Bryan David "Butch" Vig (born August 2, 1955) is an American musician, record producer, and songwriter who is the drummer and co-producer of the rock band Garbage. Known for producing the diamond-selling Nirvana album Nevermind (1991),[1] Vig also produced for several other alternative rock acts of the 1990s, including the Smashing Pumpkins, L7, and Sonic Youth. Some notable production credits of Vig include L7's Bricks are Heavy (1992) and the Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream (1993).
A native of Wisconsin, Vig studied at the University of Wisconsin and performed in local bands Spooner and Fire Town. He set up his own recording studio in Madison, Smart Studios, with bandmate Steve Marker.[2] After becoming well known as a producer, he formed and played drums with Garbage, which sold 17 million records over a ten-year period. Vig returned to producing full-time when Garbage went on hiatus in 2005. The band reconvened in 2010 to record material for their fifth album. In 2012, NME ranked Vig the ninth greatest producer of all time.[3]
Early life
Vig was born Bryan David Vig in Viroqua, Wisconsin,[2] son of DeVerne William Vig (1922–2021) and Betty Jeanette (1931–2005), née Brewster. DeVerne Vig was a hospital staff doctor who practiced medicine with his twin, David, and their elder brother, Edward, in Viroqua for nearly forty years;[4] Betty Vig was a music teacher[5] and clinic administrator who played an active role in the community as a Sunday School teacher, Girl Scout leader, and director of the Country Club and Viroqua Bloodmobile Service.[6][7] Vig has two siblings, Chris and Lisa.[5] 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]
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,[9] and in 1978 formed Spooner with Duke Erikson, Dave Benton, Jeff Walker and Joel Tappero.
The following year, Vig helped Marker build a home studio in Marker's basement.[9] Marker and Vig also started a small label, Boat Records, to release records of Spooner – which included their 1979 debut EP, Cruel School – and other bands they liked, which led to around twenty local acts. The self-producing was later described by Vig as "kind of a trial by fire".[2][10][11][12]
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.[9] 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 working as a producer became his full-time career.[2]
Production career
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.[13] Cobain said in a 1993 MTV interview that "Butch Vig...recorded the album perfectly". The success of Nevermind earned Vig the nickname "Nevermind Man", according to the BBC.[14]Billy Corgan welcomed Vig's elaborate production on The Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. This album met with widespread acclaim and strong sales, breaking another indie band into the mainstream. Vig also produced two critically praised Sonic Youth albums, 1992's Dirty[15] and 1994's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.
Vig stated, "Part of the reason why I started Garbage was that by the time I'd done 'Nevermind,' I'd recorded – I swear to God – 1,000 bands that were just guitar-bass-drums. I was reading about all these other records that I was getting excited about – like Public Enemy using a sampler in the studio – and I just decided I wanted to do a bit of a U-turn."[20] Afterwards, they hired Scottish singer Shirley Manson and began composing together.[1]
Despite being named one of Rolling Stone's Top 10 Albums of The Year,[23] Garbage's 2001 third album, Beautiful Garbage, failed to match the commercial success achieved by its predecessors.[24] 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.[25] The band cut short their concert tour in support of Bleed Like Me announcing an "indefinite hiatus",[26] emphasizing that they had not broken up, but wished to pursue personal interests.[27] In 2006, Vig returned to producing while Manson worked on a solo album (as yet unreleased). Garbage ended their hiatus in 2007,[28] and released greatest hits retrospective Absolute Garbage. Worldwide, the band have sold over 17 million albums.[29] 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.
The Emperors of Wyoming
In 2011, Vig formed an alt-country band called The Emperors of Wyoming with Phil Davis, Frank Anderson and Pete Anderson. They released a self-titled album on September 17, 2012.[30]
5 Billion in Diamonds
In 2017, Vig debuted a new musical project, the band 5 Billion in Diamonds. Their first album was released on August 11, 2017.[31][32] Their second, Divine Accidents, was released on November 20, 2020.[33]
