Chris Vrenna

At 57 years old, Chris Vrenna has this physical status:

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.

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Career

Vrenna is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. He graduated from McDowell High School in Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1985, and marched in the Erie Thunderbirds Drum and Bugle Corps. Vrenna then migrated to Chicago, quickly becoming a fixture of Chicago's underground music scene, and was briefly a member of Die Warzau and Stabbing Westward.

Trent Reznor, who he encountered during high school in Pennsylvania, reunited with him later this year when the Exotic Birds of Cleveland, Ohio, formed. In 1992, he appeared on the Money era tours as a live drummer for KMFDM. He has released four albums under the Tweeker brand (2001), The Attraction of All Things Uncertain, (2004), and And Then There Is Nothing (2013). In 2004, Tweaker toured select North American dates with Skinny Puppy.

Vrenna, a software engineer, has worked with The Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Scare Puppy, Gary Numan, Scar the Martyr, Murdoch, Murman, Scare the Martyr, P.O.D., The Rasmus, Perpetu, Rob Zombie, Green Day, Bush, John Stewart, Dead, Adema, Psyclone, and others. He has also worked with Pigface and recorded music and albums for underground girl groups TCR, Jack Off Jill, and Rasputina.

Vrenna has worked on music for numerous video games, including Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Doom 3 (as producer with Clint Walsh), Quake 4's Alice, its sequel Alice: Madness Returns, The Matrix, Area 51, and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. He began working on Tabula Rasa, a massive multiplayer online game. He also contributed to the creation of the theme tune to the animated film Xiaolin Showdown.

On the Nine Inch Nails music compilation "Down in It" "Head Like a Hole," "Gave Up," "The Perfect Drug," "Wish," "The Greatest Drug," and "March of the Pigs," he can be seen performing.

In 1995, Vrenna received a Grammy Award for her role in "Happiness in Slavery" for the live performance of the song on Woodstock '94.

In 1997, Vrenna served as Billy Corgan's programmer for four months. Vrenna got a call from Axl Rose, who invited him to spend time with Guns N' Roses to focus on what would become Chinese Democracy, when he was on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins. "I did for a few weeks but then decided I didn't want to join the band," Vrenna said. In a later interview, Vrenna admitted that he had been with the band for many months before pulling out due to the required time commitment.

After Ginger Fish was injured in 2004 during the Lest We Forget tour, Vrenna was chosen to take over Marilyn Manson's drumming duties. Madonna Wayne Gacy was then recalled as Marilyn Manson's permanent keyboardist. The album The High End of Low (2009) and Born Villain (2012) was produced by Vrenna. Chris Vrenna was announced to be his official replacement in April 2011, following the departure of Marilyn Manson's drummer Ginger Fish. However, in November 2011, Vrenna had left the company to concentrate on scoring films and video games.

Vrenna created the soundtrack for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare in 2015.

On 2017, Vrenna's Facebook page revealed that he would be composing music for Quake Champions, the upcoming video game, marking his second collaboration with id Software after Doom 3.

In 2020, Vrenna completed his master's degree in music technology. Since 2013, he has been teaching music technology at a college level.

Vrenna was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, along with members of Nine Inch Nails.

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