Tweaker is an American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

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 Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

, modern

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

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'', 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,

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt, 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan. The band's androgynous look and increasingly ...

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 Craig Benjamin Wedren (born August 15, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and composer, who began his career fronting post-hardcore band Shudder to Think. Following the disbandment of Shudder to Think, Wedren pursued a career as a ...

Will Oldham Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

Hamilton Leithauser James Hamilton Leithauser (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. From 2000 to 2014, he was the lead vocalist of the American indie rock band The Walkmen, with whom he recorded seven studio albums. Prior ...

Buzz Osborne Roger "Buzz" Osborne (born March 25, 1964), also known as King Buzzo, is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He is a founding member of the rock band Melvins, as well as Fantômas and Venomous Concept. Biography Born in Morton, Was ...

, 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 ''Doom 3'' is a 2004 survival horror first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. ''Doom 3'' was originally released for Microsoft Windows on August 3, 2004, adapted for Linux later that year, and ported ...

'', 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 ''Xiaolin Showdown'' is an American animated television series that aired on Kids' WB and was created by Christy Hui. Set in a world where martial arts battles and Eastern magic are commonplace, the series follows Omi, Raimundo, Kimiko, and Clay, ...

''. 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

, Dark Ambient and

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

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 William Faith (born August 28, 1967) is an American goth/punk musician. He is a former member of the gothic bands Rozz Williams' Christian Death, Shadow Project, Mephisto Walz and briefly as support for Sex Gang Children during a one-off ...

(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 Chris Vrenna (born February 23, 1967 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails ...

*Clint Walsh

Discography

Studio albums

*''

'' (September 18, 2001) *'' 2 a.m. Wakeup Call'' (April 20, 2004) *'' Call the Time Eternity'' (October 23, 2012)

Remix albums

*'' And Then There's Nothing'' (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 Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...

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