Name: | Butch Vig |
Occupation: | Drummer |
Gender: | Male |
Birth Day: | August 2, 1955 |
Age: | 65 |
Country: | United States |
Zodiac Sign: | Leo |
Butch Vig
Trivia
Physique
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Before Fame
He attended the University of Wisconsin and played with local bands. He went on to build an in-house recording studio with Steve Marker.
Biography
Biography Timeline
While a student at the University of Wisconsin, Vig met his eventual Garbage bandmate Steve Marker. Vig contributed several electronic music soundtrack pieces to low-budget films, including one song on Slumber Party Massacre, a Hollywood B-movie. This soundtrack work stirred Vig’s interest in the manipulation of sound. 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.
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 was signed to Atlantic Records. Atlantic hired producer Michael Frondelli 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.
Vig’s first high-profile production work was in 1991, when he produced albums by two bands, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Gish and Nirvana’s Nevermind. Vig incorporated overdubs and vocal double tracking, 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. 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 positive commercial and critical reception, also breaking another indie band into the mainstream. Vig also produced two critically praised Sonic Youth albums, 1992’s Dirty and 1994’s Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
Despite being named one of Rolling Stone’s Top 10 Albums of The Year, Garbage’s 2001 third album Beautiful Garbage failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors. 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. The band cut short their concert tour in support of Bleed Like Me announcing an “indefinite hiatus”, emphasizing that they had not broken up, but wished to pursue personal interests. In 2006, Vig returned to producing while Manson worked on a solo album (as yet unreleased). Garbage ended their hiatus in 2007, and released greatest hits retrospective Absolute Garbage. Worldwide, the band have sold over 17 million albums. The band got back together in 2010 and began recording their new album, Not Your Kind of People, which was released internationally on May 14, 2012. This was followed by Strange Little Birds, released on June 10, 2016.
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 Against Me!, producing their two Sire Records releases, New Wave and White Crosses, as well as working with singer Laura Jane Grace on her solo EP, Heart Burns. Vig produced the eighth studio album by Green Day, 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown, which won the Grammy Award for 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.
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 Muse’s single, “Neutron Star Collision (Love Is Forever),” which was featured on the Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack.
In 2011, Vig formed an alt-country band called The Emperors of Wyoming together with Phil Davis, Frank Anderson, and Pete Anderson. They released a self-titled album on September 17, 2012.
In 2017, Vig debuted a new musical project, the band 5 Billion in Diamonds. Their first album was released on August 11, 2017.
Upcoming Birthday
Currently, Butch Vig is 65 years, 11 months and 23 days old. Butch Vig will celebrate 66th birthday on a Monday 2nd of August 2021.
Find out about Butch Vig birthday activities in timeline view here.
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