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Meet Jeremy Baugh and Michael Bruin

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Baugh and Michael Bruin.

Jeremy and Michael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Busking is a nice way to make a few dollars while not only practicing your instrument but also practicing performing. It can also be a great way to meet people. One summer night, I meet Mike on a corner in Boulder while making loops with my battery-powered amp and a delay peddle. When I heard he played the sax and was a music teacher, a gig I was trying to pick up myself, I grabbed his number and then we went on our way. The next morning, my roommate walks into the room and tells me a sax player/music teacher just responded to our craigslist add for a new roommate. I thought, “This sounds familiar, is his name Mike?” Sure enough, we soon were roommates for a brief period and began to collaborate on various music projects throughout the years to follow. Ranging from my first experiments with drum machines and loopers to our Outlaw Country group Mightnight Strange, there were few times we would turn down an opportunity to play music together. Last summer we started busking back on that same corner with a looper, beat boxing the drums while Mike laid down some keys and we took turns soloing. We booked a few gigs around town, backed Lily Fangz up at UMS and realized we ought to come up with a name for this project and start putting some tracks out. We put out one instrumental at the beginning of the year and have been working on building a catalog. We’re about to release our second single “Blew My World” featuring Slex Allen on Oct 24th.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Nothing Is ever a smooth road in the music industry, the struggles either make you quit or make you better. We both have so many commitments as working musicians and teachers, our biggest challenge is just making sure we play enough to keep the bills paid and still find time to collaborate on this new project. However, everything builds on itself and we both are growing as musicians and producers in a wide variety of ways. It will be fun to see how that expresses itself in our productions, collaborations, and live performance vibes in the years to come.

Please tell us more about your music. What do you do? What do you specialize in? What sets you apart from competition?
We create original beats and lyrics blending hip hop and house grooves with a live jazzy feel. On stage, we achieve a full band sound by live looping bass, keyboards, and sax harmonies. ButterWax brings a hip sound that can make you move your feet while opening your ears and your mind. In the studio, we strive to maintain the vibes achieved in our live performance setting while still taking advantage of the studio as its instrument to bring out the full potential of each track. We love collaborating and are always looking for vocalists, instrumentalists, or MCs who can bring something special to a track.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
We both have had many mentors and inspirations in getting to this point, from our old music teachers to the greats who have inspired them. Not to mention all the great new artists still pushing forward. Shout-outs to Clark Smith for mastering our first two tracks and Kevin McGrath for letting us play around in fancy studios. Also, a big thanks to Chris Kimmel AKA Slex Allen (or one half of the Denver Pop/Electronic/HipHop group OptycNerd) for laying vocals on our upcoming single “Blew My World.”

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