Colin Brittain

Colin Cunningham, known by his professional stage name as Colin "Doc" Brittain, is an American multi-instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter, born on December 29, 1986. He has worked as producer and songwriter with a large variety of acts, including Papa Roach, 311, One OK Rock, and more. In 2024, he joined Linkin Park as co-producer and drummer.

Early Life

Colin Brittain was born in Pensacola, Florida and was raised in Nashville, Tennessee. His father was in a country band, introducing him to music early on in his life. Brittain's childhood was surrounded by music, with him picking up drums, guitar, and piano early on. While he was raised on country music, he claims that Rage Against The Machine changed his life and set him on a path of rock n' roll. He then discovered other artists like Nirvana, Blink-182, Incubus, and Tupac, slowly developing a sound based firmly in rock and hip-hop.

Brittain would go on to learn to produce, though his main instrument was always the drums. He got his start by trying to recreate samples and sounds from other songs, including 'Faint' by Linkin Park. He used to teach drums when not working on music after high school, after his band director had no one to conduct their drum line and asked Colin to take charge.

Career

Oh No Fiasco

While in high school, Brittain would often jam out with his friends, including his friend Thomas Boyd. Five years later, he would form the band Oh No Fiasco in Knoxville, Tennessee with his brother, Kamryn Cunningham, on keys, guitarist Seth Rowlette, Boyd on bass, bassist and singer Lindsey Stamey. The band became Brittain's creative outlet, claiming "I’d found it difficult to put together a creatively congruous group of individuals without some kind of friction—and this band is certainly an exception. Each of us pushes the other to reach further and further outside of our musical comfort zones, and because of that I’ve been able to take influences from several different genres." The band's sound was based in pop rock, intertwined with elements of ska, dance, and more. The band was initially called "The Few" before changing their name to Oh No Fiasco shortly before their first EP was released.

Oh No Fiasco released their debut EP, eponymously titled Oh No Fiasco, on May 10, 2011 independently. The track 'Stand In Lover' was released as its lead single, with a music video backing it. The band toured extensively up and down the east coast of the United States in support of the record in 2010 and 2011, opening for the likes of Sevendust, 10 Years, Finger 11, Red, Saliva, and more. Following a tour with Pierce The Veil in 2011, vocalist Lindsey Stamey entered the studio with the band in early 2012 to record vocals for their song 'Hold On Till May' that was eventually released as the last song from their Collide With The Sky album, released on July 17, 2012. During their promotion for the album, Oh No Fiasco signed to Five Seven Entertainment sometime in 2011.

Oh No Fiasco's second EP, No One's Gotta Know, released on September 10, 2013. Lead single 'Down' received a music video, receiving critical acclaim from critics, including actress Margaret Cho, who claimed the music video was "wonderfully bizarre." The band embarked on a U.S. Tour with Ghost Town from September 14, 2013 to October 29, 2013 in support of the record. The band's last show was at the Heart Of Austin festival in March 2013.

Production & Songwriting

Brittain began producing around the age of 15, trying to recreate samples and sounds he'd hear in music he liked listening to. His first production credits came in 2014 once he moved to Los Angeles to pursue studio work, working with pop rock band 5 Seconds Of Summer as an additional producer, engineer, and mixer on their eponymous debut album. He also landed a guitar credit on Avicii's 'The Nights' that year, explaining that it was "written mostly by my best friend and collaborator Nick Furlong. It was one of the first tracks that we ever worked on, he had the chorus and melodies pretty much sorted.  We took the song and added guitars and lapsteel to it,  then sent it off to Avicci who brought it to the stratosphere. It was very natural, just like making music with your friends. Nick’s vocal performance really was impeccable too." Over the following years, Brittain would continue to pick up producer and songwriting credits, working on dozens of singles and albums. He produced multiple records in 2017 for ONE OK ROCK, Papa Roach, and All Time Low. About getting to work with them, Brittain claimed, "They all gave me a shot when I was a nobody, just on the merit that they believed in me. I’m forever grateful for that kind of belief, because it built up my confidence to take more chances with my productions." ONE OK ROCK invited Brittain to play with them onstage in Japan after he produced their AMBITIONS record in 2017. He worked alongside Against The Current and League Of Legends to produce the Worlds 2017 anthem, 'Legends Never Die' - he would go on to work on another Worlds anthem seven years later with Linkin Park ('Heavy Is The Crown' in 2024).

