Drum It Up, Fuzzball: Chris Vrenna

As a Grammy-winning producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and drummer who's worked with everyone from Nine Inch Nails to Gnarls Barkley, Chris Vrenna is proud to add Wookiee percussionist to his impressive musical resume.

For the 2006 MTV Movie Awards, Vrenna and the rest of Gnarls Barkley donned Star Wars costumes for their performance of the hit song "Crazy." The entire band -- which consists of producer Danger Mouse, singer Cee-Lo, drummer Vrenna, a guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, backup singers and a small string section -- dressed as Rebel Alliance pilots, Imperial officers, stormtroopers, Chewbacca, Jango Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Darth Vader with costumes on loan from the Lucasfilm Archives.

"Gnarls Barkley wears different costumes, but dressing as Star Wars characters will always be the pinnacle for me," Vrenna says. "The two geniuses that are Gnarls Barkley -- Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo -- one day just mentioned to us that we'd be wearing Star Wars for this special appearance. Danger Mouse thought with all the arm and body motion as a drummer that I'd be great as Chewbacca. I was so psyched. It was an honor that George Lucas and all within the organization granted us permission and helped us with it. It was the original costumes! I have nothing on Peter Mayhew!"

As he played drums under the gaze of millions of MTV viewers around the world, Vrenna (whose bandmates nicknamed him "Chewie-lito" for the performance) says he hopes he did Chewbacca justice. Given the choice to drum as any character in the saga, one wonders if a certain cyborg general would have been a better drummer.

"Playing as Chewie was a challenge, especially since the costume was made for Peter Mayhew who is much taller than I am," Vrenna laughs. "Drums are a visceral, tribal instrument at heart, which I think Chewie would have enjoyed. Drumming also requires soul that General Grievous doesn't possess regardless of the amount of limbs. I just hope I did Chewie proud."

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Drum It Up, Fuzzball: Chris Vrenna