Train pulling into Chandler complete with hits

Jangle rockers Train are preparing surprises for their career-spanning set on the first night of the Chandler Chamber Ostrich Festival, Friday, March 17.

“We always give people what they’d like to hear and then we always come out with something new every tour,” said Pat Monahan, Train’s singer. “We’re debating what those new things are. We have a bunch of options.”

Train kicks off the festival, followed by Commodores and Nicky Youre on Saturday, March 18. Sublime with Rome wraps it up on Sunday, March 19.

Organized by the Chandler Chamber of Commerce and Steve LeVine Entertainment & Public Relations, the Ostrich Festival also features family-friendly entertainment, stage shows and vendors.

Train heads to Chandler on the heels of its seventh sold-out Sail Across the Sun cruise. For Monahan it was a family affair, as his son Rock, 11, and daughter, Autumn, 14, performed on the ship, too.

“My son is very passionate about music,” Monahan said. “We just did a cruise, and he was one of the artists on the cruise. He played with my band. He’s so inspiring, as great as he is at such a young age. Autumn also performed with him. They did, ‘You’re the One that I Want’ (from ‘Grease’).”

The “ridiculously fun” cruise allows Train fans to mingle with the San Francisco-born band. Monahan said he sings karaoke with vacationers and participates in game shows.

“I go out and I just start singing with whatever they’re singing,” Monahan added about karaoke.

After the Chandler gig, Train has another 50 shows, including the band’s first stop in Anchorage. The sets at all of Train’s shows will feature tracks like “Drops of Jupiter,” “Drive By,” “Play That Song,” “Hey, Soul Sister,” “Marry Me,” “Calling All Angels” and “Meet Virginia.”

Recently, Train celebrated the 25th anniversary of its self-titled debut album, which featured the melancholy hit “Meet Virginia.”

Since its formation in 1994, Train has had 14 songs on Billboard’s Hot 100, 12 albums on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and has sold more than 10 million albums and 30 million tracks worldwide.

The 2001 “Drops of Jupiter” earned Grammy award for best rock song. “Calling All Angels” was nominated for two Grammys in 2004; and 2011 saw a return to the Grammy win for “Hey, Soul Sister.”

The band’s 2010 hit “Hey, Soul Sister” surpassed 1 billion streams in 2022 on Spotify. Monahan can easily grasp that his career has spanned a quarter of a century.

“I’ve been through enough that it feels like it’s been a good 25 years,” he said.

“It’s always good to still be in the game. There aren’t many careers you can have for 25 years, especially sports. Looking back, I wouldn’t change ‘Train’ — maybe other records. If I coul add anything to it, I would add some tempo songs. It was a good, initial kind of introduction to Train. It was pretty emotional. It had some songs like ‘Meet Virginia,’ which was quirky and fun. It was a serious record. I like that one still. I can still listen to that one.”

In May 2022, Train released its 11th studio album, “AM Gold.”

“I make records for Train fans and, myself, of course,” he said.

“It would have been fun to get that into more people’s hands. The ‘AM Gold’ album was one of the easiest albums I’ve been a part of. I worked with Butch Walker, who’s been a dear friend for a long, long time. We would work together and then go out on the boat and drink champagne. There wasn’t so much pain to it.”