Chris Collins | |
---|---|
Born | 1967 |
Years active | 1982-present |
Associated acts | Mod Fun, The Punch Line, Crocodile Shop |
Website | http://www.ccmedianet.com/ |
Notable instruments | |
Drums, Guitar, Bass, Piano, Harmonica, Mandolin, Melodica |
Chris Collins is an American musician, recording engineer/producer and technologist. Collins' work in the New Jersey/NYC music scene has spanned three decades.
Collins gained his start in NYC area pop-punk/garage band Mod Fun - which was formed late in 1982 with his childhood friends Mick "London" Hale and Bobby "Werner" Strete, with whom he had been playing music since 1979. Although he had experimented with songwriting from early on, Chris' primary contribution to Mod Fun was as drummer and backing vocalist. The band released two full-length albums, a 3-song EP and two singles between 1984 and 1987. In addition, they honed their performance skills by playing a heavy schedule of club dates at local NYC & NJ venues and touring in support of their records. Their powerful (and sometimes destructive) live sets garnered the band a reputation as one of the New York area's most exciting acts of the burgeoning garage revival scene.
During that same period, Collins also served as the drummer for New York pop-punk outfit "True Colours" which quickly evolved into The Punch Line - a power pop quartet in which the focus was on vocal harmonies and clean production.The Punch Line performed live at a handful of local venues and released one single. The recording sessions for that single, coupled with the break-up of Mod Fun, served as the impetus for Collins' entry into the field of recording engineering.
Collins attended the Institute of Audio Research in New York City where he earned a diploma in multi-track recording technology and eventually became an instructor under president Al Grundy. At age 20 he was, at the time, the youngest instructor to have ever taught a full course load at the Institute and was an active member of both the AES and SMPTE. Simultaneously, he was working extensively as a freelance recording engineer and live sound reinforcement tech - having provided his services to artists such as Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Kim Simmonds (of Savoy Brown), Crocodile Shop and others. Home & Studio Recording magazine published a feature article on Collins in its October, 1989 issue.