I didnt realize that Ive been a fan of Chris Vrenna for almost half my life. Like many of us I discovered Nine Inch Nails since they released their first album, Pretty Hate Machine, back in 1989. While many critics touted bandleader Trent Reznor as the man responsible for everything, but true fans know that Nails wouldnt be the same without Robin Finck, James Woolley and of course Reznor's long-time friend and drummer Chris Vrenna.
Vrenna left Nails back in 1998 and since then has produced and remixed albums for U2, Weezer, P.O.D. and Jack Off Jill. But none of those projects have been as personal for him as his own concept albums he releases under the name tweaker. The latest one, 2 a.m. Wakeup Call, features guest vocals from the Cure's Robert Smith, David Sylvian, and Will Oldham.
Check out the website for tweaker.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I read that your wifes insomnia inspired this album.
Chris Vrenna: Yeah [laughs]. She and I were talking about that because we just woke up.
DRE: How is she doing?
CV: Shes healed. People go in waves I think. You have ebbs and flows. There are times where you dont sleep at all and other times where if you dont get ten hours a night youre exhausted.
DRE: How did it affect you?
CV: A couple of things all converged on me at the same time. She was waking up literally at 2 am every night. First it was weird then it was funny then strange and then freaky. At the same time after the first tweaker record came out in 2001 my day job, if you want to call it that, of producing other bands and doing remixes, I switched labels and wanted to do another tweaker record. But I had too much other work to do so the only real time I had left to work on my own record was at night. My wife was up and it was such a peaceful time.
DRE: But you seem like a guy that would normally work late at night.
CV: Ten years ago with Nails, sure. We never rolled up anywhere until 5 pm then were out at dawn. But now Im just old and I sleep like normal people sleep. For the last few years I was up at 7 am and at my computer by 8 am. I got my most creative energy between 8 and noon. After awhile I really embraced working at night because it was fun to go back to the old days of working on your own music at 4 in the morning. It was really cool.
DRE: Did the music feel any different?
CV: Maybe a little but I dont necessarily know. Tweaker has always been a sad band anyway. Thats just what I do. The direction, approach and sound of the record had very specific purposeful decisions. I think it would have been a sad nighttime record anyway. Even if it was 90 degrees and sunny tweaker would still be sad.
DRE: Where does all the sadness come from?
CV: I dont know man. My favorite music has always been that kind of music. Some people make angry music and take their anger out in it but I dont have anger anymore. Maybe as you get older you grow out of it or it turns into melancholy.
DRE: The music isnt about the sad state of the world though.
CV: No not at all even though I leave CNN on all day. Who needs reality television when youre watching what the hell is going on in the world? I think the music is more emotional.
DRE: Do you have kids?
CV: No but we have one very old, very loving and very fat cat named Priscilla. Shes my wifes daughter [laughs]. Thats our child.
DRE: They say once you have kids you become less sad.
CV: Its hard to judge. Ive had a very special life. Not many kids have dads that would take them to rock concerts when they were in middle school. Its all a dream come true doing what Ive done. First working with Nails then later producing U2. Maybe since I dont have any reason to feel that way it makes the music is the opposite.
DRE: Is there a story to this album?
CV: Definitely. Since tweaker is a project album
DRE: Is project album a nicer word for concept album?
CV: tweaker is more of a project. I consider project albums not just the norm of the rock band. There are multiple lead singers and different guest musicians. Its not just five guys with the same singer. My problem with albums like that is the fact that what holds a band together is the lead singer. That singer can sing about anything he wants but that personality is consistent. The way I like to do tweaker records is make concept albums. On this one the concept is dreams, insomnia, nightmares and what keeps you at night. Those one or two recurring dreams weve had since childhood.
DRE: What are yours?
CV: God [laughs] mine are so stupid I dont want to go into detail. I had a couple of childhood incidents that have led to real fears so I always relive those things.
DRE: Are you a neurotic type guy?
