Winter 2000
 
Wednesday, March 15
hey did you hear that our record was certified platinum today! yep. we had a little champagne toastie-pooh with the man who signed
us to columbia records, Mr. Tim Devine, who flew in from LA to check up on us and make sure we were making some good rock here in atlanta. make sure we weren't just hangin' out having a big party or something. we're pretty sure that he liked what he heard. he had joy, he had fun, he had seasons...ok, we won't go there.
we had a nice dinner (chinese), took a few photos, had us a whiffle ball game and a little toastie-woastie. pat played a joke on us when we sat down to listen to some of the new recordings with tim. he played us a version of one of our new songs ("Respect") with a replacement lead vocal that sounded like a cross between phyllis diller and frank sinatra with lyrics that had us all rolling on the floor. very funny pat. funny guy, that one. so basically, tim flew in from LA and we were playing whiffle ball, drinking champagne, joking around, eating, hangin out... we're making good rock, though. scott recorded some killer homemade drum loops today and charlie played bass on "This is not Your LIFE". they're both flying home tomorrow for a long weekend off. the rest of us will work tomorrow and fly home friday morning for the weekend.
 
really though, about the platinum thingy...thanks to all of you
who bought our debut record and told your friends about us. and thanks to those of you who continue to play our songs on the radio and to columbia record and our management and our road crew and the girl in the front row with the pink...no really...we're very happy and proud and excited and all of that stuff. hey, and for those of you who haven't bought our record yet...well, whatever. i mean, all of the "cool" people have it, but hey, it's your life. not everybody can be "cool".
 
wow. tipsy. gotta go.
 
train
 
Tuesday, March 14
pat is singin' his little heart out tonight. the music
is mostly finished. we're replaying a few things here
and there and we still have a few loops and shakers and
tamborine type-o-things to do, but it's mostly just vocals
to be sung from here on out. it's alot of work (are we
calling this work?), but pat is singing better than ever.
add a few background harmonies and we're pretty much done.
hopefully we'll be finished with most of it before we hit
the road. we may have to come back to atlanta after the
tour and fix a few things, but we'll see. brendan will
probably mix the record while we're on tour. if he sucks
then we'll have to come back and fix it, but we hear he's
pretty good at that sorta thing. he'll do fine.

oh, and jamie, it really is us!
 
talk to you soon,
train
 
Friday, March 10th
we have the day off today. it was a really productive week
working on the record. most of the bass and guitar overdubs
are finished. there are maybe three more songs to finish up
before moving on to vocals. everything is really sounding
great. rob said he can't wait to buy this record. hey rob,
i bet columbia will give you a copy! more importantly, the
basketball and whiffle ball games during our lunch breaks have
really been heating up. nick (the engineer on the sessions)
broke his finger the other day trying to catch a pass from pat.
hey pat, take it easy man! we're trying to make a record here.
charlie has been busy decorating his apartment when he's not at
work in the studio. yo charlie, we're leaving in two weeks
buddy! anyway, it's all good. we're all really proud of the
music that's going on here.
 
we heard that a few of the shows have gone on sale already and
tickets are selling really well. thank you. it's going to
be a great tour. we'll be taking some really good bands on the
road with us - Stir and Wood being two of them, so get your
tickets and come early to check out these bands. we're calling
the tour "Yo Soy 2000" ("yo soy" being spanish for "I AM").
we'll have all new t-shirts and merchandise for the tour, too.
cool stuff. and to all of our dear friends who have been
emailing us for tickets - you know we'd love to hook you up and
we will if we can, but we're very limited to how many guests
we're allowed each night and it's amazing how many new friends
and family we have these days! we love you all, but please
don't be upset if we can't get you tickets. we're looking
forward to seeing all of you.
 
talk to you soon.
train
 
Monday, March 6
happy monday! we're happy here in atlanta. the weather
has been beautiful.
 
back to work in the studio today (is this really work?).
charlie and rob finished tracking five songs on the bass,
jimmy finished his guitar tracks on one of those songs
("She's on Fire") and brendan (our fearless producer who
is also a very good musician) threw down a hammond B-3
organ part on the same tune. it sounds great! well, we
think so.
 
goodnight!
trainses

 
Saturday, March 4th?
we're moving right along on the record. we tracked eleven songs
this week titled "respect", "i wish you would", "it's love", "let
it roll", "she's on fire", "this is not your life", "mississippi",
"getaway", "it's about you", "worth the wait" and "whipping boy".
we'll probably end up recording two or three others along the way.
we're taking tomorrow off and will reconvene on monday to start
working on the overdubs. meanwhile...
 
