Train Makes Stop At Café
The pop-rock group Train has had a string of hits over the past few years, most notably "Drops of Jupiter" and "Calling All Angels."
Train made a stop in The Saturday Early Show's Second Cup Cafe to do an acoustic set from the band's latest album, "My Private Nation."
Pat Monahan (lead vocalist), Charlie Colin (bass/vocals), Jimmy Stafford (guitar/vocals) and Scott Underwood (drums) are the remaining members of the rock group Train. Rob Hotchkiss left the group prior to the work on the new "My Private Nation" CD.
On a previous visit toThe Early Show, Monahan said, "I think Rob made the decision to move on because traveling, really, in this line of work -- it gets to be pretty intense. But we have always loved it. And I think that it exhausted him. And we felt that he made that decision for us as well. So we feel like there's this great enthusiasm that we have for the future. So everything is right where we'd like it to be."
Underwood says "My Private Nation" is a snapshot of the band that reflects the change and growth spurred by the "Drops of Jupiter" whirlwind.
Train began in 1994 when Pat Monahan, an Erie, Pa., native living in Los Angeles, met Rob Hotchkiss. They later moved to San Francisco and Scott Underwood came on board as drummer shortly thereafter .
In 1996, the band went to New York City to play a showcase for Columbia Records. The company turned it down. "We decided maybe they were right," Monahan said, years later. "We made a lot of changes with the band, and I changed in my life by asking myself how I could be a better bandmate, friend, husband and father."
The band's self-released and self-titled debut album was produced by the band and Curtis Mathewson. In February 1998, Aware/Columbia picked it up and the band hit the road in a rundown 1987 Dodge Ram van with a little red trailer. It stayed on the road with them for the next two years.
In the fall of 1998, the Fox TV series "Party of Five" began to feature Train's first single, "Free," which had already received steady radio play. By August, a second single, "Meet Virginia," led Train to a four-week stay at Number 1 on Billboard Charts. In November 1999, the album went gold; it went platinum in March 2000.
Early in 2000, Train took a break from the road and began recording a new album with producer Brendan O'Brien.
When "Drops of Jupiter" arrived on March 27, 2001, its title track, "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)," was already a hit on several Billboard charts.
By June, "Drops of Jupiter" was certified platinum. By April 2002, the single had spent a total of 53 weeks on the Hot 100. The song won a Best Rock Song Grammy for Train, as well as a Best Arrangement Grammy for orchestrator Paul Buckmaster.
"Drops of Jupiter" became one of the years' biggest hits in 2001.