Chris Vrenna
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Chris Vrenna (b. February 23, 1967, Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, Grammy-winning producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna also formerly drummed for the industrial/rock band Nine Inch Nails (1989 – 1997).
In the mid- to late-'80s Chris moved to Chicago, quickly becoming a part of the Chicago industrial music scene and was briefly a member of Die Warzau and Stabbing Westward.
He later reconnected with Trent Reznor, whom he met in the early 1980s, when they both were in local Cleveland, Ohio band the Exotic Birds. Also toured as a live drummer for KMFDM during the Money era tours, in 92. He is currently recording under the name Tweaker, and has released two albums under that name, The Attraction To All Things Uncertain (2001) and 2am Wakeup Call (2004). Tweaker toured select North American dates with Skinny Puppy in 2004.
As producer, remixer, or engineer Vrenna has worked for Rammstein, The Rasmus, U2, Weezer, P.O.D., David Bowie, Cold, underwater, Scarling., The Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Green Day, the Wallflowers, and the Japanese rock band Dir en grey. He has also worked with the underground industrial group Pigface and produced songs and albums for underground girl groups TCR, Jack Off Jill, and Rasputina.
Vrenna has also worked on music for several video games, including Doom 3 (as producer with Clint Walsh), Quake 4, American McGee's Alice, Enter The Matrix, Sonic The Hedgehog, Area 51, and Need for Speed Most Wanted. In 2004 he started soundtrack work on Tabula Rasa, a massive multiplayer online game. He also helped compose the theme song to the animated series Xiaolin Showdown.
He can be seen performing in the music videos for the songs Gave Up, Wish, and March of the Pigs on the Nine Inch Nails video compilation Closure, and also makes a brief appearance in The Perfect Drug.
Vrenna won a Grammy award as a member of Nine Inch Nails for "Best Metal Performance" for Wish in 1993.
Vrenna was Billy Corgan's programmer for four months in 1997. While he was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins, Vrenna got a call from Axl Rose, who invited Vrenna to spend time with Guns N' Roses. "I did for a couple weeks, but then decided I didn't want to join the band", said Vrenna[citation needed].
Vrenna was chosen to take over the drumming responsibilities for Marilyn Manson after Ginger Fish was injured in 2004. He is currently the live drummer for Gnarls Barkley.
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Current live band: Aaron North · Jeordie White · Alessandro Cortini · Josh Freese
Past members: Jeff Ward · Richard Patrick · James Woolley · Chris Vrenna · Robin Finck · Danny Lohner · Charlie Clouser · Jerome Dillon · Alex Carapetis
Major studio albums: Pretty Hate Machine · Broken · The Downward Spiral · The Fragile · With Teeth · Year Zero · Year Zero Part 2
Remix albums: Fixed · Further Down the Spiral · Things Falling Apart
Live releases: Closure · And All That Could Have Been · Beside You in Time
Singles: "Down in It" · "Head Like a Hole" · "Sin" · "Happiness in Slavery" · "Wish" · "March of the Pigs" · "Closer" · "Burn" · "Hurt" · "The Perfect Drug" · "The Day the World Went Away" · "We're in This Together" · "Into the Void" · "Starfuckers, Inc." · "Deep" · "The Hand That Feeds" · "Only" · "Every Day Is Exactly the Same" · "Survivalism"
Halo numbers: 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 · 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | American heavy metal musicians | American rock drummers | Heavy metal drummers | Industrial musicians | Marilyn Manson | Nine Inch Nails | Pennsylvania musicians | People from Erie, Pennsylvania | Italian-American musicians | 1967 births | Living people