Bill Baird is an Oakland-based American musician and creative technologist. He is a founding member of Sound Team, and he also leads Sunset. His work is associated with alternative rock, indie rock and indietronica, and the bio describes his own material as drawing on experimental approaches to folk, pop and ambient music.

Early work and recording style

Baird begins writing and playing songs in a lo-fi style, using numerous recording experiments and heavy backwards flange pedal effects. He makes early tapes and CD-Rs that he gives to friends and sells at shows. His early performances also have a strong performance-art element, with sets designed to unsettle audiences. During this period he is banned from a number of clubs in the Austin area.

Influences and collaborations

He also jamming with his dad, who passes on an interest in old blues, folk and 1960s pop. The blues artists named in the bio include Robert Johnson, Hound Dog Taylor, Mance Lipscomb and Leadbelly. The folk names include Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Townes. The pop references include the Beatles and Motown. Some of these jams appear on Baird’s tapes, including a cover of Elvis Presley’s “Little Sister”.

Sound Team and later solo work

Baird meets Matt Oliver and the two start Sound Team together. In the group’s early period, he takes many of the vocal duties while the material explores old-folk, silly hip-hop, droning electronics and psychedelic pop. As the band’s sound becomes louder and heavier, he gives up most of the singing but remains a songwriter in the group. The band’s later sound draws heavily on 1960s and 1970s German music and deep, heavy drumming.

As his role in Sound Team changes, Baird returns to solo recording. He compiles a set of songs into the album Sunset, and he also puts together a separate ambient release called Silence!. After these releases, he tours widely in small venues and unusual spaces, including taquerias, open mike nights, parking lots, Taco Cabana, sheet metal factories and historic statue plazas.

Sunset and related projects

Back in Austin, Baird assembles a group called Sunset. The name combines the titles of his two releases, reflecting an intended mix of ambience, experimentation, “new music” and folk songwriting. The project also appears under the former styling {{{Sunset}}} in the bio. Their performances sometimes include street marches and audience participation, and they also play a show outside the Clear Channel World Headquarters.

Other work

Baird also makes a DVD titled Candlelit Television Eyes, described as the first in a “DIY DVD” format. He applies the same do-it-yourself approach found in self-released tapes, CD-Rs and zines to video media. In December 2008 he writes a song for the compilation An Indiecater Christmas, issued by Indiecater Records.