Friday, November 17, 2000
Collegian.com
"Guitar great Tim Reynolds talks about life, family and the road
November 17, 2000
Courtesy of Collegian.com
Becky Waddingham
Rift
Tim Reynolds is a busy man.
He has only been home for a few days, and soon he hits the road once more to continue his solo acoustic tour. But even Reynolds' home life is just as busy as the one on the road.
""I always think I'm going to be off when I'm off, but we're too busy here at the Reynolds house,"" he said.
Reynolds has been touring by himself since the 1980s, so this road tour is nothing new. He plays at the Fox Theater in Boulder Saturday night. to conclude the tour. He tours with his band, formerly called TR3 and now called Puke Matrix, and he has also been on the road with Dave Matthews.
""(Matthews) has his own musical voice, beyond how just his voice sounds,"" Reynolds said of his longtime friend and musical partner. ""It's fun to play with somebody when they know what they're doing.""
Matthews' and Reynolds' 1997 CD Live at Luther College went multiplatinum, and Reynolds said he ""would love to do a new CD with him — I haven't really worked with him in a while.""
Besides doing Live at Luther College, Reynolds has appeared as lead guitarist on all of Dave Matthews Band's studio albums and Live at Red Rocks, has eight of his own albums or ones with his band and has appeared on seven different albums with other artists.
Reynolds' critically acclaimed song ""Stream"" will appear on his new album, due for release in January. Although it is one of his most popular songs, Reynolds has refrained from playing it at every show.
""I played it over and over,"" he said. ""I think personally I have a lot more music. I do play (""Stream"") every couple nights, but it's not fair if you're not going to be totally psyched.""
Reynolds plays far more live shows than he records albums — he has been touring for more than 20 years, mostly to younger crowds.
""Because I play at a lot of colleges, (crowds) tend to be younger,"" he said. ""I don't normally play to crowds of people who are my age.""
Reynolds has been to Fort Collins more than once on past tours, and even made a brief visit to the Lory Student Center Commons last spring for a free concert on the last day of classes.
He said there could be ""a hundred reasons why"" he will not be making a stop in Fort Collins this time.
""Booking a tour is not like planning a vacation necessarily – you kind of jiggle around a lot of things,"" he said, with a mock British accent.
Although live shows are the main medium by which Reynolds performs, he enjoys both forms of showcasing his music.
""(They are) both intensive,"" he said. ""It's a whole different kind of energy exchange. Live is not like playing sports, but it's physically engaging in that way. Recording is almost like meditating.""
A self-taught guitarist, Reynolds has been playing for over 30 years. He says he has no preference for acoustic over electric models.
""Physically they're the same in a lot of ways,"" he said. ""I really like both of them — since I play solo (acoustic) is a little more technically challenging because you don't have a band.
""You wind up playing simpler parts with a band.""
The band Reynolds normally tours with has just changed its name from TR3 to Puke Matrix, a name Reynolds says generated ""a lot of controversy.""
""It was like, no, you can't do that, that's suicide!"" he said laughing.
""It was one of those things where it was called TR3 from the mid-'80s to the '90s — in '98 we were getting into this funny (phase) calling it a different name every week,"" he said. ""We had a lot of funny names go into it. I like Puke Matrix; it's kind of like how music comes out of you -– it's involuntary, spontaneous.""
Reynolds' concert in Boulder tomorrow marks the end of his tour. When he returns home, he says he is content with just being a father to a 5-year-old girl, a 12-year-old stepson and an 18-year-old boy. Being a parent is the one thing he said he would do if he could never play the guitar again.
""When you have a child, even though it's physically impossible, they really need someone to be with them almost 24 hours a day - they need that love and they want that love,"" he said. ""Without anything else in my life, I would be busy being a father."""