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Twenty-five years after Drops of Jupiter became one of Train’s defining albums, Pat Monahan is celebrating the past while keeping his eyes firmly on what’s next.The multi-GRAMMY Award-winning band is currently on its Drops of Jupiter: 25 Years in the Atmosphere Tour with Barenaked Ladies and Matt Nathanson, ahead of the August 28 release of Train’s 12th studio album, Mad Dog in the Fog.And this time, Monahan has a special tourmate. “My 14-year-old son is with me, so he's performing every night and going viral on the internet,” Monahan told LifeMinute's editor-in-chief Joann Butler during the Joann Butler in Studio With... interview. Of all the songs he has written, Monahan still considers “Drops of Jupiter” the most significant. “Writing that about my mom… for it to connect with people like it has over the years, pretty cool,” he said.The 2001 hit has since earned RIAA Diamond status and surpassed two billion Spotify streams. Train’s new album, Mad Dog in the Fog, brings Monahan back to the band’s beginnings. Named after a San Francisco bar where Train played for free in its early days, the record traces what he describes as his journey “from Pennsylvania to San Francisco.”His road to Train almost sounds like a movie itself. While Monahan was playing in a cover band in Erie, Pennsylvania, members of Cher’s touring band happened to catch his set. Cher guitarist David Shelley pulled him aside afterward and told him, “You need to move to LA because you've got the thing.” It was the push Monahan needed to take a chance on music — a decision that would ultimately lead him to Train. Monahan also opens up about the deeply personal story behind new song “Pennsylvania Turnpike,” finding his own voice as a songwriter, his upcoming musical Begin Again, and why he believes music can heal, guide and bring people back. This is LifeMinute with Train's Pat Monahan.
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00:00The true story that I don't really share with everybody is...
00:04Unbelievable 25 years.
00:06I think Drops of Jupiter is the most important.
00:09Writing that about my mom.
00:11We've been on tour.
00:12My 14-year-old son is with me,
00:15so he's performing every night and going viral.
00:18And Cher's guitarist discovered you, is that right?
00:21Yeah, well, he called me over and gave me his phone number
00:23and said, you need to move to LA because you got the thing.
00:26The new album.
00:27It's just a whole bunch of feel-good songs.
00:29Yeah, it's called Mad Dog in the Fog.
00:32What does music do for people?
00:33Heals, guides, helps, reminds us, brings people back.
00:39If you are gifted music because it's a gift
00:42and you choose to use AI, you're not in the club anymore.
00:47Hey, you're watching Joanne Butler in studio with me,
00:50Pat Monahan from The Band Train.
00:53Thanks for being here on Life Minute.
00:55So happy to have you.
00:56I'm happy to be here.
00:57Congratulations on your tour and your new album coming.
01:00Thanks.
01:01How has it been going?
01:02It's been great.
01:03We've been on tour.
01:04It's the Drops of Jupiter 25 Years in the Atmosphere tour
01:08because that album has been out now for 25 years.
01:12My 14-year-old son is with me.
01:14So he's performing every night and going viral on the intro net.
01:18But that's been a lot of fun.
01:19And the Bare Naked Ladies and Matt Nathanson are just nothing but great joy to be around.
01:25I love it.
01:25What are fans getting when they come see you?
01:27Everything.
01:29I think they're getting great shows from all of us.
01:33New material from us, Drops of Jupiter material, all the familiar songs.
01:38I think visually it's the most beautiful production we've ever had and being able to go to musicals.
01:45And I learn a lot from musicals and also from going to concerts.
01:49Like not just what I love and what would be good to incorporate, but also what I don't like or
01:56what I wouldn't want to incorporate.
01:58Yeah, I've been able to go to a couple shows this week.
02:01Me and two guys in my band, Jerry Becker and Matt Musty, have written all the music for a musical
02:06that finally debuts at the Old Globe in San Diego in September.
02:11I'm really excited about it.
02:12I think it's turned out to be a beautiful musical.
02:14Begin Again.
02:15Begin Again.
02:16Yeah, that's really exciting.
02:18Yeah.
02:18Can you tell us a little bit about the new album coming?
02:21Yeah, it's called Mad Dog in the Fog, which is a bar in San Francisco that we would go play
02:31for free.
02:31Like when we started Train in San Francisco, the coffee houses in the area from all over like East Bay,
02:40you know, South Bay, North Bay, right in the city, they were booming.
02:44Coffee houses were a big deal and allowing people to come in and play music for free was also a
02:51big deal.
02:52And that was big for us because it gives us give us an opportunity to perhaps win some people over.
