English band was 2008's All or Nothing by The Subways. He also worked with Tom Gabel of Against Me! on his solo EP, 'Heart Burns'. Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage, revealed in a Carson Daly interview that Vig would be producing the 8th studio album by Green Day, 2009's 21st Century Breakdown, which later won a Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Album. Recently, Vig has been partnered in duties by his engineer and mixer Billy Bush who also worked on Garbage's albums and live tours.
Butch Vig composed and produced the soundtrack for the film The Other Side.
In 2009 Vig recorded two new tracks for the long awaited greatest hits release by the Foo Fighters, most notably the single "Wheels" and ultimately produced their April 2011 follow-up, Wasting Light.
In 2010 Vig produced the latest Muse single, Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever) which was featured on the The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (soundtrack).He has also worked with AFI to produce their first major label album with DreamWorks "Sing the Sorrow."
[edit] Garbage
The band has counted worldwide album sales of over 17 million units.[6] Garbage released a string of increasingly successful singles in 1995–1996, including "Stupid Girl" and "Only Happy When It Rains". Their debut album, Garbage, was an unexpected smash, selling over 4 million copies and certified double platinum in the UK, United States and Australia. Garbage won the Breakthrough Artist award at the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards.[7]
Garbage spent two years working on follow-up album, Version 2.0, which topped the charts in the UK upon its 1998 release and the following year was nominated for two Grammy Awards, Album of the Year and Best Rock Album. Version 2.0 went on to match the sales of its predecessor. Garbage followed this up by performing and co-producing the theme song to the nineteenth James Bond movie The World Is Not Enough.[8]
Despite being named one of Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of The Year,[9] Garbage's 2001 third album Beautiful Garbage failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors.[10] Garbage quietly disbanded in late 2003, but regrouped to complete fourth album Bleed Like Me in 2005, peaking at a career-high #4 in the U.S.[11] The band cut short their concert tour in support of Bleed Like Me announcing an "indefinite hiatus",[12] emphasizing that they had not broken up, but wished to pursue personal interests.[13] In 2006, Vig returned to producing while Manson worked on a solo album (as yet unreleased). Garbage ended their hiatus in 2007,[14] and released greatest hits retrospective Absolute Garbage. Worldwide, the band have sold over 17 million albums.[15]
The band began work and recording their fifth studio album in 2010, and have confirmed that they will tour in 2011 in support of the album.[16][17][18][19][20]
[edit] Discography
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[edit] Production career
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- Remix work
Butch Vig has remixed songs for the following artists: Against Me!, Ash, Beck, The Cult, Depeche Mode, EMF, Fun Lovin' Criminals, House of Pain, Korn, Limp Bizkit, Alanis Morissette, Nine Inch Nails, Michael Penn, Galexia, M.O.P, U2 as well as his own band Garbage.
[edit] References
- ^ "Garbage: Behind The Music". Behind The Music. 2002-03-31.
- ^ a b c d e f Welcome to Spooner Town. Record Collector. 1997-02-01
- ^ a b "Obituaries (Tuesday August 23, 2005)". Wisconsin State Journal (reproduced on Madison.com). 2005-08-23. http://www.madison.com/archives/read.php?ref=/wsj/2005/08/23/0508221222.php. Retrieved 2009-04-05
- ^ Berkenstadt, J. (1998). Nevermind Nirvana at pg. 96. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864775-0
- ^ 1992 THE BEST & WORST MUSIC, Entertainment Weekly.
- ^ "Famous Scots exhibition – Shirley Manson". homecomingscotland2009.com. http://www.homecomingscotland2009.com/media-centre/shirleymanson.html. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
- ^ "Version 2.0 press release" (Press release). Mushroom Records. 1998-03-30.
- ^ "Beautiful Garbage press release" (Press release). Mushroom Records. 2001-07-27.
- ^ ""Breaking Up the Girl" Hits magazine trade ad". Retrieved 2008-02-24
- ^ "Bleed Like Me press release, published by Geffen Records, dated February 21, 2005. Retrieved 2008-02-24
- ^ Murphy, Peter S. (2008). Absolute Garbage biography.
- ^ "Shirley Manson On Garbage Hiatus: 'I'm Burnt, I'm Done, I'm Toast' says singer.". MTV.com. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1510121/20050922/garbage.jhtml. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
- ^ "Dear worried and confused". Garbage.com. http://www.garbage.com/news/news.php?uid=320. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
- ^ "Garbage End Sabbatical for Benefit Show". Music.AOL.com. http://music.aol.com/popeater/2007/01/05/garbage-end-sabbatical-for-benefit-show/. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
- ^ "New Best Of Album". Garbage.com. http://www.garbage.com/news/news.php?uid=336. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
- ^ EXCLUSIVE: Matthew Holehouse (2010-10-27). "Singer Manson introduces new husband to students in Paisley - Herald Scotland | News | Home News". Herald Scotland. http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/singer-manson-introduces-new-husband-to-students-in-paisley-1.1064114. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ Hot right now: (2010-11-01). "Garbage Reunite To Record New Album". Gigwise. http://www.gigwise.com/news/59259/Garbage-Reunite-To-Record-New-Album. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ "Garbage | Garbage Back In Studio". Contactmusic. 2010-11-01. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/garbage-back-in-studio_1178194. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ "Shirley Manson Confirms Garbage Are Recording New Album - Spinner UK". Spinnermusic.co.uk. 2010-11-01. http://www.spinnermusic.co.uk/2010/11/01/shirley-manson-garbage-new-album/. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
- ^ Warner, Brett (2010-11-01). "Garbage Reunite To Record New Album". Ology. http://www.ology.com/music/garbage-reunite-record-new-album. Retrieved 2011-07-28.
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Butch Vig |
- Butch Vig at the Internet Movie Database
- Official website Garbage
- Butch Vig on Charlie Rose
- Works by or about Butch Vig in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
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