Brittain's production career really went into overdrive during the COVID-19 pandemic, where his credits really began to build. In 2020, he and musician Elisha Noll began the project American Teeth to be able to make music they couldn't quite achieve with other artists they were working with: "American Teeth is a project that I work on with my friend, Elisha Noll who is a massively talented writer and performer. He and I are songwriting partners for other artists, and we started American Teeth to be able to have complete creative flexibility that we sometimes don’t get when working with other artists." By 2024, Brittain had produced and written multiple number one singles and records.

Linkin Park

Mike described working with Colin Brittain in 2021 as having an experience where he immediately clicked with Colin. Colin plays guitar, bass, keyboards, as well as drums, and also produces and mixes music. Mike felt that he and Colin had a similar way of looking at music and they "clicked" when working together. He said that when Linkin Park started making music, it just felt natural to invite Colin over. The band was not interested in tryouts or auditions, but instead wanted to work with people they felt comfortable with and compatible with. Due to the previous sessions with Emily and Colin, it felt natural working with them again. The guys in the band also valued the fact that they were from a younger generation, offering a different perspective on music while also still having a wide amount of experience in their field. In 2024, Colin added, "I grew up as the oldest of five... these guys really brought me in and sort of became my older brothers, especially in such a competitive industry. Myself and Em have both been doing this for 20 years in L.A. and other places and so it's like a continuation of a career... we've each put a lot of time into our own careers in addition to all of these guys."

In August 2024, Linkin Park began a week-long campaign involving various clips from both the music video shoot and live rehearsals and performances of 'Bleed It Out.' While this short run of social media posts were only meant to promote the video upgrade, the activity reignited the online discussion about the band reunion, with fans even suggesting that the new singer would be debuted at the end of the week with a reworking of the song.

While that did not culminate, on August 24, 2024, the band started a livestream on their website and YouTube channel counting down from 100 hours, the title of the stream being simply "ø" and no further details. The countdown reached 0:00 on August 28, where the visual glitched out and began counting upwards again. The numbers glitched once again at the 9:05 mark and the 9:05:00 mark. Once the counter reached 100 hours again on September 2, a purple image (a still from the upcoming music video) was flashed and a synth swell sound was heard. An image, posted by Linkin Park and its members on social media, depicting a partial Linkin Park logo submerged in water, with the text "Be part of something. Tune in September 5 3PM PST" was then shown on stream. LPUnderground members received an email inviting anyone who could be in Los Angeles to attend an event on September 5, tickets limited only to 500 fanclub members.

The event began at 3:00PM PST, with 'The Emptiness Machine' being the first song the band performed together as a new unit. New drummer Colin Brittain and Brad Delson stand-in Alex Feder walked onstage with Mike Shinoda, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, and Joe Hahn after a mashup intro to the show and burst into the song live, Emily Armstrong joining the rest of the band at the end of the first chorus. This was the world premiere of the song, though the band dropped multiple announcements at the same time as the stream started. 'The Emptiness Machine' went live on streaming platforms at 3:00PM PST globally, being announced as the first single from their new album, From Zero. The From Zero World Tour was also announced at the start of the stream, featuring stops across the world in September and November, including a show less than a week after the event (September 11 at the Kia Forum, slated to be the band's first full arena show since 2017). The music video for 'The Emptiness Machine' premiered right after the stream concluded, confirming that the image flashed on the countdown was a shot of Mike in the video. During the show, Mike introduced Colin Brittain as the band's new drummer, replacing Rob Bourdon after he had decided to step away from Linkin Park.

