Train – Drive By
As part of the small group of musical acts named after modes of transport (The Cars, Jefferson Airplane Bus-ta Rhymes), it’s good to see Train sticking to the theme in naming their latest song. ‘Drive By’ is the first release from the band’s forthcoming, as-yet-untitled new album and has appropriately picked up momentum extremely quickly. In the few weeks it’s been in the open it’s become established on radio playlists the length and breadth of the country.
This rapid response is somewhat unusual for a band that has journeyed to success on a long-haul route rather than overnight. I’m going to stop with the transportation puns now. A refugee from a Led Zeppelin covers band, singer Patrick Monahan relocated from Pennsylvania to San Francisco, where he met up with the men who would form the rest of Train in 1994. Beginnings were slow. The band recorded and independently released an eponymous debut album and built a reputation through tireless touring. Eventually it all paid off with a major label release and some major sales. Second album, 2001’s ‘Drops Of Jupiter’, was a certifiable smash, spending more than a year in the charts.
The band have been busy touring last album ‘Save Me, San Francisco’ for some time now, but they’ve also been hard at work on its follow-up. It seems they’re pretty pleased with the results.
“We have 13 songs that we’ve recorded and I want to hear every single one of them over and over again,” Monahan told Billboard. “There’s Rolling Stones-types songs on here, and songs that are very radio and dance-y and fun, like my wife and I would love to listen to on the radio. And then there’s very first-record Train songs, that are like ‘Blind’ and very melancholy and emotional. There’s a song called ‘Bruises’ that I think is really special.”
It looks as though 2012 will be a year when Train build up a significant head of steam. Let’s hope they don’t go off the rails. I am very, very sorry.
