Reni

Alan John "Reni" Wren (born 10 April 1964 in Manchester ) is an English rock drummer and member of The Stone Roses.

His laid-back style of complex, off-beat rhythms was influential in bringing about the blend of indie and dance music which formed much of the Madchester sound centred on Manchester.

He is considered by many musicians, producers and journalists to be the best drummer of his generation.

During his time with The Stone Roses, Reni could be easily identified by the now-iconic bucket hat that he often wore.

Already in two bands before he joined The Stone Roses, it was perhaps friend Simon Wright's successful audition for AC/DC in 1984 which prompted him towards more serious ambitions.

Wren joined the Stone Roses in May 1984 after seeing an advertisement the band had placed in Manchester's A1 Music shop on New Wakefield Street (formerly the Soundcontrol music venue).

He ripped it off the wall in order to make sure only he would get an audition which occurred in what was at the time Decibel Studios to the north of the city centre.

This was a rehearsal studio and required the band to carry Wren's drum kit up three flights of stairs, before running through early songs "Nowhere Fast", "All Stitched Up" and "Mission Impossible".

Andy Couzens, then the band's second guitarist, later recalled this first rehearsal with their new-found 20-year-old drummer: "We never discussed it, we knew he was in! He was fucking amazing! What a drummer."

The band's first live show with Wren occurred at an anti-heroin gig in London, which was being hosted by Pete Townshend.

This unexpected encounter concluded with The Who star asking the band whether he could use their drummer for his set - the band agreed, which led to Wren performing Pictures of Lily and other Who songs.

Howard Jones, a director at Factory Records, said of a performance on 15 November 1984: "Reni was out of this world. The way he played, his facial expressions, his finishing, how he'd kill a cymbal once he'd hit it, he'd got total natural technique."

His first career with the band would go on to span over a decade, during which time he performed on the albums Garage Flower (the band's abandoned debut album from 1985), the much-celebrated eponymous debut (1989), and Second Coming (1994), as well as dozens of singles and unreleased songs.

In his early years with the band, whose songs at the time were inspired by punk and post-punk, Wren's drumming style was characterised by the energy from influences such as Keith Moon - Andy Couzens mentioned he was "like ten Keith Moons in one."

Due to his showmanship and natural flair, Manchester music scene regulars such as Martin Hannett noted many people were attending the band's early gigs just to see Wren play.

As the band's music progressed, marked by the release of the second single "Sally Cinnamon" in 1987, his playing style made use of a three-piece kit and the additional complement of his backing vocals on the majority of new songs.

His minimised kit consisted of "a mixture of Ludwig, vintage, and a big expensive Sonor snare drum", which were all painted with John Squire's Jackson Pollock inspired art style.

Wren's use of a smaller kit did not limit his range, with a new focus on a jazz-tinged, but ultimately rock-based, playing style.

His busy use of the high-hat, snare, and solitary tom-tom created a complex sound which helped to define the band's significant musical shift.

"Elephant Stone", released in 1988 as the band's third single, was viewed as an ideal opportunity to highlight Wren's talent, as Brown later said: "We wanted people to hear what he could do."

The drummer's focus on a propulsive tom-tom beat showcased his ability to create innovative drum rhythms, but was also in line with the burgeoning dance music scene of the day.

Peter Hook of New Order produced the song in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport and has since said that Wren remains one of the best rock drummers he ever worked with: "Reni's drumming lent such a character and identity to the songs. Ian and John had got it with the melodies and lyrics but they were lucky to get Reni because he took them from being a traditional, normal rock band into the stratosphere with other great groups."

By the time of the Second Coming rehearsals, in the early 1990s, Wren adapted his style further.

Guitarist John Squire, becoming increasingly inspired by Led Zeppelin, led the band in a new musical direction, prompting Wren to adopt a blues-rock approach, adding in extra tom-toms for a style analogous to John Bonham.

Ian Brown said of early studio time: "When we started recording we had Reni playing the drums for 40 minutes and it was out of this world. I remember John Leckie turning around with a big beam on his face and saying, 'Can't this be the album?'" His playing on the songs "Love Spreads" and "Daybreak" were particularly praised for their high-quality and complexity, whilst his many long jamming sessions with Mani and Squire, plus several drum solos, also became available through bootlegs.

For the majority of his career, Wren has preferred the use of matched grip, although around 1990, in live television performances of "One Love" and "Fools Gold" he used traditional grip.

He can also be seen in rehearsal recordings following the band's reformation using the former and latter interchangeably.

Following his mysterious departure from the band in 1995, he fronted The Rub as singer and guitarist from 1998 to 2001, and played several low-key shows but split without releasing any material.

He also participated on his ex-fellow Stone Roses' bandmate, Ian Brown's debut album.

John Robb, in his 1997 book The Stone Roses and the Resurrection of British Pop, said that Wren could "play guitar almost as well as he plays drums," However, it was his drumming abilities that made him stand out.

Whilst growing up, "...the local kids thought Reni was a freak because he was such an amazing drummer, a total natural. Reni didn't care. He was already jamming along to anything and anybody."

Of his drumming style, in 2004 Rhythm Magazine commented that Wren was "funkier and more subtle than any drummer in the genre [indie] had ever been" and he was, "economical, soulful, and inventive".

After a long industry hiatus, he re-emerged on the music scene with the reformation of The Stone Roses in October 2011.

The band's first bassist, Pete Garner, noted in a 2012 interview for Simon Spence's biography The Stone Roses - War and Peace: "I stood on the side of the stage going 'Oh fuck, he’s going to join the Who now. First gig and we’ve lost him.' That was pretty surreal. I believe the previous gig Townshend had done was some massive stadium on The Who farewell tour... and then he’d come back to do this charity gig."

Andy Couzens stated: "At that time Reni was awe-inspiring. To play with him made us sound phenomenal; he was just this force. Just to watch him play was inspirational. That's what got Pete Townshend that night. He was inspired by what he'd seen."

Despite the band's fears, Wren turned down Townshend's offer to play on his solo albums in favour of continuing with the Stone Roses.

After the band's apparent final show at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland in June 2017, he has since returned to obscurity.

Wren grew up in Denton the eldest of five siblings and attended Egerton Park Arts College.

He taught himself drums in his youth as, due to his family situation, he was nearly always around musical instruments in a pub environment.

He also plays the guitar, bass and piano.