***

Baumann, 32, was born in Northern California and moved to Missoula in 1993. He started playing in bands when he was 15 or so, even getting gigs at Jay’s Upstairs, the now-defunct rock bar.

“My dad would chaperone. We had to have a chaperone. So he would sit at the bar and wait while we played. He was quite supportive,” Baumann said.

After a four-year stint in Portland, Ore., he moved back to Missoula in 2007. He played bass with the rock group Victory Smokes, and he and bandmate Michael Gill formed the weekly DJ night Dead Hipster at the Badlander bar.

He was more interested in behind-the-scenes aspects of making music, though.

“I always liked recording – it was my favorite part of playing music,” he said.

“I’m always just sort of more interested in the production side of things – making an idea come out on a recording. How do you get the energy or the tone to come through?” he said.

***

He started building up gear and formed a solo project called Haunted Maze to teach himself the process over the course of two EPs.