Train have had an incredible career. From the success of ‘Drops Of Jupiter’ over a decade ago to the triumph of ‘Hey Soul Sister’, the San Francisco band has had an incredible story.
As they finished up their UK tour, we got some time with the band’s guitarist Jimmy Stafford to talk about the new single ‘Mermaid’ and album ‘California 37’, the huge success they’ve had over the last couple of years and making a stop on Sesame Street.
So, the new single ‘Mermaid’ is out now, what can you tell us about it?
It’s funny, that song wasn’t my favourite on the album at first quite honestly. The more we stated to play it live and when I heard it on the radio, I finally got it. It’s a really fun, quirky song about, well, mermaids. All little girls want to be a mermaid and all guys would like to meet one one day.
So what are your favourite tracks then?
I think that’s always the problem with a new album is that there’s always so much good material to choose from. The stinkers stand out real quick and get pushed aside but when you narrow it down, there are usually about 20 songs we’re all excited about.
The trick to putting a record together is that you want one that flows and has a real sound or theme to it. Even though one song might be better than another, it might not fit on this album. There were some songs that didn’t make the record that I preferred to some that did. But of the ones that did, I really like the deeper tracks like ‘Feels Good At First’, ‘We Were Made For This’ and ‘When the Fog Rolls In’. ‘Bruises’ is probably my favourite track on the album though.
You’re just finishing up your UK tour. How’s it been going?
Really great. This whole UK tour was sold out even before we came over and they’ve been fantastic. Pat’s been struggling just a little bit with his voice, probably due to lack of sleep. The guy doesn’t sleep enough when we’re on the road.
So he’s bowed out of doing other things like this so he can concentrate on the shows and he’s been an absolute trooper. The shows have been great and we’re having an awesome time.
What it like knowing that you guys can still sell out an entire tour?
It’s the craziest thing. It seems like the older we get, the more popular we get, which isn’t really the way it goes in the music world. We’re like football players typically, you reach your peak young and it’s time to retire after that. But every once in a while, a band sticks around for ages.
I mean, look at the Rolling Stones, those guys are pushing seventy and they all sound great. I’m not comparing us to them, but we now have enough well known songs around the world that we might be able to go out and play for people for many years to come. It’s pretty exciting for us to be able to do that.
The band’s from San Francisco, so what was it like last year performing at the Giant’s opening game of the year. That must have been an incredible experience.
That was crazy. We’re a San Francisco band and even though none of us don’t live there anymore, we still call it home. When we go there it’s a home town gig and we the city had a really big year this year with the Giants winning the World Series and the 49ers making it to the Superbowl, it was a really fun to be a part of that.
Last year you also got the true mark of fame, going on Sesame Street. What was that like?
It was one the strangest gigs we’ve ever done but probably one of the top ten highlights of my career with the band. To do Sesame Street is surreal and it was so great, When you do Sesame Street, that means you reach everyone, even the little guys. It was really fun to sing and act with Elmo and The Count.
You’ve played some incredible places over the years, but is there anywhere you haven’t been yet that you want to?
Well, there’s three places left on our bucket list. We knocked another off last year when we performed at the Hollywood Bowl. One is to headline and sell out Madison Square Garden and another would be to play Wembley Stadium. We actually did play Wembley when the NFL was over for their annual football game, but that’s not the same. It wasn’t a proper Train show.
There’s a third that we’ve not done yet, which is Saturday Night Live. We’ve never been asked to play that, although they did do a skit which was a bar fight between us and Maroon 5 a few weeks ago. It was hysterical.
So what was it like when ‘Hey Soul Sister’ brought you guys back into the charts?
It was huge. We just made that record for ourselves, we had taken a long break and weren’t too sure that anyone would remember or care who we were. That song just took off worldwide and all of a sudden, the band was bigger than we’ve ever been before.
It was just one of those moments where you just thank your lucky stars that you still make music that’s relevant and that people want to listen to. We ended up back at the Grammys and winning one and the whole thing since recorded that song has been non-stop craziness.
It happened again with this new album when Drive By came out and blew up and just wowed us. You wonder if it’s ever going to stop, not that you want it to, but it’s been great for us.
You guys are nominated for a People’s Choice Award this year, what it like still being nominated for awards?
Yeah, it’s really good, but going to those award shows is a lot of work so unless we’re invited to perform or pretty sure you’ve got a pretty good shot to win, we don’t usually go to them anymore. A lot of the time we have to come off the road to go to them. For the People’s Choice Awards I think we’re nominated against Adele and any time you’re in a category with her, just stay home and watch her win on TV.
So, what’s next for you and Train?
We’re wrapping up this UK now and then we’re going to head back to the States and prepare for a big summer tour, where we’re also bringing along special guests in the form of The Script and Gavin Degraw.
That’s gonna be a very big tour for us, all of the outdoor amphitheatres in the US and it’s a great bill. We’ve played shows with both The Script and Gavin before and they’re all awesome guys to spend the summer with, so I can’t wait.
After that, I think we’re going to take some time off, maybe go away for a bit and release a Greatest Hits record or something so all these new fans we’ve garnished since ‘Hey Soul Sister’ came out can reacquaint themselves with some of the older stuff.
Both Mermaid and Train’s latest album California 37 are out now.
Click here to download California 37
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