02:57And then when the band was, you know, finally five pieces, we grew out of coffee houses.
03:03But we had all of those experiences that we could contact hundreds of people that come out and see us
03:10at different venues.
03:11And it was great.
03:12So anyway, the album in its entirety is about basically my voyage from Pennsylvania to San Francisco and all the
03:19life lived through it.
03:21Yes.
03:21And I saw the new video, Pennsylvania Turnpike.
03:24Yeah.
03:24It's such a beautiful little story about your whole life, really.
03:28Yeah.
03:29You know, the true story that I don't really share with everybody is that I wrote the song when a
03:36dear friend of mine was sick and he passed away a couple months ago.
03:40Oh, I'm sorry.
03:41And he's from Philadelphia and lived in San Francisco forever.
03:45And I'm from Erie, Pennsylvania.
03:47And I lived in San Francisco for a long time.
03:51Then I met my wife and we live in Seattle.
03:53But I wrote the song about had he and I known each other, what it would have been like to
04:00drive to San Francisco together.
04:02Because we met later in life.
04:05And he was one of the loveliest, most amazing guys.
04:09And just that, you know, just drive and we'll get to where we need to go.
04:15So anyway, that's that's the real story.
04:17Oh, it's so beautiful.
04:19I'm so sorry for your loss.
04:20But I'm glad you had that friendship.
04:22He's still with me somewhere.
04:23That's right.
04:24For sure.
04:24What's your favorite song on the album?
04:28You know, it changes.
04:30I think it's a song called Blue Brush Butterfly.
04:34And it's actually a story that is about a woman.
04:38But honestly, I wrote it about my first bass player.
04:42He was an incredible artist and a beautiful bass player.
04:47But hard to tame, like taming a butterfly.
04:51And so this is about how impossible it is to tame a butterfly.
04:57I did listen to the whole album.
04:58It's awesome.
04:59Oh, thanks.
05:00It's just a whole bunch of feel good songs.
05:02I felt good, especially the weekend one.
05:04Oh, yeah.
05:05The weekend's fun.
05:05What's your favorite song you've ever written?
05:07I don't know what my favorite song is.
05:10But I think Drops of Jupiter is the most important.
05:13Writing that about my mom was a big...
05:16For it to connect with people like it has over the years.
05:19It's pretty cool.
05:20It has an unbelievable 25 years.
05:22It's amazing.
05:23Did you ever think?
05:24You know, I never really know what songs will connect with people.
05:29Like a lot of times I'll be like, people are going to love this one.
05:31And they're like...
05:32And then there are other songs that I think no one's going to get this.
05:37Like, hey, soul sister.
05:38And people are like, I like that.
05:41I sure did.
05:42How does it work for you?
05:44Like, how does it all come together?
05:46I don't know.
05:47It all comes from weird places in my brain.
05:50And then I work with outside writers and sometimes the guys in my band.
05:56Jerry and Matt were a big part of writing on this album.
06:00And I always want to tell a story maybe differently than it's been told.
06:06Which is becoming quite a difficult thing to do.
06:10Like, saying I love you in a different way is pretty hard.
06:16Everyone's trying to do that.
06:17What do you do differently?
06:19I just try to come up with a different way to say the same thing that's been said.
06:24My father was a huge fan of great writers and lyrics.
06:30Like, Dylan Thomas was someone he loved.
06:32Obviously, Bob Dylan loved him as well.
06:35In fact, he took his name.
06:36Just being around someone in my life early on who cared that much about the English language, I think, inspired
06:44me.
06:44Yeah, it seems like you had two parents that were really, you know.
06:48Yeah, they were cool.
06:48Yeah, that's so key, right?
06:51The name Train, where did that come to be?
06:53Train was, so the guy I started Train with, he was listening to an interview of Echo and the Bunnymen,
07:02who are from the UK.
07:04And on the radio, one of them said, there's nothing romantic about America.
07:09And the guy that I started the band with said, trains are pretty romantic.
07:14And so, we just went with Train as a working title and no one had it, so we used it.
07:19Never knew that.
07:20Did you always know you wanted to be a musician?
07:22You know, I just told the story to some friends of mine.
07:25In seventh grade, I wanted to be a professional baseball player.
07:31Really?
07:31But if you would have seen me play, you'd been like, I hope he's got another gift.
07:35But we were, me and like four other boys were on our way to basketball practice in a carpool with
07:43one of the moms driving and a Michael Jackson song came on and everyone started singing along, including me.
07:50And then they all stopped and looked back at me like, what?
07:54Because I would never, I was the shyest kid.
07:57I would never want to make a peep in front of people.
