Train (band)

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Train
Origin San Francisco, California, USA
Genres Alternative rock
Jam bands
Roots rock
Years active 1994 - present
Labels Columbia, Aware
Website www.trainline.com
Members
Patrick Monahan
Scott Underwood
Jimmy Stafford
Former members
Rob Hotchkiss
Charlie Colin
Brandon Bush
Johnny Colt

Train is a Grammy Award-winning rock band formed in San Francisco, California. To date, three of their albums have peaked in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 and have sold a total of over 4 million albums in the US. Four of their songs have been top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 including their biggest hit "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)". Train has found success on modern adult contemporary radio stations, where they have had nine songs in the top 20 of the Hot Adult Top 40 Tracks chart.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Emergence and first album

The group started out in San Francisco with only two members, Patrick Monahan (lead vocals) who was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Rob Hotchkiss (guitar, vocals), who performed in coffee houses and local clubs. Monahan had previously been a member of a Led Zeppelin cover band before turning his attention to creating his own music. Hotchkiss had been the lead singer for L.A.-based "Apostles." After deciding to form a full band, the duo recruited Jimmy Stafford on guitar, Charlie Colin on bass and, at a later date, Scott Underwood as drummer. Train attempted to get signed under Columbia Records in 1996 but were rejected. By 1997 they were touring nationally, opening concerts for groups such as Barenaked Ladies and Counting Crows.

The band members financed their self-titled debut, which cost them a total of $25,000 to produce. Columbia Records agreed to sign Train under Aware Records after hearing their first album. Their song "Free" saw significant airplay on mainstream rock radio, later being featured in the TV show Party of Five. Train then released the song "Meet Virginia" as a single. The song became a major hit on modern adult contemporary radio stations, and became a top 20 pop hit. The success of "Meet Virginia" helped their album graduate from the Top Heatseekers chart and enter the top half of the Billboard 200 album chart.

[edit] Drops of Jupiter

Pat Monahan performing in West Palm Beach

Prior to the release of their second album, the band issued the single "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)". The song entered the Hot 100 on March 10, 2001, and spent over a year on the chart (53 weeks) before being relegated to the recurrents chart. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, as well as a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement.

The album Drops of Jupiter was released on March 27, 2001, and became Train's first multi-platinum album, due in part to the strength of the leading single. Drops of Jupiter was produced by Brendan O' Brien, who had previously worked for artists such as Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young. The album was Train's first top 10 album, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard 200. The album was also a top 10 hit in the UK, where it peaked at number 8. "She's on Fire", the second single from Drops of Jupiter was a modest success on radio and was featured in the 2001 comedy The Animal with Rob Schneider. During the Drops of Jupiter tour, the band released a live DVD of a sold out concert in the band's hometown of San Francisco at the Warfield theatre. The DVD was titled Midnight Moon and featured Train's hits from the first two albums among other fan favorites. Included is also the Led Zeppelin cover of "Ramble On". The concert was recorded on May 21, 2001. In 2002, founder Rob Hotchkiss left the band to pursue a solo career, after having contributed to 6 of the 11 songs on the upcoming My Private Nation album. Also in 2002, Train was chosen to do a cover of Aerosmith's classic rock song "Dream On" on an episode of MTV's show Icon that was dedicated entirely to Aerosmith. Train now performs the song live at many of their concerts. Since 1998, Train has performed thousands of concerts in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia. Their tour manager is Thomas O'Keefe.

[edit] My Private Nation

The band's third album, My Private Nation, was released in June 2003 with "Calling All Angels" as the lead single. "Calling All Angels" became Train's third top 20 hit, and was a major hit on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. The song became popular for a short time in 2009, when Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a car accident. The album's second single was "When I Look to the Sky", which was also a Hot 100 hit. The song was also used for the trailer of the 2004 movie Jersey Girl. In 2004, their non-album song "Ordinary" was featured in the movie Spider-Man 2. In 2007, it was featured again, this time in the NBC series Heroes. The music video for "Ordinary" was in rotation on MTV, but the song only charted on the Adult Top 40. In July 2005, after the song was featured in an advertising campaign for Cingular, the band released "Get to Me" as the final single from My Private Nation. "Get to Me" reached #9 on the Billboard Adult Top 40. The band released their first live album, Alive at Last, in 2004. Also in 2004, Train won a Radio Music Award for best artist.

[edit] For Me, It's You

Train began recording their fourth studio album, For Me, It's You, in Atlanta during the summer of 2005. They released the first single "Cab" on November 14, and the album was released on January 31, 2006. The album failed commercially, since becoming their first career album to fail to receive an RIAA certification to date, as well as produce a Billboard Hot 100 charting single. The album was the only Train album to include members Johnny Colt on bass (formerly of The Black Crowes original line up) and Brandon Bush on keyboards.

[edit] Break from recording and Save Me San Francisco

Starting in November 2006, the band took a break from recording and touring to be with friends and family. Lead singer Pat Monahan released a solo album, Last of Seven, on September 18, 2007. The first single, "Her Eyes", was released in July, with a second single, "Two Ways to Say Goodbye", following. Both the single and the album, however, performed poorly commercially, despite generally favorable reviews.

