Train – Pat Monahan

By: Lori Smerilson Carson

Some people have the ability to be innovative, create and multi-task, basically at the same time.

Singer/Songwriter Pat Monahan is definitely one of those people. He has been featured in movies,

several television shows such as Magnum, P.I., Hawaii Five-O, American Idol and The Voice, as well as

racking up Grammy awards, and Gold and Platinum status records with his band Train. Since the release

of their self-titled debut album in 1998, they have sold over thirty million singles and ten million albums

globally. In 2002, they received their first two Grammy Awards (Best Rock Song and Best Instrumental

Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for their song “Drops of Jupiter” which has also achieved 7x

platinum RIAA status. In 2011, they won their third Grammy Award (Best Pop Performance by a Duo or

Group with Vocals) for their world-renown hit “Hey, Soul Sister” which spawned from their 2009 multi-

platinum LP Save Me, San Francisco.

This past April, Monahan and fellow bandmates Guitarist Taylor Locke, Bassist Hector Maldonado,

Keyboardist Jerry Becker and Drummer Matt Musty released their newest single “Long Yellow Dress”

and will be rocking the music world this summer with a live album Live at Royal Albert Hall. In addition,

they are touring across the country on their Summer Road Trip 2024 Tour, co-headlining with REO

Speedwagon and special guest, Yacht Rock Revue. Pittsburgh fans can catch this sure to be amazing

experience on July 11th at Stage AE, and for Ohio fans, shows will be on July 12th in Cincinnati at

Riverbend Music Center and July 15th in Cuyahoga Falls at Blossom Music Center.

Catching up with Monahan just prior to the tour, he revealed some details about the new show, the new

single, and the upcoming live album. He also divulged information about some new projects, and what

fans can look forward to.

On Tour Magazine: How did the Summer Road Trip 2024 Tour co-headlining with REO Speedwagon

come about? You have worked with Kevin Cronin previously?

Pat Monahan: Yeah. So, I met Kevin years ago at a Sammy Hagar charity event, and Kevin and I just got

on really well like Sammy and I do, and like Sammy does with everybody. I’ve been such a fan of Kevin’s

music since I was a kid growing up in Pennsylvania, that we just thought maybe we should try to work

together at some point. So, I think maybe it’s been four years, and we finally found a time to do it and it

seemed like the right timing for both of us. So, we put this tour together, and both the bands are named

after vehicles, so we called it the Summer Road Trip Tour, and we invited our friends Yacht Rock Revue

out from Atlanta which they’re an incredible band that plays all of the greatest yacht rock music

available. They are on our cruise every other year as well, as the number one requested band as they

should be.

On Tour Magazine: You guys did a couple of show previews on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Good Morning

America which was awesome with the medley. What can fans look forward to with this new show?

Monahan: Well, you know, when it comes to as many songs that people will want to hear from both

bands, I think it’s going to be hard to do a mashup of anything because it might be disappointing that

someone can’t hear all of “Drops of Jupiter” or all of “Roll with the Changes”, or anything that REO has. I

know as a fan of theirs, that I’m gonna want to hear all their songs. So, I think that we’re planning on

joining each other onstage for a potential amazing cover that will be great, and then the rest, we always

try to have a different show for people every year.

On Tour Magazine: I heard the new single “Long Yellow Dress”. I love the funky rock, awesome Train

sound, and your vocals are still really strong and amazing! What inspired that song? Is it about a break

up?

Monahan: It’s kind of a break up song. Thank you for your compliment by the way.

On Tour Magazine: You’re welcome.

Monahan: It stems from me having a dream. A couple days later, not having thought about it much, I

sent a voice memo to two guys in my band of me just going like (he sang) dundun ch dun ch dun dah

dah. So, you can hear that in the beginning of the track. Then referring to the dream, I was trying to

follow a woman in a long yellow dress throughout my dream that I couldn’t find, that may have been my

wife and because I never found her, it felt like a break up, but I really felt like that long yellow dress was

where I was supposed to be. So, that’s basically what the song is about. It felt like obviously, we’re not

together anymore, but I want to be, and how do I get to be around you and your long yellow dress.

On Tour Magazine: You all also have a live album coming out this summer which was recorded at and

is called Live at Royal Albert Hall in England. How did this come about? What can fans look forward

to?