CV: My wife calls me Monk every once in a while. I dont have OCD that bad but I do have my moments where people look at me and go What are you doing? because everything must be perpendicular. Like last summer I left my house to go to the mall which is five minutes down the street. As I was driving away I think Oh my god I left the front door wide open like I would ever do that. I turn around, drove all the way home, got out of my car and of course the door was locked and the alarm system was on. Then I got back in my car, drove halfway to the mall then stopped again. I couldnt remember if I put the alarm system on again! So I have my moments.
DRE: Do you have any sleep problems yourself?
CV: No man. I love sleep; its the best thing in the world. A big good dinner then a nice sleep especially when its cold or raining. Im originally from Pennsylvania and my wife is from Connecticut but we dont get that as much in LA
DRE: How about you personally? Are you a sad guy?
CV: I think my friends would call me a pessimist but I actually consider myself an optimist. At least when it comes to people and my relationships with my friends. Im the biggest cheerleader with what my friends are doing with their lives. Im actually a very upbeat person. Its actually kind of weird.
DRE: Have you ever had record label problems?
CV: Not really. I am on my third label though. The first tweaker record came on 9/18 which meant the record never even made it to the shelf on time because the airports were closed. So that first record was DOA.
DRE: What about legal problems?
CV: No. tweaker is such a special weird thing that the lucky thing about iMUSIC is that the head of it, Marc Geiger, loved the first album and totally gets it. Hes been David Sylvians agent forever since the Gone to Earth era. Knowing tweaker is a niche thing there is no pressure to get the single on KROC. Many of my friends have been in label situations where they sign the band and then they realize they cant sell the music because its not commercial enough. So they ask Why the hell did you sign us? Then they start trying to turn them into someone else.
DRE: Do you tell people flat out that this isnt a commercial project?
CV: They know that. But I think there is a lot of room out there for music that isnt commercial. If making commercial music means making an American Idol record then count me out. Id rather sell my gear and open a coffee shop. I think the industry is collapsing all around us. People are buying fewer records. Downloading does have something to do with it and when CDs cost more than a DVD movie, its too much. The soundtrack for Lord of the Rings cost more than buying the movies! Also the industry, without realizing it, has turned itself into a singles driven industry. Im from vinyl, thats how old I am, and every 20 minutes you had to get off your ass and flip it over. Now everyone expects that since people are paying $18 they put 70 minutes of music on the disc. But there are still only four good songs anyway so you realize you are overpaying for a bunch of shit you dont even like so they buy it for a buck off Apples website or just steal it.
Now people like AOL is calling the shots, they cant even keep subscribers so theyre going to run a record label? Sony is laying off 20,000 workers in Japan and even Gateway is making televisions. Everyone is cutting into everyone elses business. Its a sad time. I care about music more than anything in world besides my family so its weird to see the art form relegated to a file that people send around like a bad piece of email. They dont care about the lyrics, the credits or the artwork on the cover. There are no more gatefold records with working zippers.
But on the upside thats leading to rise of new indie label like it was in the 80s with Wax Trax, 4AD and Sub Pop. Back in those days if you liked a certain type of music there was a record label that catered to that sound. I would buy anything that had a Wax Trax label on it even if I had never heard of the band.
DRE: Plus with Wax Trax the more expensive the set was the better.
CV: I see a lot of records being made at peoples homes like I did with tweaker. I think people who like niche music are out there and if they could find you thats cool.
DRE: I just spoke to Earl Slick not too long ago and he just did a new solo album as well.
CV: Yeah that Robert Smith track on it is awesome.
DRE: Right and Robert did a track for you as well. Why is he doing stuff like that now?
CV: The Cure has been off for a while but they are doing a new record right now with Ross Robinson. For my personal situation I had talked to Robert about doing a track on the first tweaker record years ago. The timing didnt work and he had to pass but he told me to keep him in the loop. When it came time to do this record I sent him an email and he said he had a break in-between projects. So he said yes which was awesome.
DRE: Obviously hes brilliant but what made him perfect for the one track he did for you?
