SATURDAY: Tim Reynolds & TR3 Invade Tralf

TR3, the versatile electric power trio, consisting of DMB guitar slinger and collaborator Tim Reynolds, bassist Mick Vaughn, and drummer Dan Martier, has long been known for bending genres and ripping through tunes every musical style, from blues, funk, progressive, psychedelic, jazz fusion, metal, and classic rock, with each song seemingly building off the one before it. Two years in the making, Like Some Kind of Alien Invasion, released on ATO Records, features 14 new original songs by Reynolds and further solidifies TR3 as a consistent rock band with wide-ranging influences.

Just like a TR3 show, Like Some Kind of Alien Invasion runs the gamut from a soulful funky love song, “The Glow,” to the Southern rock-influenced “In the Zone,” with Tim’s riffs sounding like a crazier ZZ Top laid over Martier’s deft percussion and Vaughn’s powerful blues rumble to “All Over the Place” with Reynolds’ clean, lightening speed electric guitar licks with equally quick, syllabic vocals.

Reynolds feels Like Some Kind of Alien Invasion is TR3’s most satisfying album to date. “It’s more sonically expansive and has more harmonic content than our previous works. We used more acoustic guitars and varieties of guitar tones and really focused on making this a chord-rich effort,” says Reynolds. Like Some Kind of Alien Invasion showcases Reynolds seemingly effortless guitar virtuosity,

Vaughn’s wickedly funky bass, and the superlative rhythmic drumming of Martier. The album is particularly adept at building and sustaining a groove, making every song feel like an essential part of the whole—just like a TR3 show. Reynolds, Vaughn, and Martier have been playing together since 2007 and their cohesiveness, talent and camaraderie once again shine through. According to Reynolds, “Mick and Dan are awesome on every song. Mick’s is great on everything and Dan basically plays stuff that humans cannot play.”

Reynolds also feels that this album greatly benefitted from the experimentation of Outer Banks recording engineer, Ed Tupper of Swampworks, to help guide them on their satisfying journey.