Chris Vrenna (born February 23, 1967) is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails from 1988 until 1996, and was the keyboardist and drummer of the American rock band Marilyn Manson from 2004 until late 2011.
Vrenna was born on February 23, 1967, in Erie, Pennsylvania.[1] He graduated from McDowell High School in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1985, having marched in the Erie Thunderbirds Drum and Bugle Corps. At age 19, while attending Kent State University, Vrenna was recruited by acquaintance Trent Reznor, whom he had met during high school in Pennsylvania,[2] to play drums for local Cleveland, Ohio, band the Exotic Birds.[3]
After being let go from Nine Inch Nails in late 1990, Vrenna then 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 also toured as a live drummer for KMFDM during the Money era tours, in 1992. He then rejoined Nine Inch Nails as the drummer from 1993-1996.
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 to work on what would become Chinese Democracy. "I did for a couple weeks, but then decided I didn't want to join the band", said Vrenna.[9] Vrenna stated in a later interview that he was in the band for several months before dropping out due to the required time commitment.[10]
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.[11]
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.[13][14]
Vrenna earned his master's degree in music technology in 2020. He's been a college instructor of music technology since 2013.[15]
^Ramirez, Carlos. [1] 'Tweaker's Chris Vrenna on Playing Drums for Marilyn Manson: 'I Just Couldn't Take the Lifestyle Anymore' Noisecreep.com September 18, 2012