Tweaker is an American alternative rock collaboration project band founded by Chris Vrenna in the late 1990s. Tweaker's musical style incorporates

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

, progressive rock, modern jazz and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

genres, and is characterized by a generally melancholy and somber sound with matching artwork.

History

The album ''

The Attraction to All Things Uncertain ''The Attraction to All Things Uncertain'' is the first solo effort from Tweaker, a.k.a. Chris Vrenna, former member of Nine Inch Nails. Featuring vocals by David Sylvian, Will Oldham and Shudder to Think's Craig Wedren. The track ''Microsize B ...

'' was Vrenna's "solo" debut"CD REVIEWS: Tori Amos, Live, Macy Gray and many more"
''Chart Attack'', September 18, By: Debbie Bento and Paul Gangadeen and it was not until the follow-up album, ''

2 a.m. Wakeup Call ''2 A.M. Wakeup Call'' is the second album from the band Tweaker (Chris Vrenna), Tweaker. Opposed to ''The Attraction to All Things Uncertain'', this album captures emotional, human performances and instrumentation - notably live drums, acoustic g ...

'', that Clint Walsh was announced as a permanent fixture to the band. While Vrenna and Walsh supply most instruments and electronics, many other musicians contributed to Tweaker's performances and recordings, including

Robert Smith Robert Smith or Bob Smith, or similar, may refer to: Business * Robert MacKay Smith (1802–1888), Scottish businessman, meteorologist and philanthropist who founded Glasgow University's Mackay Smith Prizes * Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), ...

, David Sylvian,

Burton C. Bell Burton Christopher Bell (born February 19, 1969) is an American musician and vocalist. He is best known as the co-founder and former frontman of the metal band Fear Factory. Until 2021 he was the only member to perform on all of the band's album ...

, Craig Wedren, Will Oldham, Hamilton Leithauser, Buzz Osborne, Jonathan Bates and

Johnny Marr Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerous ...

. The subsequent albums followed a preset central theme. Tweaker wrote and performed the theme music to '' Doom 3'', of which the theme song was released via the band's website. The rest of the soundtrack is accessible from the game's files. Tweaker also composed the theme music for the animated television show '' Xiaolin Showdown''. Unlike the band's usual

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...

, modern jazz, Dark Ambient and industrial sound, the ''Doom 3'' theme was mainly heavy metal. In 2004, Tweaker opened for

Skinny Puppy Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver in 1982. The group is among the founders of the industrial rock and electro-industrial genres. Initially envisioned as an experimental side-project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton ...

on select dates with a full live band, consisting of Chris Vrenna (drums, percussion and keyboard), Clint Walsh (guitar and keyboard), William Faith (bass guitar) and Nick Young (vocals). They performed everything live (i.e., no pre-recorded tape), although they did have to alter some of their songs to fit the live format — the most extreme case being a completely revamped rock version of "Microsize Boy". The final performance on the tour was at QuakeCon 2005 in Dallas, TX.

Official members

* Chris Vrenna *Clint Walsh

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (September 18, 2001) *''

'' (April 20, 2004) *'' Call the Time Eternity'' (October 23, 2012)

Remix albums

*''

And Then There's Nothing Tweaker is an American alternative rock collaboration project band founded by Chris Vrenna in the late 1990s. Tweaker's musical style incorporates synthpop, progressive rock, modern jazz and electronica genres, and is characterized by a general ...

'' (November 26, 2013)

EPs

*''Linoleum'' (August 21, 2001)

Singles

*''Linoleum'' (2001) *''Xiaolin Showdown'' (2003) *''The Steel Box'' (2019)

References

External links

Waxploitation: Tweaker's record labelTweaker discography
at

Discogs.com Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the l ...

Tweaker
at Last.fm {{DEFAULTSORT:Tweaker American industrial rock musical groups Electronic music groups from California Metropolis Records artists Six Degrees Records artists