CV: Well the way I like to do it is send the guest vocalists as many musical beds as possible because maybe one of them will resonate. I sent Robert five finished songs and a jpeg of the album cover so that all the singers are singing about the same subject matter to tie everything together. The first album was one linear story where each singer was playing a character named Elliott. Each song was like a scene in a movie. This album is a little more open but I still ask them to sing about a certain thing how it relates to them. As a fan its exciting because Im fans of them. Sure, me and Clint [Walsh] do all the music but there is nothing better when you get that FedEx from Robert Smith and you hear it for the first time.
tweaker will always have a story to every album. I dont like records that are just random bunches of junk. If you take the time to listen to the whole album there is something greater to be had. Another cool thing about tweaker is that the singers get to do something different. Roberts song is a bit of a raunchy burlesque kind of a song. There are other songs on the record that might sound more like classic Cure but in his mind he thinks Why the hell would I want to do that? I do that in my day job. Like Will Oldham sings on the heaviest song on the record.
DRE: Are you tweaker?
CV: It started off that way but now its me and Clint. I met him when I was producing his band, Jack Off Jill. We hit it off and we became best friends. He was playing guitar on all my remixes I was doing for other people. We just have such a great rapport so when it came time to work on tweaker, my wife was out of town, so Clint and I grabbed a six-pack and wrote the first two songs.
DRE: What equipment do you use?
CV: Everything goes to ProTools. The back two bedrooms of our house is my studio and control room. Pretty much all of the singers have their own studio. I would send them a ProTools session of music and they would send it back with ProTools session of their vocals which I could insert later. I use ProTools for everything, midi sequencing and all the audio.
DRE: How long have you been using ProTools for?
CV: Since it went to Version 5.0. I was a StudioVision guy forever then the company went under in 1999.
DRE: What made you quit Nine Inch Nails?
CV: It was just time. I met Trent when I was a senior in high school and then we were playing in a band even before Nails. It was just one of those things.
DRE: I read that you were doing tweaker even back in 1998.
CV: Yeah I left the band and went to LA. I didnt know what I wanted to do but I know I wanted to do something different. I didnt really enjoy New Orleans, where Trent built a huge studio. It was a great studio, we did Coil there, The Pricks and a Manson record.
DRE: A Coil record!
CV: Yeah it never came out but it was so cool.
People are always trying to get me to talk shit but there was nothing bad about it. After I moved to LA it was some random Sunday morning when I was nailing the last picture into the wall, it hit me that I was going to call the record labels and tell them I was available. Then the next second the phone rang and it was the tour manager for the Smashing Pumpkins asking me to travel with Billy Corgan and be a midi programmer. I said yes and I only had that phone number for a week! The guy told me Youll be on a plane tomorrow morning because we need you in Portland. I said ok and he called me back an hour later. I ended up not needing that list of record labels. I was with the Pumpkins for six months. Then during that time I checked my machine one day and Axl Rose called and thats when that whole Guns N' Roses thing happened.
DRE: What did you do with them?
CV: When Axl was rebuilding the band every week I was the first guy that was going to be the new drummer after Matt Sorum left. So I was going to be the programmer, drummer and Moby was going to produce. It was like the first incarnation of new people. Duff was even still there and Buckethead wasnt.
DRE: Got any shit to talk about that?
CV: [laughs] Theres nothing to talk about. Everyone was really nice but I just didnt really want to do that. I just got out of ten year group and if I was going to do it I would have had to sign a long term commitment. I said If youve already spent right years trying to make a record and youre only still doing this. Then it could be another eight years. It was not long after that when I started jotting down stuff about tweaker.
DRE: I read that youve only done one live show as tweaker.
CV: Yeah back in 1998. I had five demos, I played with Scanner and a band called Main. Main was one of my favorite drone noise bands at the time. We played this weird art music festival in Brooklyn.
DRE: Will you tour with this album?
CV: We had a band meeting yesterday. We converted one of my garages into a rehearsal space and we are going to tour.
DRE: Who is in the band?
