Hey there! My name is Jeff Bujak. I opened Prodigy in 2018, but who was I before Prodigy? Let's go back, shall we?
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I grew up a proud late-80's mallrat in the salt capital of Syracuse, NY. Go Orange! Back in those days, I obsessively collected Garbage Pail Kids cards and those pink M.U.S.C.L.E. figurines. I broke out my die-cast Voltron daily with it's projectile lion heads; far superior to the plastic ones. I built structures and motorized gadgets with my Construx and explored rolling ball physics with all my Marble Works. I played a lot with my friends inventing new sports or exploring existing games with altered rules. But honestly even with all that going on, creating music is what took up most of my time.
I started studying classical piano at age 7 and dove deep into music theory where I very soon started writing my own music. At 11, I saw Billy Joel live and it changed my life. From then on, I wanted to be a live touring musician. At 13, I learned guitar and by the end of high school, I had written and recorded hundreds of technical instrumental piano-based songs in my home make shift studio. I programmed drums with a step sequencer in a Yamaha SY85 to place a backing track for, what would be, a song. I then recorded piano, low-end and guitars to a Tascam 4-track mastering to a VHS cassette; eventually graduating to Minidisc and then DAT (this was the 90s, keep in mind). I played in many bands through high school; jam rock, classic rock, hard core, metal and I even tried jazz funk, but writing and working with others wasn't as satisfying. I preferred to work alone.
In 2007, I released my first solo electronica album using some of my solo writing techniques I used when I was younger, but now with a real home studio. I toured heavily to promote it while also touring in my other bands booking up practically all 7 nights a week. Little by little, I pushed my solo career forward and in 2009, I went full time solo as Jeff Bujak, then Bujak Live when paired with LED hula hooptress Jen Dulong on stage. We performed up and down the east coast, frequently playing nightclubs, but also many late night festivals and too many house parties.
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In 2011, I was invited to join a super group band called Normal Instruments; 4 members from other northeast bands collaborating to create live improv dance/rock music. We would tour once a year while all of our other acts took a short break.
I finished college with a Business Technology degree in 2001 and soon after moved to Arizona to try something different. In 2002, I met members of an already established regionally successful jam-rock band from Tempe, AZ called Somebody's Closet. I quickly joined as the keyboardist and eventually took over on left-hand keybass when they needed a new bassist. We hit the road for a few national tours and found ourselves moving from Arizona to Massachusetts in 2005 (via Florida and New York... long story) for better exposure and simply more opportunity with a denser population.
I gained quite a good underground following in the live electronica/jam scene and toured with bands like Lotus, EOTO, Bassnectar, Pretty Lights and Conspirator. I got signed to Harmonized Records, picked up professional management and a booking agent to create a triforce to build a team for a career in music.
I always had an interest in stage lighting and DMX coding (a standard data transfer language for programming professional lighting shows), so I learned how to program lights to my music, at one point controlling 22 light fixtures all with my feet while I played.
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But after performing over 2000 live shows, in 2015 I decided to stop touring and calm down a little; sleep in my own bed for a bit. I got a job in IT while I planned my next move. I wanted to run a business that was always setup in one location. I've always loved 2 things; music and games. It was only inevitable that I'd turn my other passion into my next project.
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It took about a year to plan and about 3 months to build, but on March 22, 2018, I opened Prodigy Minigolf & Gameroom. I don't play much music anymore, but you never know what the future holds. Check out some of my stuff below. All of my albums are available on Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp... and the rest.
From My First Solo Release (2006)​
From One of My Live Albums (2014)
From My Latest Release (2020)
My 12th release
These are the Bujak Live year summary videos from 2012 and 2013
These are some Normal Instruments videos from 2013 and 2016
This is a Normal Instruments audio track from 2014.