Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

Chris Vrenna

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Birth name
  
Chris A. Vrenna

Education
  
McDowell High School

Role
  
Musician

Name
  
Chris Vrenna

Years active
  
1988–present


Chris Vrenna Chris Vrenna of Tweaker interview auxiliary magazine

Born
  
February 23, 1967 (age 57) Erie, Pennsylvania (
1967-02-23
)

Genres
  
Industrial rock, industrial metal, alternative rock, electronica,

Instruments
  
Drums, keyboards, vocals, piano, synthesizer, guitar, bass, programming

Labels
  
Six Degrees, Waxploitation

Associated acts
  
Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Tweaker

Movies
  
Metal Machine Music: Nine Inch Nails and the Industrial Uprising

Albums
  
American McGee's Alice Orig, The Downward Spiral, Pretty Hate Machine, Eat Me - Drink Me, The High End of Low

Profiles

Chris vrenna drummer of marilyn manson quits tweaker 2012 new album


Chris A. Vrenna (born February 23, 1967) is an American musician, Grammy-winning producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial/rock band Nine Inch Nails from 1989 until 1997, and was the keyboardist and drummer of the American rock band Marilyn Manson from 2004 until late 2011.

Contents

Chris Vrenna ChrisVrennajpg

Chris vrenna visits new hope middle school


Career

Chris Vrenna Chris Vrennajpg a photo on Flickriver

Soon after graduating from McDowell High School in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1985, Vrenna moved to Chicago, quickly becoming a part of the Chicago industrial music scene and was briefly a member of Die Warzau and Stabbing Westward.

Chris Vrenna 136723815jpg

He later reconnected with Trent Reznor, whom he met during high school in Pennsylvania, when they both were in local Cleveland, Ohio band the Exotic Birds. He also toured as a live drummer for KMFDM during the Money era tours, in 1992. He records under the name Tweaker, and has released four albums under that name: The Attraction to All Things Uncertain (2001), 2 a.m. Wakeup Call (2004), Call The Time Eternity (2012), and And Then There's Nothing (2013). Tweaker toured select North American dates with Skinny Puppy in 2004.

Chris Vrenna Chris Vrenna about Alice39s Score YouTube

As producer, remixer, or engineer Vrenna has worked with The Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Scar the Martyr, David Sylvian, Mudvayne, Lords of Acid, God Lives Underwater, Megadeth, Rammstein, Metallica, The Rasmus, Weezer, P.O.D., David Bowie, Slipknot, Cold, underwater, Scarling., Hole, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Green Day, Bush, Live, Adema, the Wallflowers, Dir en grey, and Psyclon Nine. He has also worked with the 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 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Doom 3 (as producer with Clint Walsh), Quake 4, American McGee's Alice, its sequel Alice: Madness Returns, 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 "Happiness in Slavery" in 1995 for the live performance of the song on Woodstock '94.

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.

Vrenna was chosen to take over the drumming responsibilities for Marilyn Manson after Ginger Fish was injured in 2004 during the Lest We Forget tour. He then replaced Madonna Wayne Gacy as the permanent keyboardist for Marilyn Manson. Vrenna co-produced the albums The High End of Low (2009) and Born Villain (2012). In April 2011, following the departure of Marilyn Manson's drummer Ginger Fish, Chris Vrenna was announced to be his official replacement. However, in November 2011, it was announced that Vrenna had parted ways with the band in order to focus on scoring movies and video games.

In 2015, Vrenna announced on his Facebook page that he was composing the music on a series of downloadable content packs called Exo Zombies for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

In 2017, it was announced by Vrenna's Facebook page that he would be composing music for the upcoming video game, Quake Champions, which marks his second collaboration with id Software since Doom 3.

With Tweaker

  • The Attraction to All Things Uncertain (2001)
  • 2 a.m. Wakeup Call (2004)
  • Call the Time Eternity (2012)
  • Video games

    Theme music producer

    The following credits notes that Vrenna only produced the theme music to the following video games listed.

    References

    Chris Vrenna Wikipedia