“Artist” is the single word which best describes producer, mixer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Butch Vig.  Born in Viroqua,Wisconsin, his parents Doc and Betty exposed Butch to a variety of music and fine arts culture during his youth.

While attending the University of Wisconsin Madison, where he received a degree in filmmaking, Vig focused on experimental music composition – an area that would serve him well into the future.  While at the UW, Butch jumped into the local music scene and joined the band Spooner as its drummer.  Unlike most drummers, content to bang out the rhythms, Vig pursued music composition with the band and stepped behind the studio glass to shape the recorded sound as a producer.

After graduating from the UW, Butch co-founded Smart Studios and began producing and mixing albums.  His perseverance as an independent producer in Madison carried far beyond Wisconsin’s borders, as artists from around the country began to hear the clear, edgy, hard rock sound shaped by Butch’s productions. His work with Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins and Soul Asylum in the 90s has been hailed by music critics and authors who have placed his work at the top of the decade’s best recordings. Advertisement

Additionally, Vig has created many exciting remixes for such prominent artists as U2, Beck, Korn, Alanis Morissette, Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.

In 1995 Vig returned to performing and writing with a band he formed that goes by the name of Garbage.  The multi-platinum, Grammy Nominated band has achieved worldwide critical and commercial success as it ushered in yet another new direction for rock music.

Recently, Vig has produced critically acclaimed albums for Against Me, Green Day, and The Foo Fighters, winning a Grammy for their album “Wasting Light.”  In 2015, Butch produced The Foo Fighters HBO documentary “Sonic Highways.” In 2019 Butch produced the soundtrack for Puppy Love, featuring Portugal The Man, LP and Kurt Vile. In 2021 Garbage released their 7th album, the critically acclaimed No Gods No Masters. He was recently ranked #9 on NME’s Top 50 Greatest Producers Ever.

 

 

Jim Berkenstadt

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