Train announced in April of 2009 that the band would be returning to its three original members with the departure of Johnny Colt and Brandon Bush. On August 11, 2009, Train released their first single in over 3 years, "Hey Soul Sister," from their latest album Save Me San Francisco, which was subsequently released on October 27, 2009. The single has become a major success, becoming their second-career Top Ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in its sixteenth week on the chart, after surging from #23 to #7 on the week of January 30, 2010 largely due to an 81% increase in digital sales from the previous week. It is now their highest-charting hit since 2001 "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)".[1]

Monahan and the rest of Train were featured on the December 16, 2009 episode of CSI: NY, with Monahan acting as the next victim of a serial murder spree.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US
[2]
US Rock
[2]
CAN
[2]
UK
[3]
AUS
[4]
NZ
[5]
NOR
[6]
ITA
[7]
SWE
[8]
SWI
[9]
1998 Train
  • First studio album
  • Release date: February 24, 1998
  • Label: Aware/Columbia Records
76
2001 Drops of Jupiter
  • Second studio album
  • Release date: March 27, 2001
  • Label: Columbia Records
6 14 8 3 20 9 20 39 32
2003 My Private Nation
  • Third studio album
  • Release date: June 3, 2003
  • Label: Columbia Records
6 * 100 29 44 91
2006 For Me, It's You
  • Fourth studio album
  • Release date: January 31, 2006
  • Label: Columbia Records
10 *
2009 Save Me San Francisco
  • Fifth studio album
  • Release date: October 27, 2009
  • Label: Columbia Records
17 7
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
* denotes unknown peak positions

[edit] Live albums

Year Album details
2004 Alive at Last
  • First live album
  • Release date: November 2, 2004
  • Label: Columbia Records

[edit] EPs

Year Album details
1999 One and a Half
  • First extended play
  • Release date: 1999
  • Label: Columbia Records

[edit] Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions RIAA[13] Album
US
[14]
US Main
[14]
US
Alt

[14]
US AC
[14]
US Adult
[14]
UK
[3]
AUS
[15]
NZ
[16]
1998 "Free" 12 Train
1999 "Meet Virginia" 15 21 25 2
2000 "I Am" 35
2001 "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" 5 19 11 8 1 10 5 5 Gold Drops of Jupiter
"She's on Fire" 40 21 49
2002 "Something More" 20
2003 "Calling All Angels" 19 40 1 1 22 32 Gold My Private Nation
2004 "When I Look to the Sky" 74 24 2 37
"Ordinary" 12 Spider-Man 2 (soundtrack)
2005 "Get to Me" 6 My Private Nation
"Cab" 19 9 For Me, It's You
2006 "Give Myself to You" 34
"Am I Reaching You Now"
2009 "Hey, Soul Sister"A 7 22 1 Gold Save Me San Francisco
"—" denotes releases that did not chart
  • A Current single.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Billboard: Train Song Debut: "Hey Soul Sister"". Billboard. 2009-08-10. http://www.billboard.com/#/features/train-song-debut-hey-soul-sister-1004001639.story. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
  2. ^ a b c Allmusic Staff. "allmusic ((( Train > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gzfixqqgldae~T5. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  3. ^ a b "Chart Stats - Train". chartstats.com. http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=9607. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  4. ^ "australian-charts.com - Australian charts portal". australian-chart.com. http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?search=Train&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  5. ^ "charts.org.nx - New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/search.asp?search=Train&cat=a. 
  6. ^ "norwegiancharts.com - Norwegian charts portal". norwegiancharts.com. http://norwegiancharts.com/search.asp?cat=a&search=Train. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  7. ^ "italiancharts.com - Italian charts portal". italiancharts.com. http://italiancharts.com/search.asp?cat=a&search=Train. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  8. ^ "swedishcharts.com - Swedish charts portal". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/search.asp?search=Train&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  9. ^ "Di Offizielle Scweizer Hitparade". hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/search.asp?search=Train&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  10. ^ a b c "RIAA - Gold & Platinum - December 22, 2009: Train certified albums". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=Train%20&format=ALBUM&go=Search&perPage=50. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  11. ^ "Canadian Recording Indusry Association search results". Canadian Recording Industry Association. http://www.cria.ca/cert_db_search.php. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  12. ^ "British Phonographic Industry search results". British Phonographic Industry. http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  13. ^ "RIAA - January 7, 2010: Train Singles". Recording Industry Association of America. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH_RESULTS&artist=Train%20&format=SINGLE&go=Search&perPage=50. Retrieved 2010-01-07. 
  14. ^ a b c d e Allmusic Staff. "allmusic ((( Train > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gzfixqqgldae~T51. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  15. ^ "australian-charts.com - Australian charts portal". australian-charts.com. http://www.australian-charts.com/search.asp?cat=s&search=Train. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 
  16. ^ "charts.org.nz - New Zealand charts portal". charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/search.asp?search=Train&cat=a. Retrieved 2009-12-22. 

[edit] External links