Winter 2001
 
Monday, March 19
so, we've got the first few shows of the tour under our belt now. we played an abbreviated set for mostly a music industry crowd in austin, texas on thursday night. it was good, but the television cameras were a bit distracting. we'll look forward to returning to austin in april for a "real" show. then we visited jacksonville, alabama for a show on friday night. it was better. we played a full-length (about an hour and thirty five minutes) set, which featured many songs off of the new record and just as many songs off of the old one. there was a really big crowd and everybody seemed to be having a good time. we were probably a bit nervous playing our first full-length show and all. it was fun, though. then we played a "buzz" gig at smith's old bar in atlanta for about 300 contest winners saturday night. that was even better (are you sensing a trend here?). we made some set list adjustments that made the show flow better and we were a bit more relaxed. pete yorn, a new columbia recording artist whose debut album gets released the same day as ours, opened the show and did a great job. he also joined us onstage for an encore performance of the rolling stones' "brown sugar". a good time had by all. we'll look forward to returning to atlanta in may for music midtown. we're actually still here. yesterday was a day off. some of the guys went out for sushi. jimmy went to a hockey game (they played "drops of jupiter" over the PA system during the game). today we'll be doing some radio shows on-air in the morning and two private performances for contest winners at southern tracks recording studio (which is where we recorded the "drops of jupiter" album) in the afternoon. then we all catch evening flights home for a few days off. next week we'll be visiting chicago, new york and toronto and celebrating the release of the new CD on tuesday the 27th!
 
talk to you soon,
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie
 
Saturday, March 10
hi everyone. we're fresh off the long plane trip from london (well, maybe not so "fresh") and resting comfortably in our hotel rooms in austin, texas where we'll be rehearsing for the tour. we were in london to perform an exclusive show for the worldwide sony staff to get them all pumped up to release our records internationally. it went very, very well. we met alot of great people from all around the world and are very hopeful that not only will our record be released in just about every market in the world, but that we will also be visiting many of these markets in the upcoming year. talk has already begun about a european tour and an australian tour this year. as always, stay tuned to our website for the dates. we also got to meet Little Bow-Wow and Ricky Martin! what a great job we have!
 
as for these exclusive dates in chicago, new york and atlanta...don't worry about it! we're doing them as an added bonus for our fans - not to exclude them! we'll come back very soon and do a regular show in those very same cities in venues large enough to hold you all. we realize that it's kind of a special treat to see a band in an intimate venue, but that's exactly what we intended it to be - a treat. we're going to have a great time doing it and we'll have an equally great time when we come back to a larger venue.
 
and as for jack o'neil of american horse/jack o' pierce...we see him just about every time we visit new york where he currently resides. he's doing great and has taken up acting. we're all wishing him the best in whatever he does, but it sure would be great to hear some new music from that boy, wouldn't it?!
 
ok. enough for now. we're exhausted from the flight and start reheasals tomorrow. nighty night time. to all of our new friends that we met yesterday in london...thank you for being so kind to us. we had a great time and will look forward to working with all of you in the near future.
 
talk to you all soon.
 
pat, rob, jimmy, scott and charlie
 
Friday, March 2, 2001
We're still on break, but getting ready to hit the road again in a few weeks. Our first stop is a promotional appearance in London on March 8. After that we'll fly to Austin, Texas for tour rehearsals (they've never heard us in London before, so they'll never know the difference!). The tour dates are starting to pop up on the website, so keep checking.
 
Last week we re-shot our "Drops of Jupiter" video in Los Angeles at Union Station. the opportunity came up to work with one of our favorite directors, Nigel Dick (Oasis, Fuel, Backstreet Boys, Guns andRroses), so we took it. It was a perfect location (a train station!) and all of the actors looked great. We're looking forward to seeing the edited version before leaving for London. Hopefully you'll be able to see it for yourselves in a few weeks. There should be some still photos of the video shoot on the website, so check 'em out.
 
Again....thanks for all of your letters and support. We're looking forward to seeing you all on tour.
 
talk to you soon,
Pat, Rob, Jimmy, Scott and Charlie
 
Monday, February 12th
we just returned home from a week of promotional stuff, which included live radio appearances in richmond, detroit, minneapolis and los angeles. it felt good for us to be back out there traveling together, playing a bit of music and promoting the new record. we played acoustic versions of "drops of jupiter" on most of the stations that we visited. oh, and thank you all for the nice letters and messages on the website. it's fun for us to read that stuff. even that one guy who thinks we sound like the black crowes...we love the black crowes! we always seem to get compared to good bands at least. we'd have to rethink some things if y'all were comparing us to wham or the pet shop boys or something like that...not that we don't like wham and the pet shop boys, but you know what we mean. anyway, we had that guy taken care of. so, we got stuck in minneapolis on wednesday (we were supposed to fly to amarillo, but our flight was cancelled due to a snow storm). our friends at columbia records treated us to a timberwolves/kings basketball game and a very nice dinner on our unexpected evening off.
 
anyway, keep requesting the new song for us and we'll talk to you soon. there should be some tour dates showing up on the website before long. we're looking forward to it.
 
see you soon,
train
 
January 26, 2001
Hi everyone. Thanks for the nice letters and messages regarding our new single, "Drops Of Jupiter". It's really fun for us to read that stuff and know that we're all still groovin' together. We're starting to get very excited about the CD release and the upcoming Jupiter Tour, which will most likely begin in the US in early April. As some of you know, a few really cool and incredibly hip radio stations around the country started playing the song in limited rotation this past week and the feedback, so far, has been extremely positive (except for that one guy - we had him taken care of). The band got together in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and filmed the video for "Drops". It was shot in an airplane hanger in Van Nuys on two cold and rainy days. Jimmy caught a cold, but was able to suck it up when the cameras were rolling. Rob was filmed playing both the piano and acoustic guitar (he played guitar on the record and will play the piano live). We haven't seen the first rough cut yet, but from what we could see being filmed, we're pretty sure that it's going to be a very cool video. Laila Ali (Muhammad Ali's very beautiful and talented daughter) has a role in the video, which will feature plenty of band footage and some 'cute with a dash of grunge' angels (the kind with wings). Look for it to hopefully start airing on places like VH1 and MTV in mid to late February. What else...
 
We'll be heading out for a few promotional engagements (sorry - these are private engagements only and are not for public consumption, therefore, you will not be seeing these dates posted on the "tour dates" page ) in parts of the US and Europe starting in February and continuing in March. We'll keep you posted on any television or radio programs we may be doing during these visits, because we'll want you all to watch and listen and dance and sing along with us.
 
Oh, and our access to our email has been all but denied since before Christmas, but we're back online and happy to be reading our mail again. Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions: Yes we allow taping at our shows (just no selling please!); the hidden tracks are titled "Train" and "Heavy"; there are no tabs available yet - we're working on it _ for now you can check out Val's "Homesick" site (see 'links') for some 'unofficial' tabs; we would love to perform in your town/city/country and probably will, eventually _ we'll be sure to post it on the 'tour dates' page as soon as we have a date confirmed; and finally...we're sorry, but we can't wish your girlfriend a 'happy birthday' from the stage _ there are just too many girlfriends with birthdays and Pat has a hard enough time remembering all the lyrics! Keep those letters coming...we love you all!!
 
We'll talk to you soon. Call those radio stations and request "Drops of Jupiter" for us!
 
Peace out
train