Butch Vig

Butch was born Bryan Vigorson on December 8, 1957 in a small dairy farm community of Viroqua, Wisconsin, Vig studied piano as a child, picking up the drums during his teen years; after two years as a pre-med student at the University of Wisconsin, he dropped out to pursue a career in music, drumming in a local band called Spooner. A fascination with electronic music led him to begin experimenting with synthesizers, and his interests soon led him into production. With Spooner bandmate Steve Marker, Vig bought an eight-track recorder, and in a rented warehouse began producing local punk bands. He also helmed the first three Spooner LPs. While Spooner were on hiatus during the mid-1980s, Butch played drums for the band Firetown. Butch is one of the most influential and talented musicians of the 90's. He has produced and mixed for many artists, including Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Beck, Hole, Ash, Sonic Youth, Limp Bizkit and many more.

Butch and Steve Marker are co-owners of Smart Studios which is located in Madison, Wisconsin. Smart Studios gained prominence for producing the demo version of Nirvana's album "Nevermind" which Butch Vig produced. Butch along with Steve were part of a dark and edgy band which was called First Person. After First Person broke up, Butch went on to become part of a band named Eclipse. Butch then joined a band named Spooner. Steve Marker along with Duke Erikson were also in this band. Spooner had some success with the release of 3 albums along with several singles from 1978 to 1986. Spooner reunited in 1989 to record a fourth album, however the band split up permanently in 1993. After Spooner's first breakup in 1986, Butch became part of a band named Firetown in 1987. Firetown had limited success with the release of 2 albums as well as 6 singles. However, Firetown split up in permanently 1989. After the split up of Firetown and Spooner's fourth album in 1989, Butch became part of a punk band named Rectal Drip along with Steve and Duke. Unfortunately, Rectal Drip was mostly a filler band for Smart Studios and as a result, it was short-lived. Butch then spent much of his time in Smart Studios working with other bands and doing remixes for many popular bands while at the same time working on an unnamed band project, which later became Garbage.