Discography

Linkin Park

• From Zero (2024)

Oh No Fiasco

• Oh No Fiasco (2011)
• No One's Gotta Know (2013)

Production Credits

• Dark Waves - 'Outsider' (2014) [producer, co-writer, mixer]
• 5 Seconds Of Summer - 5 Seconds Of Summer (2014) [additional producer, engineer, mixer]
• 5 Seconds Of Summer - 'American Idiot' (2014) [assistant mixing engineer]
• Dark Waves - 'Outsider' (2014) [producer]
• Beautiful Bodies - Battles (2014) [co-writer, additional production, engineer, mixer]
• Avicii - 'The Nights' (2014) [guitar]
• Ghost Town - 'Evolution' (2015) [production, songwriter]
• Stick To Your Guns - Disobedient (2015) [additional percussion]
• Aranda - 'Knock The Lights Out' (2015) [producer]
• Aranda - 'Dead Man Walkin'' (2015) [producer]
• ONE OK ROCK - 'Take Me To The Top' (2015) [producer, co-writer, mixer]
• ONE OK ROCK - 'Cry Out' (2015) [producer, co-writer, mixer]
• ONE OK ROCK - 'Good Goodbye' (2015) [producer, co-writer, mixer]
• Hello Sleepwalkers - 'Eyes To The Skies' (2016) [producer, co-writer, co-composer]
• Sonia Leigh - 'Spider In The Roses' (2016) [producer]
• Steve Aoki & Boehm - 'Back 2 U' (feat. WALK THE MOON) [co-writer]
• Issues - 'Rank Rider' (2016) [co-writer]
• Issues - 'Slow Me Down' (2016) [co-writer]
• Aimer - 'Insane Dream' (2016) [arranger]
• Aimer - 'Closer' (2016) [arranger]
• Aimer - 'Falling Alone' (2016) [arranger]
• League Of Legends, Against The Current - 'Legends Never Die' (2017) [vocal producer]
• ONE OK ROCK - Ambitions (2017) [producer]
• Vinyl Theater - Origami (2017) [producer]
• Papa Roach - Crooked Teeth (2017) [composer, producer, mixer]
• All Time Low - Last Young Renegade (2017) [composer, producer, mixer]
• Logan Henderson - 'Sleepwalker' (2017) [composer, writer, producer]
• Logan Henderson - 'Bite My Tongue' (2017) [composer, writer, producer]
• Logan Henderson - 'Speak Of The Devil' (2017) [composer, writer, producer]
• MIYAVI - 'Long Nights' (feat. Sonita Alizadeh) (2017) [co-writer]
• The Wrecks - 'Way With Words' (2018) [co-writer]
• All Time Low - 'Everything Is Fine' (2018) [composer, producer, mixer]
• All Time Low - 'Birthday' (2018) [composer, producer, mixer]
• From Ashes To New - 'Nowhere To Run' (2018) [composer, producer, mixer]
• Dreamers - 'The Last Love Song' (2018) [producer]
• Basement - Beside Myself (2018) [producer, additional musician]
• Hands Like Houses - Anon. (2018) [composer, writer, producer]
• VERIDA - 'Dopamine' (2018) [co-writer]
• Keith Wallen - 'Four Letter Words' (2018) [producer]
• Keith Wallen - 'Summer Sunday' (2018) [producer]
• Papa Roach - Who Do You Trust? (2019) [composer, writer, producer, mixer]
• ONE OK ROCK - 'Worst Of Me' (2019) [composer, producer, mixer]
• Dreamers - 'Die Happy' (2019) [producer]
• Basement - 'Are You The One' (2019) [producer]
• Dreamers - 'Vampire In The Sun' (2019) [composer, producer, mixer]
• Dinosaur Pile-Up - 'Black Limousine' (2019) [co-writer]
• Dinosaur Pile-Up - 'Pouring Gasoline' (2019) [co-writer]
• A Day To Remember - You're Welcome (2019) [composer, producer, mixer]
