Butch Vig
FALL OUT BOY
With slick production, commercially minded songcraft, and a tabloid-grabbing bassist, Chicago's Fall Out Boy rose to the forefront of emo-pop in the mid-2000s. The band's four members first came together in suburban Wilmette, a bedroom community just 14 miles north of the Windy City, around 2001. Vocalist/guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist/lyricist Pete Wentz, drummer Andrew Hurley, and guitarist Joe Trohman had all been in and out of various units connected to Chicago's underground hardcore scene. Most notably, Hurley drummed for Racetraitor, the furiously political metalcore outfit whose brief output was both a rallying point and sticking point within the hardcore community.
As Fall Out Boy, the quartet used the unbridled intensity of hardcore as a foundation for melody-drenched pop-punk, with a heavy debt to the emo scene. They debuted with a self-released demo in 2001, following it up in May 2002 with a split LP (issued on the Uprising label) that also featured Project Rocket, for which Hurley also drummed. The band remained with the label for the release of a mini-LP, Fall Out Boy's Evening Out with Your Girl, but a bidding war of sorts was already in full swing.
Fall Out Boy's underground star status -- driven by the especially extroverted Wentz, who also gained exposure with his clothing line and Decaydance record label (an imprint of Fueled by Ramen) -- had boiled over into the mainstream. They toured extensively, supporting the album with international performances, arena dates, TRL visitations, late-night television gigs, and music award shows. Without taking a break, the musicians then hunkered down to work on their follow-up record with From Under the Cork Tree producer Neil Avron and, somewhat surprisingly, Babyface. Infinity on High, whose title was taken from a line in one of Van Gogh's personal letters, appeared in early February 2007, spearheaded by the hit single "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race." The album continued Fall Out Boy's streak, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and going platinum one month later. Released in early 2008, the CD/DVD package Live in Phoenix documented the band's strength as a flashy live act, while the full-length studio effort Folie à Deux followed later that year.
Take This to Your Grave (2003)
From Under the Cork Tree (2005)
Infinity on High (2007)
Folie à Deux (2008)
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GARBAGE
Garbage built on the sonic landscapes of My Bloody Valentine, Curve, and Sonic Youth, adding a distinct sense of accessible pop songcraft. Garbage was the brainchild of producers Butch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker. Initially, Garbage was an informal jam session between the three producers held in Marker's basement, but they eventually recruited vocalist Shirley Manson, who had previously sang with Angelfish and Goodbye Mr. MacKenzie.
Vig is a native of Viroqua, WI, who learned to play piano as a child and drums as a teenager. He attended the University of Wisconsin briefly before pursuing a career in music instead. The first band he joined after leaving college was Spooner, who he played drums with. Also in Spooner was Erikson, who sang and played guitar with the band. Marker was a native of New York who moved to Wisconsin to attend college. He became a fan of Spooner and began recording their songs. Vig left Spooner shortly afterwards, but he kept in touch with the band. After a few years, Spooner became Firetown and Vig played drums in the new outfit.
Firetown broke up in the late '80s, without achieving much success. Prior to the formation of Firetown, Vig and Marker bought an eight-track cassette recorder together and set up a makeshift studio in a local warehouse. This studio was dubbed Smart Studios and Vig recorded numerous local punk and alternative bands at the warehouse. By the late '80s, Smart had become one of the hippest recording studios in America. Many records released on Touch & Go, Sub Pop, and Twin/Tone, among other indie labels, were made at Smart. Vig and Smart broke into the big time in 1991, after he produced Nirvana's Nevermind. Nevermind elevated Butch Vig to the status of a superstar producer and for the next two years, he produced numerous American alternative superstars, including Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, and L7.
Garbage recorded their debut album in late 1994 and early 1995. Their eponymous first album appeared in the fall of 1995 on Almo Sounds. After receiving support from radio and MTV, the album began to climb the charts toward the end of 1995, when the second single, "Queer," received heavy airplay. By the summer of 1996, Garbage had gone gold in the United States, and shortly afterward it achieved platinum status, as "Only Happy When It Rains" and "Stupid Girl" became radio hits.
After a brief break, Garbage began work on their second album in the summer of 1997. The record, entitled Version 2.0, was released in May the following year, preceded by the single "Push It." Four years later, they issued a sophisticated third album, Beautiful Garbage, and the first single "Androgyny" became a moderate radio hit. Bleed Like Me followed in 2005.
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For The Record:
Members include Duke Erikson (born Douglas Erikson, 1950), guitar, keyboards; Shirley Manson (born August 26, 1966, in Edinburgh, Scotland; married), vocals, guitar; Steve Marker (born 1960, in Nebraska; attended University of Wisconsin at Madison), guitar, bass; Butch Vig (born Bryan Vig in 1957, in Viroqua, WI; attended University of Wisconsin at Madison), drums. Education: attended University of Wisconsin at Madison
Band formed in Madison, WI, 1994; released debut album, Garbage, Almo Sounds, 1995; released Version 2.0, Almo Sounds, 1998; released Beautiful Garbage, 2001; toured with No Doubt, 2002; released Bleed Like Me, 2005.
