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COVER FEATUREAll Aboard…TRAIN Rolls Back Into Town
by Cathy Mein
Train kicked off their 2006 tour in support of their recent Columbia Records release, For Me It’s You, in San Francisco on March 16th.
On the third night of their four night stop at the legendary Fillmore, I sat down with the band’s guitar player, Jimmy Stafford, to talk about the latest CD, an impressive new tour production and the band’s relationship with the city of Chicago.
A lot has changed for the members of Train since they first played The Fillmore as an opening act in 1996 — founding members have left the band, new musicians have come on board, marriages have begun and ended inspiring entire albums, Grammys have been won and there has been much radio success.
Unlike the old days where band members were surrounded by women and booze pre-show – “We used to get paid in beer,” singer Pat Monahan has said many times – this particular night during soundcheck finds band member’s kids running around The Fillmore dance floor, an Xbox nearby and sushi and Smart Water in the dressing room.
It appears with time and maturity comes change.
“We’ve been through a lot as a band and grown a lot over the years,” says Stafford. “Each of our four studio releases has had a different sound and that’s just a matter of growth and maturity and spending time together as a band and knowing each other musically and personally, and I think our records have matured over the years.”
“It’s weird looking back at each record— at the time My Private Nation was being recorded the band was in turmoil. Certain band members weren’t happy with the direction the music was going, certain band members had personal issues going on, the band wasn’t getting along great and our producer had to help us with writing music just so we could finish the record. We were writing the music as we were recording. It was a difficult record to make and at one point we all wondered if we would ever even finish it,” Stafford recalled.
“People just weren’t happy,” he continued. “Then Rob [Hotchkiss, Train’s former keyboard player and founding member] left the band before it was even done because he just got fed up.”
With a change in line up that now includes Brandon Bush on keyboards and former bassist for the Black Crowes, Johnny Colt, the writing and recording process for Train’s latest CD came much easier to the band.
“We hadn’t planned on making a new record. We were asked to go in and record a song for a Reese Witherspoon movie. Pat had this song he wrote with Brandon called ‘Give Myself To You,’ that we decided to use for the movie and when we went in to record it we felt so great and it was going so smoothly that our producer, Brendan O’Brien [Pearl Jam, Black Crowes, Soundgarden], played the song for our record company and management and they wanted more,” explained Stafford.
“All of a sudden we found ourselves making a record instead of just a song for a movie and in the end we didn’t give that song to the movie, we kept it for the album. We ended up staying in the studio for six weeks from start to finish including mixing and mastering. It was a smooth process this time,” he added.
“Additionally, Brandon and Johnny are both really talented musicians. These guys are seasoned pros and when they came in it made me and Scott [Underwood, Train’s drummer] step up musically. I think they brought the whole band up. Musically we’re tighter on the new CD and in live shows, plus Johnny Colt is a true bass player which is different for us. Our former bass player, Charlie Colin, was a fantastic guitar player that played bass, so he played bass like a guitar player and had his own unique style. It sounded really good, but what was often lacking was the low end, the bottom bass; what the instrument is really supposed to be about. Johnny is a bass player who knows how to fill out the frequency really well so he’s added a lot there.”
Johnny Colt has brought more to the band than just musical acumen, he also spearheaded the new stage production which includes two eighteen-wheelers worth of gear.
“In the past we would just tour with a backdrop, but now we have a lot more lighting and six set changes. The production has gotten so big that we can’t even fit half of it into some of the venues. There’s a mid-stage curtain for when we do an acoustic set, which we’ve never done as part of our show before. We’ve got a kabuki drop — a curtain in front of the stage that when we come on there will be images projected on and you’ll see silhouettes of us behind the curtain. We’ve added bubbles and a confetti blaster,” Jimmy tells me, sounding more like an excited teenager in his first band than a veteran musician who has played hundreds of shows around the world.
“It’s just a much bigger rock show than we’ve ever done. We’re even traveling with our own floor that will cover the stage so it has a sleeker, nicer look to it. I think people will be impressed with it and it makes us feel like we’re part of a big rock show and we project better because of that. There’s a confidence when we walk onto that stage every night and we know that people are going to see something they haven’t seen from Train before,” he continued.
The production has changed the way the band creates their set list each night and taken away the ability to make spontaneous song changes during the show, however.
“On past tours Pat and I used to just sit down after sound check during dinner and come up with a list we wanted to play. Sometimes we’d even change it during the show. This tour we have to stick a bit more to a skeleton set list every night because we’ve got production moves, backdrops switches, scene changes and lighting queues. You don’t want confetti going off in the middle of a ballad like ‘Mississippi,’” he laughs, “so we now have to create the set list earlier in the day and have a production meeting to get everyone on the same page. It’s a little more work, but it’s worth it.”
One song that there is no immediate plan to add to the set list is the only cover the band has ever included on a studio album, Sugar’s “If I Can’t Change Your Mind.”
“The guys are a little weird about it, like that’s the ugly step-sister song,” confides Stafford, “The reason that ended up on For Me It’s You is because our producer was driving around listening to some retro lunch box on the radio and thought that we could do a great cover of it.”
“Brendan knows us well enough that if he played us the song, we tend to mimic songs, but with that tune he wanted to do a different version of it, a Train version, so he didn’t let us listen to it,” continued Stafford.
“So Brendan demo-ed up his own version just so we could hear the chord changes and melody and we listened to that version and went into the studio and learned it as if it was a new Train song. When it comes to set lists, we still haven’t put it in yet. When we play it as a full band it sounds a little poppy and a little bouncy-radio, so we’re trying to work up an acoustic version of it just so we can play it in a show once and awhile and make it sound a little more interesting and fun. We like the song… it’s just not ours.”
As for returning to Chicago with their new production, Stafford says the band members are excited to make it back to their “home away from home.”
“We have a lot of friends and family in Chicago. Gregg Latterman [the founder/CEO of Chicago-based Aware Records] and the people at Aware are good friends. They helped developed us and Gregg is a really smart guy with a great ear, so his opinion is important to us. He’s family to this band,” noted Stafford.
“Plus, I grew up in the Chicago area in Morris, about an hour south of the city, so I have family there,” he added. “I have a house in Las Vegas, but I just recently decided I needed to have a place in Chicago too. Whenever I’m there it feels like home. I love the city, I love the people and the sports teams, so I’m excited to be an official Chicago resident. When we do our show in Chicago that will be my first time staying in my new condo and I’m excited about it! Plus, the stage at the Chicago Theatre is big enough that we’ll be able to use the entire new production.”
Along with touring, the band will also soon release their follow up to the hit single “Cab,” called “Give Myself To You.”
The song is currently undergoing a radio remix from the album version to give muted vocals at the beginning “more punch,” and band members are reviewing director reels for video concepts and finding time in their schedule for filming. They also have tentative plans to tour Australia, Europe and Japan although no dates are set.
It seems Train is going to be exceptionally busy over the next few years, but ultimately Jimmy Stafford’s plans for his band are refreshingly basic – “We just want to keep doing music with this formation of the band and we want to keep making records, keep touring and enjoy life… oh yeah, and golf a little bit when we have time…”
Look for Train’s Columbia Records release, For Me It’s You, available now in stores and at iTunes.
For tour dates and more band info pay a visit to Train’s official website at: www.trainline.com
TRAIN perform APRIL 15th at Chicago Theatre in Chicago
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