This holiday season, give the gift that truly hits the right note.
Just in time for the holidays, viral sensation trio T-3 has released their brand-new holiday EP, ‘FaLaLaLonely‘, and will kick off a tour, including a stop at Philadelphia’s City Winery on Dec. 20.
T-3 is always poised to deliver electrifying performances, whether through rapturous vocal trio arrangements or modern a cappella—be it purely vocal or enhanced by their own instrumental accompaniment.
Friday’s Philly gig also happens to be a homecoming show for two of T-3’s members — Penn State grads and Broadway actor-singers Liam Fennecken and Jim Hogan. T-3’s third member, Brendan Jacob Smith, hails from Brooklyn.
“Getting from Roslyn, PA where I grew up, and heading to Broadway and T-3 meant having a very supportive family,” says Hogan, a tenor, who goes on to say that part of his hometown’s extended support system includes his “fantastic voice teacher” Peter Hilliard.
One of the coolest things about T-3, for Hogan, is that all three of the trio’s members met while singing in a Cape Cod all-vocal ensemble, the Hyannis Sound.
“Each of us had a foundation in a cappella and vocal music,” he says. “When we learned how much the three of our voices blended well together, we knew we never wanted to lose the roots of tight harmony singing in what we’d put together going forward.
As for the competitiveness of the a cappella scene witnessed in the mega-successful ‘Pitch Perfect’ film franchise, Hogan laughs when he discusses his collegiate vocal ensemble.
“When I was singing with Penn State’s The Statesmen with Liam and Brendan was part of Ithcapella at Ithaca State, we all competed with each other on a regular basis – especially the international a cappella competition. We took it all very seriously and crafted these 12-minute sets that we polished every time we had the opportunity…. Luckily, we’ve left that competitive nature behind, not only to have fun within T-3, but, too, to make sure that our audiences are having fun.”
Before and after T-3 made their major label debut last fall with its ‘Option Up’ EP, the trio made a name for themselves as viral sensations — 459k followers and 7.1 million likes on TikTok, 140k Instagram followers, and 41.9k YouTube subscribers.
“This viral fame all happened quite accidentally as we posted our first session together, and social media and the internet went crazy,” he says of starting, then continuing a week-by-week basis of dropping a cappella versions of the favorite songs, old and new. “I was never involved in content creation before this – but I am now!” he laughs. “Six months after we started doing it, deep into the pandemic from our individual apartments, that is when we truly decided to be T-3 and give this thing a shot. Everything from our songwriting and arranging ability to our harmonies – everything just meshed.”
Though their concerts are ripe with tight harmonies and daring a cappella solo vocal leaps — “we’re doing shows that are at least 50% a cappella” — keeping contemporary vocal music fresh comes down to the instrumental backing that fills T-3’s brand-new holiday EP, ‘FaLaLaLonely’, as well as having the trio write that EP’s title song.
“We’re passionate about adding a deeper sense of ourselves to what we do, especially on record,” says Hogan.
With that, ‘FaLaLaLonely’ features their usual reach into Disney film music with ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen, seasonal standards such as ‘O Holy Night,’ as well as a tribute to the Beach Boys’ barbershop quartet harmonizing on the Brian Wilson/Mike Love-penned ‘Little Saint Nick,’ performed with special guest vocalist Joshua Lee Turner. But writing and singing their own composition, ‘FaLaLaLonely,’ is crucial to where T-3 is heading.
“We wanted to make sure that while we pay homage to all traditions – the holiday and to vocal music favorites – that audiences get to know who T-3 is,” says Hogan. “It’s hard coming up with an original Christmas song, but, to us, writing a new holiday song is about each of our traditions at home, while offering tribute to the Christmas classics of the past by sprinkling their titles in as new lyrics. ‘FaLaLaLonely’ pays homage to the past, and, just happens to be cool and swinging… And it won’t be the last original Christmas song we write, either.”