Monahan: Well, we are all fans of classic rock bands and every kind of music. I listen to a lot of hip hop,

but the Led Zeppelin era was really big for me as a kid. I’ve heard Live from Royal Albert Hall Led

Zeppelin tracks for years and we finally had a chance to perform there, and so we thought we should

record it. We don’t have to use it, but we should definitely have it and film it. So, we did that and it

turned out really great! I think that we, in the next few weeks, will be releasing it. I just heard mixes of it

three days ago. They have to make a few changes and then we’ll watch a visual of it. It was an incredibly

inspiring evening. The crowd was incredible. The venue is absolutely a bucket list, not just to perform

there, but to see anything there is really a magnificent place. If you ever get the chance to see anything

there, you should.

On Tour Magazine: I’ve heard wonderful things about it. The last time we spoke was when the AM

GOLD album was released in 2022. This Fall will be the Fifteenth anniversary of your album SAVE ME,

SAN FRANCISCO, and “Hey, Soul Sister” has now surpassed over one billion (Spotify) streams which is

amazing! What would you say inspires your music when you write?

Monahan: I think it always changes. When I was a kid, desperation was the inspiration. Then it turned to

broken heartedness, and then it turned to me finding my wife and it was all just inspiration and love,

and as time goes on, it’s more reflective. I’m writing an album now that is more of an Americana album

that is more reflective. It just changes and it should. It should be evolving, not just musically, but as a

person. We get this short time here. You might as well learn a little bit. Try to figure some things out

and enjoy it.

On Tour Magazine: Train has earned Multi-Platinum, Gold and Diamond status records. You’ve sold

over ten million albums, have three Grammy Awards, two Billboard Music Awards, just to name a

few. What would you say attributes to that success and longevity?

Monahan: I think a longing to be relevant and also, I’ve never been mad at the music business. Like

when it went from cassettes to CDs, to iTunes, to streaming, I never got mad at any of it. I was never

supposed to be a rich guy. I was always supposed to be someone who could sing some songs and have

some laughs. So, my dreams have been far surpassed, but I have a twelve-year-old son who, he’s going

to have to figure out how to get there because music is what he wants, and he’s really, really talented.

He’s got an incredible voice. Maybe I can help him, but as time goes on, this whole game gets younger

and I don’t, and so he’s going to understand it more than I am. I can guide him a little, but he’s going to

have to make his own inspiration and own path, and make his own fans. I think he’ll do great at it, but

every new kid has a new journey that I think you’ve just got to, you got to figure it out.

On Tour Magazine: He has a wonderful role model that’s for sure. We will keep our eyes open for him.

You’ve also been in a lot of shows and movies. The last time we spoke, you were in the Hallmark

movie named after your Christmas In Tahoe album (released in 2015) with your friend George Lopez.

Monahan: Yeah.

On Tour Magazine: You were hoping that they would take the characters and merge them to create a

new movie. Did that ever happen?

Monahan: It hasn’t happened yet. I think in my career, if I don’t make it happen, it doesn’t happen. So, I

think we have to come up with some ideas, and maybe some script ideas and present it. That might be

my next step, but I’m so busy trying to figure out how to finish a musical called Begin Again that is

getting closer and closer that, it’s really where my time is being spent.

On Tour Magazine: Tell me about that. Is it going to be for Broadway?

Monahan: Yes. It’s for Broadway and we’ve been working on it for three and a half years. I think the

music is about eighty percent there, and the book itself is maybe fifty percent there. Once we get it a

little bit further, I think we can start looking for theaters.

On Tour Magazine: Your Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company has won over one hundred medals

and the proceeds go to Family House which helps families help their children with cancer and other

life-threatening illnesses. Is there anything new on this front? Any new wines?

Monahan: We don’t have anything yet, but we have a really good plan together so that by our cruise,

we will have three new varietals and it’ll be really great for our cruisers and potentially everyone online,

but the wine business you know, it’s tough. It’s like the old-time music business where you’re struggling

for shelf space, and it’s hard to get shelf space when Bud Light and Truly, and now all these new THC

infused beverages are coming into the market. It’s hard to go with that old school bottle of wine that is

always going to be trustworthy, but you have to come up with a new concept every time.

On Tour Magazine: Well, I’m the old school bottle of wine.

Monahan: Yeah, I am too.

On Tour Magazine: Is there anything else you want people to look forward to with the Summer Road

Trip 2024 Tour and new music? Any other singles that will be coming out?



Monahan: Just a new album hopefully in the beginning of 2025 that everybody can dig into, but until

then, I think the summer tour, the Summer Road Trip is going to be a lot of fun. It’ll be three hours of

music that you know. It’s gonna be a pretty cool night.