• HYDE - 'SICK' (2019) [co-writer]
• American Teeth - 'Chemicals' (2019) [producer, writer]
• American Teeth - '2late' (2019) [producer, writer]
• American Teeth - 'E-Girl' (2020) [producer, writer]
• BRKN LOVE - 'I See Red' (2020) [co-writer]
• BRKN LOVE - 'Complicated' (2020) [co-writer]
• American Teeth - 'Gemini' (2020) [producer, writer]
• All Time Low - 'Wake Up, Sunshine' (2020) [writer, additional percussion]
• The Million - 'Check Up' (2020) [producer, writer]
• Papa Roach - 'Tightrope 2020' (2020) [producer]
• Nicholas Braun - 'Antibodies (Do You Have The)' (2020) [mixing engineer]
• From Ashes To New - Panic (2020) [producer, co-writer]
• No Love For The Middle Child - 'Walk Away' (feat. American Teeth) (2020) [producer]
• Parson James - 'High Tide Low Tide' (2020) [producer, writer, recording engineer]
• The Dirty Rich - 'Hot American Summer' (2020) [mixing engineer]
• Hands Like Houses - Hands Like Houses (2020) [producer]
• Papa Roach - 'The Ending' (2020) [co-writer]
• Dreamers, American Teeth, & Wes Period - 'Still Not Dead' (2021) [producer, writer]
• Dreamers - 'True Crime (Stripped)' (2021) [producer]
• Teenage Wrist - Earth Is A Black Hole (2021) [producer]
• Nathan James - 'Dancing With My Demons' (2021) [mastering engineer, mixing engineer]
• Ryan Woods - 'THE FRIEND SPACE' (2021) [producer, writer]
• Rozei - 'The World Is Over' (2021) [producer, writer, mixing engineer]
• Pastel Stereo - 'Disappear' (2021) [producer]
• Santa Cruz - 'Crossfire' (2021) [co-writer]
• Parson James & JoJo - 'Dirty Laundry' (2021) [producer]
• Pastel Stereo - 'The Joker' (2021) [producer]
• DE'WAYNE - 'Me Vs. You' (2021) [producer, writer]
• From Ashes To New - 'Bulletproof' (2021) [producer, co-writer]
• Siiickbrain - 'HELLSLIDE' (2021) [producer]
• Keith Wallen - 'Blue' (2021) [co-writer]
• Rozei - 'Fever Dreams' (2021) [producer]
• Doll Skin - 'Eat Shit' (2021) [writer]
• Royal & The Serpent - 'Chips' (2021) [producer, writer]
• From Ashes To New - 'Already Gone' (2021) [co-writer]
• Rozei - 'Way Back When' (2021) [producer, writer]
• American Teeth - We Should Be Having Fun (2021) [producer, writer, mixing engineer, recording engineer, guitar, bass, drums, synthesizer]
• MOTHICA - 'Casualty' (2022) [producer, writer, lyricist, composer, engineer, guitar)
• Royal & The Serpent - 'ALT B!TCH POSER' (2022) [producer, writer]
• Papa Roach - Ego Trip (2022) [producer, writer]
• FIVE NEW OLD - 'Happy Sad' (2022) [producer]
• FIVE NEW OLD - 'My New Me' (2022) [producer]
• SK8 - Last Days On Earth (2022) [mixing engineer]
• The Head and The Heart - 'Hurt (But It Goes Away)' (2022) [co-writer]
• A Day To Remember - 'Miracle' (2022) [recording engineer]
• Quinton Griggs - 'Gemstone' (2022) [producer, co-writer]
• Bella Poarch - 'Villain' (2022) [co-writer]
• Dreamers & Sueco - 'Robbery' (2022) [producer, writer, bass]
• ONE OK ROCK - 'Let Me Let You Go' (2022) [producer, co-writer]
• Anna Clendening - UNTITLED X'S (2022) [producer]
