Train on Track With 'Mad Dog in a Fog' - The Source

Train’s 2009 hit, “Hey, Soul Sister,” was one of those songs you heard everywhere on the radio back when there were still radios — a mandolin-driven earworm that rode an early algorithmic wave alongside the sunny, acoustic pop of Jason Mraz and Jack Johnson, forcing you to either turn it up or turn it off.

“Hey, Soul Sister” remains a signature song for Train, formed in San Francisco in 1994, and has sold upward of 10 million albums, with track sales topping 30 million and global streams crossing 6 billion. Fourteen of the band’s songs have charted on the “Billboard” magazine Hot 100 singles chart, and six of its albums have cracked the “Billboard” 200 album chart’s top 10.

At the center of it all is frontman Pat Monahan, the current lineup’s sole founding member and constant creative anchor, going all the way back to the 1998 breakout hit, “Meet Virginia” and the double-Grammy-winning “Drops of Jupiter.” The latter — its lyrics drawn from a dream Monahan had roughly a year after losing his mother — has since joined “Hey, Soul Sister” as one of the band’s two RIAA Diamond-certified tracks.

This summer, Monahan and his current bandmates have hit the road for their massive “Drops of Jupiter: 25 Years in the Atmosphere” North American tour with opening acts Barenaked Ladies and Matt Nathanson. The tour hits the Hayden Homes Amphitheater in Bend Friday, Aug. 28. The dates also mark the debut of a revamped lineup, with longtime studio collaborator Butch Walker — a high-profile producer for the likes of Taylor Swift, Pink, and Green Day — officially joining as guitarist.

We spoke to Monahan recently about his band’s current lineup, the forthcoming album, and the musical he’s been working on for the past six years.

the Source: How does the sound of the next Train album (release date Aug. 28) “Mad Dog in the Fog” differ from what fans might expect based on your recent pop hits?

Pat Monahan: I think it sounds a lot different. It is much more of a rock record, which Train fans will be excited about. People feel like the little bit of music they have heard so far sounds very authentic, like our first album. That is a good sign.

tS: What inspired the single, “The Weekend,” and how does it fit into the sound of the new album?

PM: “The Weekend” was, to me, about social media. It was mostly a way to say you don’t need to post every wonderful thing in your life. Maybe you should set your thumb down and go live it. That was the idea behind the line, “are you ready for the weekend.” It’s not about posting the weekend, it’s about living the weekend.

That vibe is definitely within the album as a whole. This is not about technology; this is about real life, love and loss. Songs like “Pennsylvania Turnpike” are about leaving Pennsylvania to go to San Francisco. These are all real stories of my life on this album.

tS: You’ve worked with Butch Walker in the studio for a long time. How did you bring him onboard as a full-time member?

PM: Butch and I have been friends since Train’s first album, when he was in a band called The Marvelous 3. Years later he started to write songs and produce, and he has since produced three Train albums. I have begged him to come on stage with us for 20 years to play guitar. He finally was at a point in his career where he agreed to go to Europe with us. We had such a great time that I asked if he would stay and do last summer’s tour, and I keep asking him to hang out with us for the rest of the year. As long as we are all having a great time, he is a beautiful addition to the band. He brings incredible energy and talent to the stage. Train fans are really big fans of Butch’s music, songwriting and talent, so he has been nothing but great for us.

tS: Moving on, you have a musical “Begin Again” happening. How does scoring a musical compare to writing a Train album, and what was the most recent stage musical you’ve been to in person?

PM: My most recent musical was “The Lost Boys,” which I saw while we were doing a workshop for “Begin Again.” I have been working on this musical for years, and it has been really hard work. It is a totally different musical muscle, where you are writing songs as characters who you are getting to know and understand throughout a story, as opposed to writing songs about your own experience. These are experiences of other people, so you are more of a voyeur taking in someone else’s personality and what they would express.

Those are harder songs for me to write, and they are also listened to by a committee. Instead of two people writing a song, loving it, and sending it to a manager or producer, this involves sending it to the music director, the director and the book writers. Everyone has to feel like we are all on the same page. That is why it has taken six years to really finish writing the story musically about these characters. It opens at the Old Globe in San Diego in September, and I am really excited for people to see it and hear it.

tS: For a longtime Train fan, or someone who has never seen you before, how has the live show evolved over time?

PM: We have definitely evolved. This tour is called “Drops of Jupiter: 25 Years in the Atmosphere,” so people will hear songs from the “Drops of Jupiter” album that they haven’t heard (live) in years. We always try to throw out different covers. My 14-year-old son will join us for a lot of the dates. He is an incredibly talented kid, and we are going to do a Jeff Buckley song. He has everything down. He can play “Grace” on guitar and sing it like Buckley. The production of this summer show is incredible and really cool, and the band sounds better than we ever have. We still play all the songs in the keys that they were written in, which is what you always hope for. As much as we are getting older, we are also getting better.

This article appears in the Source August 27, 2026.