"i am" has an official release date to radio at the end of this
month, but is already starting to pop up on some stations around
the country. thanks to those of you playing it and requesting it.
 
have a good weekend!
train
 
Wednesday, March 1st
we tracked four more songs today - "It's About You",
"Respect" (a different arrangement than the version we
recorded a few weeks ago with walter), "Worth the Weight"
and "Mississippi".
 
we also got a fax late in the day with the nearly completed
tour schedule. it should be posted soon if it's not already.
it looks good. we're really excited about it.
 
talk to you later.
train
 
p.s. we tried to post a message on Matchbox 20's website
the other day to congratulate our buddy Rob Thomas on winning
the grammy's, but it wouldn't take our message, so Rob....
CONGRATULATIONS!! you deserved it. and hey, Rob ole buddy...
how about singin' a little ditty on our record? we'll call
you. love, train
 
Tuesday, February 29
today was our first day of recording. it went great! we
tracked the basics (drums, bass and guitars) of three songs
titled "Getaway", "Whipping Boy" and "She's on Fire". the
vibes are really good and the chemistry between the band and
producer (Brendan O'Brien) is great. we even had time for
a game of basketball during our lunch break.
 
nighty night.
train
 
Saturday, February 26
hey, did you notice those tour dates tricklin' in on the
other page? we were checking them out and heard about a
bunch of others, but we're not sure if we're supposed to
say anything yet. they'll probably be posted next week.
 
we just finished a very inspired week of pre-production
(writing, arranging and polishing up the songs to be
recorded for the new record). we're very happy and excited
to start recording in atlanta on tuesday. it's going to
be fun for us to play the new tunes for you on tour! we
figure you're probably bored with the same old "free", "meet
virginia", "ramble on", "i am" show, so we probably won't
play those. oh, and sorry...no taping. kidding!! jeez.
just come check it out and have a good time with us. and
if you don't see your town on the tour schedule it means
we just don't like you. kidding again! wow, are we on a
roll tonight!? we love you and are planning to tour a
bunch this year and will probably be in or around your
neighborhood sometime soon.
 
what? new song titles? "it's about you", "whipping boy",
"getaway", "something more" and "mississippi" will probably
all make the record along with a half a dozen others. it
really depends on what kind of mood we're in at the time...
 
talk to you soon.
train
 
thursday, february 17th
we've finished recording two songs with Walter "the hit man"
Affanasieff. one of the songs (titled "respect") turned out
very good and will probably turn up somewhere - either on our
next record or a movie or somewhere. the other song still
needs some finishing touches and will probably be finished at
a later date.
 
we're taking the rest of the week off and will start recording
our next "official" record in atlanta next week with producer
Brendan O'Brien (pearl jam, stone temple pilots, rage against
the machine, korn, etc.). we'll probably record 15 or so songs
and put 10 or 12 of them on the record. we'll record until the
end of march, tour until mid-may and then finish recording until
mid-juneish and then probably tour some more. that's our plan,
anyway. don't look for the new record to be released until
sometime this fall. until then you'll have to come out and see
us live to hear some of the new material.
 
oh and hey...don't forget to keep requesting "I Am"! we're waiting
to see how well it does at radio before making a video for it.
 
thanks for hangin' in there with us. we'll see you soon.
 
