Chris Pennie (born May 31, 1977) is an American musician who is the former drummer for the progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria and former drummer and co-founder of mathcore band The Dillinger Escape Plan. Background Pennie began playing drums at the age of 13, and at age 16 decided to pursue music seriously. He grew up in Randolph, New Jersey and graduated from Randolph High School, and spent two years at Berklee College of Music where he received a diploma in Music Synthesis, which focuses on electronic music composition and manipulation. Influences and legacy Pennie has cited drummers Lars Ulrich and Stewart Copeland as his main early influences. In regard to his current playing, Sean Reinert is one of his biggest inspirations. He has also emphasized on several occasions that listening to and playing a diverse assortment of music has been an integral part in developing his style, noting such eclectic influences as 1970s jazz-rock fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra, technical metal bands Meshuggah, Cynic, and electronic-influenced groups such as Nine Inch Nails and DJ Shadow. Many drummers have cited Pennie as an influence or expressed admiration for his work, including Brann Dailor, Richard Christy of Death, Peter Wildoer, Dave Witte, Tyshawn Sorey, Charlie Zeleny, Dan Searle of Architects, Andy Dalton of See You Next Tuesday, J. R. Conners of Cave In, Craig Reynolds of Stray from the Path, Jean-François Richard of Ion Dissonance, Andrew McEnaney of Structures, Tobias Persson of Visceral Bleeding, Stephen Carr of Exotic Animal Petting Zoo, Stefano Ghigliano of Stigma, Danny Grossarth of Candiria, Eric Schnee of Paria, Darren Pugh of Collibus, Eli Litwin of John Frum, Chris Golding of Sulaco and Corey Melom of The Crinn. Bands While in high school he was playing in the local New Jersey based band, Prozak. The other 3 members of Prozak were 8–10 years Pennie's senior, and in order for Prozak to play the local bars and clubs, Pennie's father would accompany him to the various gigs. Chris played with Prozak from 1993 until he began attending Berklee School of Music in 1995. He recorded ten songs with Prozak during his time with the band but they were never commercially released. Pennie also spent time with the pop-punk group Boxer. Formed in 1995 with another Berklee graduate, Jeremy McDowell, they became the first band to be signed to the now famous Vagrant Records. They released one album, The