     
|
Wednesday August 21st, 2002
Train rides the rails of success New album to be more piano-driven
by Michelle Nikolai for gibson.com
By his own admission, Train guitarist Rob Hotchkiss was never a piano man. As a kid he never even touched the baby grand piano in his familys living room, preferring instead to while away the hours strumming his Gibson SG. However, when Train recorded their Grammy-award winning song Drops of Jupiter, he seemed the likely candidate to play the now familiar, driving piano chords that propel the melody of the Elton John-like song. For Hotchkiss, a new musical passion was born.
Train's Rob HotchkissWhen we started this band, I wanted to be a piano player, but to be honest its not my main instrument. I have no formal piano training, he confesses during an interview from Trains tour bus in Nashville. Now, its almost like I know guitar so well that Im almost a little bit . . . I dont want to say bored, that sounds jaded, but I almost know it a little bit too well. Piano is just this whole new universe to explore.
Rob 'Dances across the light of day' on his BaldwinTrain is riding high on the success of their double-platinum album Drops of Jupiter. They co-headlined the Jeep World Outside Festival this summer with Sheryl Crow, winding down a whirlwind of dates in mid-August. Hotchkiss played a Baldwin piano for several songs during Trains set, in addition to a couple of Gibsons and the occasional harmonica. On tour breaks, the band slipped into a studio in Atlanta to finish recording its third album, slated for a November release. It features piano on six or seven songs, which Hotchkiss says is a major departure from their past albums.
These days when Hotchkiss is playing music, he prefers a keyboard to a fingerboard. If Im at home or backstage, I almost never pick up a guitar these days. I sit at a piano and just lose myself in it for hours, he says.
When composing music on the road, he prefers to tickle the Baldwin. While at home, he still writes on guitar and has several models in different tunings sitting around his house for flashes of inspiration. The band keeps a well-worn Epiphone Texan on the bus for spontaneous jam sessions. Hotchkiss wrote all the lyrics for his previous band, The Apostles, but when he and lead singer Patrick Monahan forged the musical partnership that evolved into Train, Monahan became chief tunesmith and Hotchkiss concentrated on composing music, a role which he prefers.
We both had songs, and Pat basically said, Im not going to sing your stuff. How can I get behind it when its not my idea? So at that point, it made sense for me to write music, which to be honest is a lot easier, he explains. Lyrics, for me, are a struggle its kind of a labor of love. The music itself is what flows for me.
These days bandmates Jimmy Stafford, Charlie Colin and Scott Underwood are all part of the songwriting equation with Monahan acting as a filter, using whatever music inspires him lyrically. According to Hotchkiss, a lot of their songs for the last album came together during two years of the bands sound checks. Train composed all 11 songs on their last album, and Hotchkiss says they will follow suit with the new album, although their covers of Led Zeppelins Ramble On and Aerosmiths Dream On are staples in their live shows and draw raves wherever they play.
Jimmy Stafford with his Les Paul GoldtopHotchkiss has a somewhat unorthodox approach to writing. He commits his melodies and riffs to a micro-cassette recorder, but then stashes the tapes away. To be honest, Ive never listened back to those tapes, he laughs. I have literally hundreds with stuff on them. But I think its the process I love.
For us, time is our most precious commodity these days, and if I have an hour to write, Im not going to listen back to my old stuff Im going to come up with new stuff, he continues. So one of these days, Ill maybe dig through those old tapes and therell be 20 albums worth of material.
Though not a collector, Hotchkiss admits to having about 20 guitars, including a John Lennon J-160 and a J-200 Super Jumbo. He once owned a Les Paul, but had to sell it to make ends meet in lean times. Those were the days you had to sell your gear to survive. You get the record deal and then it goes bad, and you sell your guitar so you can pay rent. I wish I still had that guitar, he sighs. At some point during his musical career, his SG an adolescent favorite got destroyed, another loss that he mourns.
My dad was an airline pilot and they had gone on a trip to Hong Kong. They got back, and it was my moms birthday, and somehow they had smuggled in this [SG] to the basement, he remembers. They had me come down and open the case, and I just looked at this beautiful, brand-new instrument. That was my first real guitar, it had the Bigsby tremolo just a gorgeous instrument. Way too nice for how good I was at the time. Fellow guitarist Stafford started with the same guitar, he says.
These days, Hotchkiss doesnt have to worry about hocking guitars to make the rent. The band is talking about taking the rest of the year off from touring, except for some select buzz dates perhaps at the Fillmore to keep them well-oiled for next years tour in support of the new album. As yet untitled, it will probably have 12 songs, although there is much to be determined at this stage of the game, he says.
Its just been this blaze, and finally were done. So now we have to deal with the whole logistics of it. Its been a great year.
Get on the Train here. Baldwin Piano is here.
For more information about Baldwin, Gibson or Epiphone call Customer Support anytime, toll-free at 1-800-4GIBSON or send us an email.
| Archives: 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 |