Addresses: Record company—Almo Sounds, 360 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048-1928. Website—Garbage Official Website.
Garbage's music also earned accolades despite their lack of pop pretensions. Rolling Stone's Sheffield declared that the band transforms "subcultural energy into pop flash with a fabulously twitchy singer." Cohen declared that Garbage's team of four "have masterminded a confident collection of emotionally sharp-shooting songs." Originally, the Scot and the three producers had no plans to take their project live, but found themselves surprised by the album's overwhelming critical and commercial success. When they made the video for "Vow," "we played live, and after the first take, the crew was clapping," Vig told Dunn.
Discography:
Garbage, Almo Sounds, 1995.
Version 2.0, Almo Sounds, 1998.
Beautiful Garbage, Interscope, 2001.
Bleed Like Me, Geffen, 2005.
Source: Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide; eNotes
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
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AFI
Discography:
Answer That & Stay Fashionable, Wingnut, 1995; reissued, NIT, 1997; reissued, Wingnut, 2000.
Very Proud of Ya, NIT, 1996.
Hardcore punk revivalists AFI (A Fire Inside) originally formed in 1991 when their members; vocalist Davey Havok, guitarist Markus Stopholese, bassist Vick, and drummer Adam Carson, were attending high school in Ukiah, CA. Vick was replaced by Geoff Kresge after several months, and the band played a few local gigs and released a split 7" titled Dork with fellow Ukiah natives Loose Change (a band that incidentally included future AFI member Jade Puget). An EP titled Behind the Times was released as well. The bandmembers then split up to attend different colleges, with Kresge temporarily moving to New Jersey to join Blanks 77, and all assumed East Bay's AFI was defunct. However, the band reconvened during a holiday break from school to play a one-off reunion show, and audience response was so positive that the bandmembers decided to quit school and concentrate on music full-time.
A couple of singles preceded a record deal with the Nitro label, which issued the band's second album, Very Proud of Ya, in 1996. Two LPs followed in 1997, a re-release of their 1995 debut, Answer That and Stay Fashionable, and Shut Your Mouth & Open Your Eyes,and personnel shifts ensued; Kresge was the first to leave, being replaced by Hunter Burgan, and Stopholese departed in favor of ex-Redemption 87 guitarist Jade Puget, who then shared songwriting duties with Havok. The new lineup recorded an EP titled A Fire Inside in 1998, and issued a noticeably more mature full-length in 1999, Black Sails in the Sunset. 1999 also saw the release of the All Hallow's EP before The Art of Drowning followed a year later. Though already owning a fiercely loyal core base of fans, the latter album saw the band's music being received by an even larger audience, due in part to the moderate success of the single "Days of the Phoenix".
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In the new millennium, AFI hooked up with Jerry Finn and Garbage's Butch Vig for some recording. The end result was the ambitious Sing the Sorrow, released in March 2003, their major-label debut for DreamWorks that showcased the band's significant growth from their early hardcore days. The record also marked AFI's crossover into the mainstream as their fan base considerably grew, national news publications praised them, and several singles found airplay on MTV. Working again with producer Jerry Finn (Blink-182, Green Day), the band's next record was their most labor-intensive to date, resulting from two years of detailed songwriting. Decemberunderground, album number seven, surfaced on June 6, 2006, on Interscope. The album was an instant success, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts. AFI kept the momentum going on the road nationwide that summer, followed by a string of overseas dates in October. While on tour, Havok and Puget dedicated their spare time to a side project that would become Black Audio, which they debuted in early 2007. AFI went on to release I Heard a Voice: Live from Long Beach Arena later that same year.
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For The Record:
Members include Adam Carson (born c. 1974), drums; Davey Havok (born David Marchand on November 20, 1975, in Rochester, NY), lead vocals; Hunter (born c. 1976; joined group, 1997), bass; Geoff Kresge (group member, 1991-97), bass; Jade Puget (born Jade Puget Smith c. 1974; joined group, 997), guitar; Markus Stopholese (group member, 1991-97), guitar.
Group formed in Ukiah, CA, 1991; released debut album Answer That & Stay Fashionable on Wingnut, 1995; four albums on NIT, 1996-2000; signed with Nitro/DreamWorks Records; major label debut, Sing the Sorrow, 2003.
Awards: California Music Awards (CAMA), Outstanding Group, Outstanding Rock Album, and Outstanding Debut on a Major Label, 2004.
Addresses: Contact—P.O. Box 4522, Berkeley, CA 94704. Booking—Leave Home Booking, 1400 S. Foothill Dr. Ste. 34, Salt Lake City, UT 84108, phone: (801) 582-4111, fax: (801) 582-4112. Website—AFI Official Website: http://www.afireinside.net.
Souce: G. Cooksey
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
