Train: Full-steam ahead

Be ready when American rock band Train hits Manila like…well, what do you think?...a bullet train when it performs at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday, Dec. 7. The trio — Patrick Monahan (vocals), Jimmy Stafford (guitar) and Scott Underwood (drums) — come from other parts of the US and not in San Francisco where the band formed in 1994.

The band shot to fame in 1998 with the release of their first album (with the hit Meet Virginia as carrier single). Since then, Train has produced more hit singles, including Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) from their second album, Calling All Angels (used in the hit TV series One Tree Hill) from their third album and many more.

After the release of their fourth studio album, For Me, It’s You, the band slipped into a three-year hiatus. You’ll know why in a while.

The band is now working on their sixth album to be released early next year.

Among their brand-new songs are To Be Loved (featured on the soundtrack of Abduction starring Taylor Lautner) and Brand New Book (theme song of The Biggest Loser in the USA).

Funfare recently did an exclusive phone interview with Scott (who was in Colorado).

Your group is called Train. Do you move as fast as, or even faster than, a train?

“Yeah, like a train. Sometimes we’re moving fast, sometimes we’re moving slow.”

No sudden breaks?

“In fact, we don’t seem to ever stop working. I wish we could take a break sometimes.”

But you did take a three-year break in 2005 after you released your fourth studio album, For Me, It’s You.

“Yeah, that was a bit too long of a break, hahahaha!”

What did you and the other members do during that break?

“You know what, I have kids so I enjoyed just being a father. But I still played music and wrote music. I played with some guys in L.A. Basically, for the most part I was just a family guy and it felt good to be kind of a normal person for a while.”

Why, isn’t being a singer/performer not normal?

“No, it’s not. It’s a different lifestyle when you are always traveling and you’re not home that much. It’s really a demanding career but just the same, I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I love being a performer. It feels good.”

      What about Jimmy and Patrick? Would you know what they did during that break?

“Pat did a solo record but it didn’t do as well as he had hoped. Jimmy tried to write a book. It’s done but it hasn’t been published yet. Let’s see what’s gonna happen with that.”

There are so many groups and so many sounds. How can we tell if it’s a Train sound? What makes Train different from the rest?

“Well, uhm, I think it’s Pat’s voice. We have a lot of rock ‘n roll singer right now but Pat’s lyrics are unusual, very different from those of other groups. Pat’s lyrics can be very deep and profound, and they can be corny. I don’t think anybody really writes like Pat does. That’s supposed to be our secret weapon and now it’s out, hahahaha!”

Your songs are largely inspired by real-life experiences, like Drops of Jupiter which is about the mom of…whose member?

“Yeah, it was Pat’s mom. Pat wrote a song after his mom died. He wrote about his experiences with her coming back to him and visiting him every once in a while.”

Can you give a brief background of some of your other songs? First, Hey Soul Sister.

“It’s a song about women, of course. There’s an event in California called Burning Men. It’s a big festival and everybody goes out to the desert and, you know, makes art. Everybody dances around, drinks and parties. Pat had a vision of that event. He imagined these beautiful women enjoying the party, just dancing around.”

What about Marry Me? To whom is that song addressed?

“You know, Pat is so in love with his wife. They’ve been together for about eight years. Ever since she has been in his life, Pat has been writing more love songs, positive love songs, and I think he was fantasizing about when a guy is in a café he sees a woman who he thinks is just perfect and beautiful. He wonders if it’s just cool if he just walks up to her and asks her to marry him.”

What about Shake It Up?

“That was a song for Coca-Cola.”

And Save Me, San Francisco? It sounds like a cry for help.

“You know, over the course of our career, we sort of lost touch with our roots. Uhm, I think we lost touch with what’s important in being a band, which is writing songs that come from the heart and just focusing on what’s important rather than trying to make a lot of money and be famous. So since we are a band that was formed in San Francisco, in our last album we asked San Francisco to take us back, help us go back to our roots and be the guys that we used to be…and write music for the right reasons.”

Any song, not necessarily yours, that you want to sing over and over again maybe to lift your spirit?

“Uhm…there’s so much music that I love. I would say that one song that influenced me the most was Led Zeppelin. I just love their music. I love everything about them.”

Do you, Jimmy and Patrick agree all the time? Or do you ever, as may be expected, sometimes disagree on choice of songs, etc.?

“Well, there was a period of time when we didn‘t get along very well. That was what made us take that three-year break. At the end of the break, we realized how important we were in each other’s lives. Now, I really respect Pat and Jimmy; we feel the same way about each other. We are very lucky to be together and have a career. We realized that we couldn’t have it without each other. Now, we are very much a brotherhood.”

Did you all grow up in San Francisco?

“No. None of us is from San Francisco. I’m from New York. Pat is from Pennsylvania. Jimmy is from Chicago. But our band was formed in San Francisco in 1994.”

It’s your first time to perform in Manila. Give us an idea of how your concert is gonna be.

“We have actually played in Manila, at a shopping mall. It was one of our favorite concerts. The fans were so excited. There was so much energy and they were just screaming and dancing. It was really, really fun. We can hardly wait to go back there and do an even more fun concert.”

Would you hit Manila as hard as a speeding train?

“Yes, we would! Wait and see, hahahaha!”

(Note: Train Live in Manila is presented by DAYLY Entertainment, Rockstar Touring and LAMC Productions in partnership with Smart, Mossimo Music, ABS-CBN, Star World Fox and MYX. Tickets prices are P4,500 for Patron VIP, P4,000 for Patron, P3,000 for Lower Box, P2,300 for Upper Box A, P1,200 for Upper Box B and P600 for General Patronage. Call Ticketnet at 911-5555.)

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