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Chris Vrenna

Chris Vrenna (born in Erie, Pennsylvania, on February 23, 1967) is a American musician Grammy-winning producer, drummer, engineer, remixer, songwriter and programmer, and is a former drummer for Nine Inch Nails (1990-96).

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, later reconnecting with Trent Reznor, who he met in the early 80's. 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 U2, Weezer, P.O.D., David Bowie, the Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Green Day, the Wallflowers. He also had the chance to produce indie albums for underground girl groups Rasputina and Scarling.

Vrenna has also done soundtrack work for video games like Doom 3 as producer with Clint Walsh and American McGee's Alice, Enter The Matrix, Sonic The Hedgehog, Area 51, and Pure Ride. In 2004 he started soundtrack work on Midway, a naval real-time strategy game, and Tabula Rasa, a massively multiplayer online game.

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 brief appearance in "The Perfect Drug" video.

Vrenna was Billy Corgan's programmer for four months in 1997. Vrenna's collaborative efforts with The Smashing Pumpkins earned him a Grammy for best Hard Rock Performance for the track "The End Is the Beginning Is the End". While he was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins, Vrenna got a call from Axl Rose, who invited Vrenna to come down and hang out with the Guns and Roses for a while. “I did for a couple weeks, but then decided I didn’t want to join the band,” says Vrenna.

Vrenna was chosen to take over the drumming responsibilities for Marilyn Manson touring for Marilyn Manson's Greatest Hits album "Lest we Forget" after Ginger Fish (Manson's current drummer) was injured in 2004.

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Last updated: 05-22-2005 15:19:55