hugs,
train
 
Friday, February 11th
to those of you who might be concerned that we are "selling out"
by recording with a "major" producer or that we might end up
sounding "slick" or "adult contemporary"...DON'T WORRY!! we will
continue to write, record and produce records that WE want to
hear and that we are sure you'll enjoy hearing as well.
a great producer will only enhance our music. he will help to
get OUR ideas translated onto tape better and will contribute his
professional opinion if he believes that we are in need of some
direction. the buck stops with the five band members. so don't
worry about these two songs that we're recording with walter...
they are FAR from sounding like celine dion or mariah carey! as
a matter of fact they sound alot like two really cool new train
songs. we're excited for you to hear them. we'll play 'em for
you on tour if they're not released by then (which they probably
won't be).
 
ok. we're going to go play some cards with kenny g and michael
bolton now. we'll talk to you later.
 
train
 
Thursday, February 10th
we're in the studio in san rafael, california right now working
on two songs with producer Walter Affanasieff who has worked
with mariah carey, celine dion, michael bolton, savage garden,
kenny g, michael jackson, barbara steisand and just about every
other top-10 selling artist in the past 10 years. he wanted to
try recording a rock band and we wanted to try working with a
"big-time" producer, so we decided to record two songs together
that may end up in a movie this summer or may end up on our
record that we'll start recording next week. one song is called
"Respect" and the other is untitled so far. they both sound
really good. we're excited about it. we'll let you know more
about the new record (who will produce it, where we'll record,
etc.) next week when the plans are finalized.
 
anyway, we just wanted to say "hi" and let you know what we're
up to.
 
take care.
train
 
Thursday, January 27
last night when we got back to rehearsals after our dinner
break we spontaneously wrote one of our best songs ever,
which you will hopefully get to hear some day soon. it's
a kind of jazzy little number with an awesome melody called
"sharks live in the elevator, baby"...don't ask.

 
Tuesday, January 25
things are going great in the studio! we're finishing writing
songs for the new record that were originally ideas created during
soundchecks on tour the past two years. we've finished about
fifteen songs so far and we're super excited about them! some
tentative song titles are: all this time, respect, slow, two steps,
daylight, it's about you, mississippi and whipping boy. the others
haven't been named yet.
 
anyway, it looks like we'll begin recording the record in late
february...probably in atlanta. we'll take a break in late march
to do a six week tour that will probably start in chicago on the
29th. we'll play alot of the new stuff on tour as well as some
favorites from the current record. "I Am" is doing really well
at radio...keep requesting it! we'll see you soon....
 
train

 
Tuesday, January 11th
HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! we're still on vacation for one more
week and then we begin pre-producing for our next record which
we'll start recording in february. we're probably going to
break up the recording process in march for a six week tour and
then finish up the record by summertime. we'll more than likely
be testing out alot of the new material on this tour. in the
meantime we're hoping that "I AM" is going to provide you with
much listening pleasures on your local radio stations. feel
"free" to call in and request it! we're hoping to make a video
for "I AM" in february between recording and touring. we per-
formed it on television for the first time the other day on the
"martin short show"...did any of you see it? anyway...
 
so, these notes from the road have been written by one member of
the band (me) on befalf of the band since the beginning of time.
Pat made an attempt at posting the other day, but ended up on the
wrong page somehow. good effort though, pat. anyway, the others
have never really paid much attention to this page, but i'm going
to see if maybe some of them might want to join in on the fun this
year. mix things up a little for ya.
 
so, here's a few answers to some of your questions on the message
page:
late 20's to mid-30's...after shows...Rebecca Gayheart...
there is a line or two missing on the lyric page, sorry...they're
called "hidden tracks" titled "Train" and "Heavy"...we decided to
only print them on the website so that you'd check it out...we're
musicians!/yes, and then some...check out Adam's new train website
called "Sweet Rain" located at www.topcities.com/Music/train/...
try electric drumpads (with headphones!)...we'll try and perform
in as many cities as possible this year and record a new full-
length CD as well...and thank all of you for the super-nice
comments.
 
oh, by the way, we're having a wonderful vacation and we had a
great new years eve in atlanta and birmingham. thanks to sister
hazel, vertical horizon, the push stars and you for sharing it
with us.
 
i'm spent!
 
talk to you soon,
jimmy (on behalf of train)