08:00And they were like, dude, you sound like that.
08:03And so, I was like, maybe that's the thing that I'm supposed to do because basketball ain't it.
08:10Amazing.
08:10What about writing?
08:12How did you know that you could write or when did you ask?
08:14I started writing when I was in high school.
08:17Like early, I would write poetry and I was not a very good student.
08:21But then when we had a writing assignment, my teachers would pull me aside and say, this is a thing
08:26you can do because all the other things you can't do.
08:32And so I think, you know, it takes, it takes many, many, many tries to get something right.
08:38And I still, you know, I think of all the songs I write now, I would say that half of
08:46them make it, maybe less.
08:48But that's a much bigger percentage than it used to be.
08:51How so?
08:52Like on the Save Me San Francisco record, I wrote 82 songs.
08:57Crush Management became my managers during the making of that album.
09:02And they listened to 82 songs and about five of them were good enough to continue.
09:08Wow.
09:09So that's a pretty small percentage.
09:11And then once you kind of recognize a sound or a vibe for an album, then you can continue to
09:20write a little bit easier.
09:22And that's how this new album, Mad Dog in the Fog was.
09:27I wrote The Weeknd and it seemed like this is a good lane.
09:31Let's just write two more and we'll put them out.
09:35And then I just wouldn't stop.
09:37And they were like, that was good too.
09:39Let's just keep going.
09:40That's awesome.
09:40So cool.
09:41How do you hone your voice?
09:42I tried to emulate other people forever and always wanted to be Robert Plant.
09:48And when you realize at some point you can't be, then you just kind of be who you are.
09:55Well, I'm glad you didn't.
09:56But that original music is really important to find your voice.
10:00Like my son's 14.
10:01He's out on tour with us and doing Journey and playing guitar and singing beautifully.
10:06But it might be a minute until he finds his voice.
10:10Yeah.
10:10He was actually invited to come.
10:12He blew us off to go guitar shopping.
10:14How did he learn to play?
10:16Well, he's played guitar, you know, as a little kid.
10:21But like, he wasn't really passionate about it.
10:24He was really passionate about singing.
10:25And then we toured with REO Speedwagon.
10:28And there was a guy in the band called Dave Amato.
10:32And Dave really loved Rock, my son.
10:36And embraced him and would show him all of his guitars and kind of walk him through things.
10:40So then Rock starts getting the fever for it.
10:43And then we went and saw Sammy Hagar, who's a pal.
10:46And Joe Satriani, who is a pal, is playing all of Eddie's guitars or replicas of them.
10:53And all of those incredible, famous Van Halen licks.
10:57And that day that we went and saw them, Rock was like, that's what I'm going to do.
11:01And that's all I care about.
11:03Amazing.
11:03Amazing.
11:04He's really good.
11:05It's so funny how it's going viral.
11:07And we're just like watching it over and over again.
11:09It's amazing.
11:10He's big on the intro net.
11:11So funny.
11:12Back to you.
11:13Who were your inspirations growing up?
11:15Well, you know, like my father's music was always jazz.
11:19But his favorite writer was a guy named Johnny Mercer.
11:23And Johnny's music, without me knowing, I think was one of my biggest influences.
11:29Like the song Moon River and Autumn Leaves.
11:32And those words were so, like he's the only person who instead of saying the Northern Lights,
11:39would say the Aurora Borealis.
11:41Like that is, that's what he did, you know.
11:45And that was inspiring.
11:47And then Led Zeppelin was really inspiring.
11:50Aerosmith.
11:51And then I got to, you know, hang out with Steven Tyler a few times and was like, this is
11:56pretty cool.
11:57There are many.
11:58Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald were huge influences.
12:02You know, trying to, Jeff Buckley is a magical voice.
12:06Like there are a lot of them.
12:08And Cher's guitarist discovery.
12:10Yeah.
12:10Well, I would say that's one way to put it.
12:13I was in a band in Erie, Pennsylvania, like a cover band.
12:18And Cher was playing a couple blocks away at an arena.
12:23And then her band came in to where I was playing.
12:26And the guy's name was David Shelley.
12:28He has since passed.
12:29But after one of our sets, he called me over and gave me his phone number and said,
12:33You need to move to L.A. because you got the thing.
12:36And that's all I needed.
12:38And so I went to L.A. and tried to reach him, you know, for a while.
12:43But he was always out on tour.
12:45But I didn't really need him to be my friend or be in a band with me.
12:50I needed somebody to go, you got the thing, moved to L.A.
12:55And that's what I did.
12:56So I really, really owe him that.
12:59Amazing.
