The Know-It-All Boyfriends (including Butch Vig) will debut new tunes.
Over the past three decades, longtime engineer/music producer Jack LeTourneau has worked with most of the major players on Wisconsin’s music scene. On May 31, a group of them with Madison roots is reuniting at the High Noon Saloon to raise money to support LeTourneau’s battle with throat cancer.
Not just any group, mind you. We’re talking pat mAcdonald and Wally Ingram of Timbuk 3. We’re talking Butch Vig and Duke Erikson from Garbage. Toss in Freedy Johnston, a Spooner reunion and some new tunes from the Know-It-All Boyfriends and you’ve got a massive retro celebration. Or, as the organizers have dubbed it, you’ve got “We’ve Got Your Back, Jack!’
“He’s one of the local unsung heroes,” says longtime LeTourneau pal Vig, whose extensive musical resume also includes founding the legendary Smart Studios, the site of many a LeTourneau mixing session. “He works tirelessly to get things done, and he knows how to do things quickly.”
LeTourneau was diagnosed with cancer last fall, and has been undergoing extensive chemotherapy treatment. He’s been unable to work since December.
Vig’s got plenty of great LeTourneau stories, the best of which may have been what happened when he and Vig went down to Breezeway Studios in Waukesha to mix a live compilation album for Z-104 in the late ‘80s. The two mixed until nearly sunrise, then piled into the truck for the trip back. About halfway there, a car sped up to pull alongside them, its driver honking, waving and shouting. The back of the truck had fallen open and their gear was falling out.
“We did an illegal U-turn,” recalls Vig. “The gear had been falling out for the past 20 miles, and some of it had ended up bouncing into the ditch. It took us an hour to collect all the sound cases. It was a drag but it was also really funny. Jack just took it all in stride.”
The members of the Know-It-All Boyfriends — the Madison band that includes Vig, Erikson, Johnston and Jay Moran — are the event’s primary hosts. They’ve re-mixed and released a new pair of songs they recorded a few years ago, donating all the iTunes/Spotify/Amazon download proceeds to help pay LeTourneau’s mounting medical bills. The first one, “Ramp It Up,” finds Moran in full-throated ‘80s-era fury. (Vig’s even using it as his smartphone ringtone.) The second song, “You Destroyed Classic Rock,” is a hilarious diss inspired by a tirade one of Vig’s old classmates unleashed on him at a reunion. It also name-checks Kansas and Styx.
“It’s kind of like Grand Funk Railroad meets Bachman-Turner Overdrive,” says Vig, chuckling.
The memorabilia at the event, meanwhile, will be copious and sundry, including some Garbage vinyl, signed guitars and Ingram-autographed cowbells.
“Jack’s our friend — he’s been involved with us on so many projects — studio sessions, weddings, bar mitzvahs, you name it,” says Vig. “This is the first time we’re playing for him, and that means a lot."