CV: Me, Clint and on bass its a guy named Paul Ill. Weve added a fourth member, Kevin Kipnis, who is going to play second guitar and clean up stuff like keys, noises and second bass. Were approaching tweaker to try to make it as live as possible. We want to make it improvisational to let the songs evolve.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Vrenna left Nails back in 1998 and since then has produced and remixed albums for U2, Weezer, P.O.D. and Jack Off Jill. But none of those projects have been as personal for him as his own concept albums he releases under the name tweaker. The latest one, 2 a.m. Wakeup Call, features guest vocals from the Cure's Robert Smith, David Sylvian, and Will Oldham.
Check out the website for tweaker.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I read that your wifes insomnia inspired this album.
Chris Vrenna: Yeah [laughs]. She and I were talking about that because we just woke up.
DRE: How is she doing?
CV: Shes healed. People go in waves I think. You have ebbs and flows. There are times where you dont sleep at all and other times where if you dont get ten hours a night youre exhausted.
DRE: How did it affect you?
CV: A couple of things all converged on me at the same time. She was waking up literally at 2 am every night. First it was weird then it was funny then strange and then freaky. At the same time after the first tweaker record came out in 2001 my day job, if you want to call it that, of producing other bands and doing remixes, I switched labels and wanted to do another tweaker record. But I had too much other work to do so the only real time I had left to work on my own record was at night. My wife was up and it was such a peaceful time.
DRE: But you seem like a guy that would normally work late at night.
CV: Ten years ago with Nails, sure. We never rolled up anywhere until 5 pm then were out at dawn. But now Im just old and I sleep like normal people sleep. For the last few years I was up at 7 am and at my computer by 8 am. I got my most creative energy between 8 and noon. After awhile I really embraced working at night because it was fun to go back to the old days of working on your own music at 4 in the morning. It was really cool.
DRE: Did the music feel any different?
CV: Maybe a little but I dont necessarily know. Tweaker has always been a sad band anyway. Thats just what I do. The direction, approach and sound of the record had very specific purposeful decisions. I think it would have been a sad nighttime record anyway. Even if it was 90 degrees and sunny tweaker would still be sad.
DRE: Where does all the sadness come from?
CV: I dont know man. My favorite music has always been that kind of music. Some people make angry music and take their anger out in it but I dont have anger anymore. Maybe as you get older you grow out of it or it turns into melancholy.
DRE: The music isnt about the sad state of the world though.
CV: No not at all even though I leave CNN on all day. Who needs reality television when youre watching what the hell is going on in the world? I think the music is more emotional.
DRE: Do you have kids?
CV: No but we have one very old, very loving and very fat cat named Priscilla. Shes my wifes daughter [laughs]. Thats our child.
DRE: They say once you have kids you become less sad.
CV: Its hard to judge. Ive had a very special life. Not many kids have dads that would take them to rock concerts when they were in middle school. Its all a dream come true doing what Ive done. First working with Nails then later producing U2. Maybe since I dont have any reason to feel that way it makes the music is the opposite.
DRE: Is there a story to this album?
CV: Definitely. Since tweaker is a project album
DRE: Is project album a nicer word for concept album?
CV: tweaker is more of a project. I consider project albums not just the norm of the rock band. There are multiple lead singers and different guest musicians. Its not just five guys with the same singer. My problem with albums like that is the fact that what holds a band together is the lead singer. That singer can sing about anything he wants but that personality is consistent. The way I like to do tweaker records is make concept albums. On this one the concept is dreams, insomnia, nightmares and what keeps you at night. Those one or two recurring dreams weve had since childhood.
DRE: What are yours?
CV: God [laughs] mine are so stupid I dont want to go into detail. I had a couple of childhood incidents that have led to real fears so I always relive those things.
DRE: Are you a neurotic type guy?
CV: My wife calls me Monk every once in a while. I dont have OCD that bad but I do have my moments where people look at me and go What are you doing? because everything must be perpendicular. Like last summer I left my house to go to the mall which is five minutes down the street. As I was driving away I think Oh my god I left the front door wide open like I would ever do that. I turn around, drove all the way home, got out of my car and of course the door was locked and the alarm system was on. Then I got back in my car, drove halfway to the mall then stopped again. I couldnt remember if I put the alarm system on again! So I have my moments.
