Since the days Chris Vrenna left Nine Inch Nails, the drummer/programmmer has collaborated and remixed some of today's leading musicians of the world. In Vrenna's spare time, he created a solo album under the name of Tweaker, titled "The Attraction To All Things Uncertain" a haunting album I've had the privilege to promotially posses for more than a year. But just when things were going well for the former NIN member and his solo record, a merger between two of today's leading labels were lurking just around the corner that would doom the release of Tweaker.

Fortunately, three years later, a San Franscio based independant label stepped up to the plate and signed Vrenna to the growing company. Of the signing, Vrenna says "I think Six Degrees and I are a perfect match. They totally understood me from day one. As a producer, after working with one major label band after another, one sometimes grows weary of seeing the cookie cutter approach to selling and marketing records. When it came time to pick a label for myself, I knew I wanted something small, aggressive and creative, which they are."

In short, the story goes, when Vivendi swallowed Seagram, who took over Polygram, several thousand employees (including close friends of mine in the buisness) lost their jobs and an untold number of musicians lost their recording deals, all in the name of pleasing those all-important shareholders by trimming some $300 million from the annual bottom line.

Some of the number of music behemoths shrunk from six to five when Seagram bought Polygram, bundling MCA, Polygram, A&M, Interscope, London, Mercury, Universal Music, Geffen, which supported Almo Sounds; the label Vrenna lost his deal in 1999.

Profits is all that this is about. There's money to be made peddling CDs to the masses and the suits are going to make as much of it as they possibly can. And Lord help anyone dumb enough to care more about music than moolah.

So, if you're a musician or music-lover, the situation is turning ugly, but don't think Nothing Records is getting away clean and easy, because they are in a very tight squeeze of their own. Since Nine Inch Nails is signed to Interscope and Marilyn Manson is signed to Nothing Records, lately, when it comes to releases, it hasn't been an easy task for both labels to agree on the artist's projects. (See TheThe frontman's "The The Versus The Corporate Monster" for more info about how the merger has effected his releases).

Finially, after years of limbo, Chris Vrenna's leading EP single titled "Linoleum" featuring ex-Japan singer David Sylvian on vocals, from the long awaiting Tweaker LP, is slated for a release on Six Degrees Records coming August 21st for a list price of $6.97. (Six Degrees is an independent label distributed by Ryko Distribution in the U.S. and Outside Music in Canada.)

As we previously reported a few months ago, the 13 track album, which wrapped-up in November 1999, is scheduled to meet the masses on September 18th 2001. (See "Chris Vrenna remixes U2 for Tomb Raider Soundtrack, Also tapped to remix Xzibit featuring Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg" for more info.)

The four and half minute Linoleum track is full of epic bombast, with a chorus that aims for the stratosphere and suitably heavy lurching guitars. However, this single is hard to imagine on today's rock radio, since David Sylvian's vocals aims for more of the older genra than today's generation X teens.

Having a soft spot for Sylvian since his earlier years, Vrenna has been a longtime fan of his work. "I was a big fan of Japan back in the '80s and of David's solo work -- Gone to Earth is still one of my favorite records of all time," he says to CDNow's Kevin Raub.

The record also features a slew of guest artists including Xzibit who joined Vrenna at Grandmaster Studios in Hollywood when the album was first underway for a track titled "Ready-4-War," which Vrenna described as an "electronic rap track."

"I had the first Xzibit album [At the Speed of Life] and thought it was some of the most innovative stuff out there -- both in the style of his vocals and his music beds, which were really cool, really dark, and twisted- sounding," says Vrenna. "It's some of the coolest shit I've heard in rap lately."

Vrenna believes that his Tweaker album, long awaited by Nine Inch Nails fans, will also be an album that is embraced by fans of ambient and electronic music who are unaware of his past, saying "I think it will be interesting to see how this album sounds to Nails fans, and just as important, I am interested in seeing how Tweaker grows as an entity on it's own, independent of expectations. I'm looking forward to just letting my career as an artist happen naturally."

In keeping with the incestuous nature of the record ("Little pieces of a song may appear either after it or may foreshadow what is to come," explains Vrenna), Burton C. Bell, frontman of Fear Factory, also handles vocals on another track, "Act II," that features strings by Petra Haden of That Dog fame. "It's probably the heaviest point on the record," says Vrenna of "Act II." "It's delivered with a very angry tone but the lyrics are very uplifting." Haden's violin prowess can be heard on a few other tracks on the album as well.

As previously reported by Allstar News, the album also features Shudder To Think singer/ guitarist Craig Wedren (on a track titled "Take Me Alive"), Melvins singer/ guitarist Buzz "King Buzzo" Osborne, and former Far singer Jonah Matranga.

For a complete bio and discography on Chris Vrenna, please click here, provided by Wax Ploitation, or keep a continuious eye out for updates on Commy's Podboy.net website. The official Tweaker website is also coming soon, but currently hosts a flash animation of the Eliot artwork with a looped clip of the outro portion to track 5 titled "After All."

Vrenna said to Allstar News that he won't get into the album's concept, other than to say it's one continuous story of a character named Elliot, who graces the album's cover.

Below is Tweaker's "Attraction to All Things Uncertain" track listing, but not official since Vrenna went back in the studio earlier this year to "tweak" the record because he's no longer signed to Almo Sounds.

• 01. Swamp f/ volcals by ???? (my personal favorite by the way)
• 02. Years From Now
• 03. Linoleum f/ vocals by David Sylvian of Japan
• 04. Full Cup O' Coffee Empty Sheet O' Paper
• 05. After All f/ vocals by ????
• 06. The Drive Bye
• 07. Microsize Boy f/ vocals by ????
• 08. The Dark Times
• 09. Act II f/ vocals by Burton C. Bell of Fear Factory, scratches by DJ Swamp (Beck's DJ) & strings by Petra Haden of That Dog
• 10. Ready-4-War f/ vocals by Xzibit (Loud Records MC) & scratches by DJ Swamp (Beck's DJ)
• 11. I Am The One
• 12. Take Me Alive f/ vocals by Craig Wedren of Shudder to Think
• 13. Tiny Life (Live) f/ scratches by DJ Swamp (Beck's DJ) & Ex-MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer

The Linoleum EP, scheduled for release on August 21st, features both a non album track "Imperfections" featuring vocals by Jennifer Folker and a live album track titled Tiny Life, which Mark Blasquez and Chris Vrenna performed during a live Tweaker stage act at the Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage in NY on the summer of 1998. The EP also features a mix by Paul Leary of The Butthole Surfers, who helped Vrenna mix the U2 track "Evolution" off Tomb Raider soundtrack.

Below is the official Linoleum EP track listing according to CDNow:

• 1. Linoleum (Radio Edit) - Featuring David Sylvian On Vocals
• 2. Linoleum (The Josh Wink Interpretation)
• 3. Linoleum (Wamdue 2-Step Vocal Experience)
• 4. Imperfections - Featuring Jennifer Folker (Non LP Track)
• 5. Linoleum (King Britt's Scuba Mix)
• 6. Imperfections (Lollipop Guild Remix)
• 7. Linoleum (Teargas & Plateglass Remix)
• 8. Linoleum (Paul Leary [Of The Butthole Surfers] Mix)
• 9. Tiny Life (Live)

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