• KILLBOY - 'NAILS' (2022) [producer, writer]
• Sueco - It Was Fun While It Lasted (2022) [mixing engineer]
• Quinton Griggs - 'Anything Goes' (2022) [producer, co-writer]
• 5 Seconds Of Summer - 'You Don't Go To Parties' (2022) [composer, producer, mixer, writer]
• 5 Seconds Of Summer - 'TEARS!' (2022) [composer, producer, mixer, writer]
• Royal & The Serpents - 'No Regrets' (2022) [producer, co-writer]
• Warren Zeiders & Sueco - 'Ride It Hard' (2022) [producer, writer]
• The Rudeboyz - 'Ojalá' (feat. Maluma & Adam Levine) (2022) [vocal producer]
• Dreamers & IRONTOM - 'Don't Go Dark' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Pierce The Veil - 'Resilience' (2023) [writer, composer, engineer]
• Sueco - 'POS' (2023) [producer, writer]
• ILLENIUM & American Teeth - 'Insanity' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Story Of The Year - Tear Me To Pieces (2023) [producer, co-writer]
• Quinton Griggs - 'Twisted' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Olivia O'Brien - 'Born With A Broken Heart' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Bea Miller - BM3 (2023) [producer, writer]
• grandson - 'Half My Heart' (2023) [producer, co-writer, guitar]
• Jonas Brothers - 'Walls' (2023) [producer, guitar]
• Jagwar Twin - 'All My Friends' (2023) [producer, writer]
• &TEAM - 'Road Not Taken' (2023) [writer]
• Sean Stemaly - 'A Sinner and A Saint' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Sueco - 'Help Me' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Olivia O'Brien - 'I should've fucked your brother' (2023) [producer, writer]
• G Flip - '7 Days' (2023) [producer]
• G Flip - 'Rough' (2023) [producer]
• G Flip - 'Good Enough' (2023) [producer]
• Justus Bennetts - 'Better When I'm Crazy' (2023) [producer, writer]
• MAY-A - Analysis Paralysis (2023) [mixing engineer]
• Puddle Of Mudd - 'Cash & Cobain' (2023) [writer]
• Sueco - 'Yours' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Nathan James - 'Devil's Basement' (2023) [producer, writer]
• Olivia O'Brien - 'Bandaid On A Bullet Hole' (2023) [producer, writer]
• American Teeth - A Wake EP (2024) [producer]
• FLETCHER - 'Ego Talking' (2024) [additional production]
• Sean Stemaly - 'Message In A Bottle' (2024) [writer]
• FEVER 333 - 'NEW WEST ORDER' (2024) [mixing engineer]
• Olivia O'Brien - love and limerence (2024) [producer, writer]
• Sueco - Attempted Lover (2024) [producer, writer, mixer]
• Papa Roach & Carrie Underwood - 'Leave A Light On (Take Away The Dark)' (2014) [producer, writer]
• All Good Things - 'The Venom' [mixing engineer]
• All Good Things - 'No Regret' [mixing engineer]
• Stand Atlantic - 'NOSE BLEED' [mixing engineer]
• letlive. - 'Be Ok' (feat. LØLØ) (2024) [producer]
• Kana Nishino - 'イントゥ・ミー (Into me)' (2024) [producer]
• Andy Grammer - 'Still Smiling' (2024) [producer, writer]
• FEVER 333 - 'Nosebleeds' (2024) [producer, writer]
• FEVER 333 - 'BULL & A BULLET' (2024) [writer]
• FEVER 333 - 'TOURIST' (2024) [writer]
• 311 - Full Bloom (2024) [producer, co-writer, mixer]