DRE: Do you have any sleep problems yourself?
CV: No man. I love sleep; its the best thing in the world. A big good dinner then a nice sleep especially when its cold or raining. Im originally from Pennsylvania and my wife is from Connecticut but we dont get that as much in LA
DRE: How about you personally? Are you a sad guy?
CV: I think my friends would call me a pessimist but I actually consider myself an optimist. At least when it comes to people and my relationships with my friends. Im the biggest cheerleader with what my friends are doing with their lives. Im actually a very upbeat person. Its actually kind of weird.
DRE: Have you ever had record label problems?
CV: Not really. I am on my third label though. The first tweaker record came on 9/18 which meant the record never even made it to the shelf on time because the airports were closed. So that first record was DOA.
DRE: What about legal problems?
CV: No. tweaker is such a special weird thing that the lucky thing about iMUSIC is that the head of it, Marc Geiger, loved the first album and totally gets it. Hes been David Sylvians agent forever since the Gone to Earth era. Knowing tweaker is a niche thing there is no pressure to get the single on KROC. Many of my friends have been in label situations where they sign the band and then they realize they cant sell the music because its not commercial enough. So they ask Why the hell did you sign us? Then they start trying to turn them into someone else.
DRE: Do you tell people flat out that this isnt a commercial project?
CV: They know that. But I think there is a lot of room out there for music that isnt commercial. If making commercial music means making an American Idol record then count me out. Id rather sell my gear and open a coffee shop. I think the industry is collapsing all around us. People are buying fewer records. Downloading does have something to do with it and when CDs cost more than a DVD movie, its too much. The soundtrack for Lord of the Rings cost more than buying the movies! Also the industry, without realizing it, has turned itself into a singles driven industry. Im from vinyl, thats how old I am, and every 20 minutes you had to get off your ass and flip it over. Now everyone expects that since people are paying $18 they put 70 minutes of music on the disc. But there are still only four good songs anyway so you realize you are overpaying for a bunch of shit you dont even like so they buy it for a buck off Apples website or just steal it.
Now people like AOL is calling the shots, they cant even keep subscribers so theyre going to run a record label? Sony is laying off 20,000 workers in Japan and even Gateway is making televisions. Everyone is cutting into everyone elses business. Its a sad time. I care about music more than anything in world besides my family so its weird to see the art form relegated to a file that people send around like a bad piece of email. They dont care about the lyrics, the credits or the artwork on the cover. There are no more gatefold records with working zippers.
But on the upside thats leading to rise of new indie label like it was in the 80s with Wax Trax, 4AD and Sub Pop. Back in those days if you liked a certain type of music there was a record label that catered to that sound. I would buy anything that had a Wax Trax label on it even if I had never heard of the band.
DRE: Plus with Wax Trax the more expensive the set was the better.
CV: I see a lot of records being made at peoples homes like I did with tweaker. I think people who like niche music are out there and if they could find you thats cool.
DRE: I just spoke to Earl Slick not too long ago and he just did a new solo album as well.
CV: Yeah that Robert Smith track on it is awesome.
DRE: Right and Robert did a track for you as well. Why is he doing stuff like that now?
CV: The Cure has been off for a while but they are doing a new record right now with Ross Robinson. For my personal situation I had talked to Robert about doing a track on the first tweaker record years ago. The timing didnt work and he had to pass but he told me to keep him in the loop. When it came time to do this record I sent him an email and he said he had a break in-between projects. So he said yes which was awesome.
DRE: Obviously hes brilliant but what made him perfect for the one track he did for you?
