Train Stops at Hershey An Interview with Drummer Scott Underwood

Train Stops at Hershey
An Interview with Drummer Scott Underwood

by Lisa Hummel

Train’s drummer Scott Underwood is sitting in his sister’s back yard in Upstate New York. His band is set to take to the road in less than two days and the time for relaxation has hit a minimum. Somewhere, their song, the summer sing-a-long “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me),” is no doubt playing on the radio, all the while the minutes until he trades open air for tour bus are quickly passing. He talks of his desire for a normal life, the chance to be “a normal human being, have friends, and a girlfriend and a dog and be able to mow your lawn.” The lawn isn’t his, the dog nearby — Max — isn’t his, either. What is his is a platinum album, Drops of Jupiter, a sophomore release that entered at number six on the Billboard album chart and sold upwards of 80,000 copies in its first week. What is his is the opportunity to play in front of thousands, the chance to tour with Matchbox 20. Sure, when the weekend ends, Underwood will miss the grass, but not too much — he knows which side is greener.

The five members of Train were pieced together like a grown-up rendition of the schoolgirl game “gossip.” Lead singer Pat Monahan met guitarist Rob Hotchkiss and got word to bassist Charlie Colin who then promptly informed Underwood, and guitarist Jimmy Stafford. A band was in the works and positions were available. With Monahan and Hotchkiss already ensconced in the Northern California scene, the three others packed their bags and headed for the hills of San Francisco. They were officially a band by New Year’s Eve 1995 and touring the country by February of 1998. Turned away by a number of record companies, including their current home, Columbia, Train released their self-titled debut album in 1998, spending $25,000 on a disc that would eventually be picked up and re-released by the label. It’s hit? The quirky and inescapable “Meet Virginia.” A tune that incredulously never hit the Top Ten, despite being blared from the airwaves with rabid enthusiasm. The label sent the band on the road for a six-week summer tour. In the spirit of Gilligan, they returned home some three years later.

Given a temporary reprieve from the road, the band was encouraged to enter the studio and record some songs for a second album. And while Underwood swears he never worried about falling prey to a sophomore slump, he does admit to worrying about the length of time that passed between the two records. “It was such a long period of time and I didn’t want people to lose interest or get fried on “Meet Virginia,” he said. “It’s definitely something to concern yourself with. There are so many bands that have one hit and then just disappear.”

The band took to the studios and, within two-and-a-half weeks had written more than enough material for a record. Satisfied, the label pushed for the disc’s completion, and, with super producer Brendan O’Brien (Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots) at the helm, Drops of Jupiter was born.

“There’s a huge difference [between the two records]. We recorded the first record when the band was only about a year old, and then we toured with that record for three years, constantly playing and we became much better musicians and a much better band and everybody’s talents and abilities and contributions started coming to the table more and more,” said Underwood. “So when we went into make the record we were all very much five equals in the studio. This record is much more of a collective effort from the band.”

The band was also happy to have new material to take the place of the fury surrounding “Virginia.” A hit is a hit, but it can also be a catch-22. “Someone would say, ‘What band are you in?’ and you say ‘Train’ and they say ‘I’ve never heard of you’ and you say “Meet Virginia” and they say ‘Oh, my God!’ We were kind of like ‘we definitely need another song,’” he said. “We don’t want to be the “Meet Virginia” band and we felt like — we still feel like — we have so much to offer and we’re just going to constantly get better and write better music. I don’t even know if I should say better, we’re just a band that wants to evolve and change and we feel like we have a lot to accomplish in that way.”

That other song is the aforementioned “Drops of Jupiter,” now eerily mimicking its predecessor’s inescapable footsteps, despite the release of the album’s second single, “Respect.” And to think it almost didn’t make the album. Gone their separate ways during the brief period of time away from the road, Monahan had a late night moment of inspiration, penned “Jupiter,” and called his bandmates. “We were done with the record and we were pretty happy with it and then we went on tour while it was being mixed and mastered by Brendan and then we had about a month off and we were all home and one day Pat called me, called all of us, and said, ‘I came up with the greatest song you have to hear it, what do I do.’ We didn’t know what to do because that was the first time we were separated and one of us came up with something, so the next time we got together he played it for us and it was just obvious — it was exactly the melody that we recorded and the same exact lyrics,” he said. “We were all really taken by it and thought it was an incredible song, so we went into record it and everybody got so excited about it.” As they should’ve. The album was released in March. The song is still in the Top 20, consistently selling more than 60,000 copies per week.

Just off a world tour, the band had some time off this summer before hitting the road again. And while the three years spent crisscrossing the country were exhausting, Underwood knows there are worse things in life than being tired because your job requires you to tour the world playing the music you love in front of throngs of ardent fans. “I hate to complain, and I’m not. I’m in my sister’s backyard right now and their dog, Max, is out here with me and its so beautiful here and there are just times when I kind of envy people with a normal life,” he said. “But I know that if I had a normal life I would definitely want to be doing what I’m doing, I think it’s the grass is always greener type of thing. We leave again Monday for the tour and I just can’t wait to get back out and play. It’s a good life.”