13:00And then what happened from there once you got there?
13:02Then I met the guys from Train and we moved to San Francisco.
13:06The rest is history.
13:07Yeah.
13:08What's your biggest life advice since this is Life Minute?
13:11There's one of the songs.
13:13One of the songs starts with, I got some advice for everybody.
13:18Don't take advice from anybody.
13:21That's good.
13:23I read this thing.
13:24So my friend Murray, who I told you about, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, who passed away.
13:29Before he passed, he was telling me he was reading a book called The Daily Stoic.
13:34The Daily Stoic is, there's a date on every page, so you read it for the day.
13:39Like, this is your inspiration for the day.
13:41One of the pages really made a big shift in me, which was, if something doesn't go your
13:50way, it's not a problem unless you make it a problem.
13:56And that was a really cool thing.
13:59So I would say my life advice would be, if something seems like it's wrong, then make
14:08the shift, but let the wrong guide you to the right.
14:12Meaning, if it paralyzes you, then you're stuck in what's wrong.
14:18But if you make a shift and you move out of it, you might find something you were never
14:23even looking for in the first place that could change your life.
14:27Has that happened to you?
14:29Many times.
14:30I always think about, like, if you miss a flight, does that mean that's a good thing?
14:35You know, like, I don't ever look at...
14:38Like I said earlier, I don't really stress out a lot.
14:41Like, it's gonna work out, because I will move around it.
14:46I knew you'd have a good answer for that one.
14:49What do you do when you're not working?
14:51Well, I love golf.
14:54I don't play much of it, so I'm probably pretty bad right now.
14:58I'm with my family as much as I can be, and I've worked on this musical for six years,
15:04so it's been a lot.
15:06I'm very anxious to sit in a seat and watch it and see the beauty that has become of the
15:15labor.
15:15Yeah, mostly it's hanging out with my people and trying to get as much golf in.
15:20You know what I love to do more than anything is cook.
15:23I read a great quote today in the Daily Stoic.
15:27Nothing noble can happen unless it's purposeful.
15:33So you can't do something noble by mistake.
15:38You can't accidentally help somebody.
15:42But if your intention was to do it quietly and then move on, that's a noble act.
15:48If you do it for press, there's nothing noble about that act.
15:53So that was cool.
15:55But I think of cooking for people as noble.
15:59I think it's just a beautiful tradition that humans, we don't have a choice because if we don't eat, then
16:08that's the end of it.
16:08But I love to make something and have people love what they're eating.
16:15What are some of your favorite things to cook?
16:17I have a few.
16:18You know what my favorite thing to cook is?
16:20I have read a bunch of recipes for minestrone soup and have created my own.
16:26Really?
16:27And I think it's the best minestrone around.
16:31Nice.
16:31Sounds heartwarming.
16:32Soup's always good.
16:33Like, if you can have a bowl of minestrone soup and a piece of garlic toast and a glass of
16:42red wine, why am I here?
16:45I know.
16:46We call it pasta vasul in Italian.
16:49Well, pasta vasul has pasta in it.
16:51Yes, yours doesn't.
16:55Mine's vegan until I put three pounds of Parmesan in it.
17:01Sounds good to me.
17:02What does music do for people?
17:05Heals, guides, helps, reminds us, brings people back.
17:10There's a thing that someone asked me, what happens with AI in music?
17:16And I said, well, I heard somebody say that if you are gifted music because it's a gift and you
17:26choose to use AI,
17:28you're not in the club anymore.
17:30And I really understood.
17:32It made a lot of sense to me because it is a holy, whatever, religious or not or whatever you
17:39want it to be, a spiritual connection to humanity.
17:42But there's even a guy on Instagram who plays music for animals out in, like, farmland and they're just like,
17:48whoa.
17:49It does something that is, it's connected to, you know, our nervous system.
17:57Like, you can't explain it.
17:58But there is a disabled man who is a friend of my drummer who came to a show in Florida.
18:05And he pulled me into him because he couldn't come to me.
18:09And he said, you're healing people.
18:12Never forget that and never stop doing it.
18:15And he said, I'm in pain all the time, but I wasn't for that 90 minutes.
18:22Wow.
18:23And I was like, that's magic.
18:24That's awesome.
18:25Sure is.
18:26Beautiful.
18:26And I would trust him more than I would trust most people.
18:29Like, he understands it on a very deep level.
18:34Yeah.
18:34Beautiful.
18:35Thanks so much for coming down and talking to us.
18:37It was so fun.
18:38Keep fighting the good fight.
18:39Thank you so much.
18:40Fighting the good fight.