CV: Well the way I like to do it is send the guest vocalists as many musical beds as possible because maybe one of them will resonate. I sent Robert five finished songs and a jpeg of the album cover so that all the singers are singing about the same subject matter to tie everything together. The first album was one linear story where each singer was playing a character named Elliott. Each song was like a scene in a movie. This album is a little more open but I still ask them to sing about a certain thing how it relates to them. As a fan its exciting because Im fans of them. Sure, me and Clint [Walsh] do all the music but there is nothing better when you get that FedEx from Robert Smith and you hear it for the first time.
tweaker will always have a story to every album. I dont like records that are just random bunches of junk. If you take the time to listen to the whole album there is something greater to be had. Another cool thing about tweaker is that the singers get to do something different. Roberts song is a bit of a raunchy burlesque kind of a song. There are other songs on the record that might sound more like classic Cure but in his mind he thinks Why the hell would I want to do that? I do that in my day job. Like Will Oldham sings on the heaviest song on the record.
DRE: Are you tweaker?
CV: It started off that way but now its me and Clint. I met him when I was producing his band, Jack Off Jill. We hit it off and we became best friends. He was playing guitar on all my remixes I was doing for other people. We just have such a great rapport so when it came time to work on tweaker, my wife was out of town, so Clint and I grabbed a six-pack and wrote the first two songs.
DRE: What equipment do you use?
CV: Everything goes to ProTools. The back two bedrooms of our house is my studio and control room. Pretty much all of the singers have their own studio. I would send them a ProTools session of music and they would send it back with ProTools session of their vocals which I could insert later. I use ProTools for everything, midi sequencing and all the audio.
DRE: How long have you been using ProTools for?
CV: Since it went to Version 5.0. I was a StudioVision guy forever then the company went under in 1999.
DRE: What made you quit Nine Inch Nails?
CV: It was just time. I met Trent when I was a senior in high school and then we were playing in a band even before Nails. It was just one of those things.
DRE: I read that you were doing tweaker even back in 1998.
CV: Yeah I left the band and went to LA. I didnt know what I wanted to do but I know I wanted to do something different. I didnt really enjoy New Orleans, where Trent built a huge studio. It was a great studio, we did Coil there, The Pricks and a Manson record.
DRE: A Coil record!
CV: Yeah it never came out but it was so cool.
People are always trying to get me to talk shit but there was nothing bad about it. After I moved to LA it was some random Sunday morning when I was nailing the last picture into the wall, it hit me that I was going to call the record labels and tell them I was available. Then the next second the phone rang and it was the tour manager for the Smashing Pumpkins asking me to travel with Billy Corgan and be a midi programmer. I said yes and I only had that phone number for a week! The guy told me Youll be on a plane tomorrow morning because we need you in Portland. I said ok and he called me back an hour later. I ended up not needing that list of record labels. I was with the Pumpkins for six months. Then during that time I checked my machine one day and Axl Rose called and thats when that whole Guns N' Roses thing happened.
DRE: What did you do with them?
CV: When Axl was rebuilding the band every week I was the first guy that was going to be the new drummer after Matt Sorum left. So I was going to be the programmer, drummer and Moby was going to produce. It was like the first incarnation of new people. Duff was even still there and Buckethead wasnt.
DRE: Got any shit to talk about that?
CV: [laughs] Theres nothing to talk about. Everyone was really nice but I just didnt really want to do that. I just got out of ten year group and if I was going to do it I would have had to sign a long term commitment. I said If youve already spent right years trying to make a record and youre only still doing this. Then it could be another eight years. It was not long after that when I started jotting down stuff about tweaker.
DRE: I read that youve only done one live show as tweaker.
CV: Yeah back in 1998. I had five demos, I played with Scanner and a band called Main. Main was one of my favorite drone noise bands at the time. We played this weird art music festival in Brooklyn.
DRE: Will you tour with this album?
CV: We had a band meeting yesterday. We converted one of my garages into a rehearsal space and we are going to tour.
DRE: Who is in the band?
CV: Me, Clint and on bass its a guy named Paul Ill. Weve added a fourth member, Kevin Kipnis, who is going to play second guitar and clean up stuff like keys, noises and second bass. Were approaching tweaker to try to make it as live as possible. We want to make it improvisational to let the songs evolve.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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