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Rob Hotchkiss, Charlie Colin, and Jimmy Stafford played with Bret Everett in a band called Apostles. (See Link on Left for more information) Patrick Monahan played in a band called X-it up around Erie, Pennsylvania. X-it played in a club one night where someone from Chers band said that Pat could make it if he just moved to LA. Pat convinces the rest of X-it to go to LA and try their luck. They stayed a month, and during this time Apostles and X-it played a gig together. The rest of X-it didn’t feel inspired to stay in LA so they left Patrick with his girlfriend in LA. Soon after Apostles went their separate ways. Rob's wife and Pat's wife worked at the same school at the time and introduced their husbands to each other and Rob asks Pat if he wanted to come up to San Francisco to start a new project called Train away from the LA blitz. They play together as a duo, until Rob calls Jimmy from Chicago and Charlie from Denver to come. Charlie Colin and Scott Underwood played in a band called Lyme Heric in Denver. Then Charlie convinces Scott to come along. They play clubs and are flown to New York to be signed by Columbia Records. Everyone was very excited and why shouldn’t they be quoted from an unknown source, someone told train “You could fart in the microphone and get a deal” The next day Train hears that the band isn't ready. Columbias president said that he didn’t hear anything special. They go back to San Francisco after recovering, cut their own album borrowing money from their parents. They self titled the album, which cost $25,000. Charlie painted the cover art. A year or so later, Train is pitched as Project X to the big shot up in Columbia again. This time they are signed to Aware Records. Then the album gets redone and Meet Virginia becomes the big hit of the summer. The original handwritten lyrics are in the Rock 'N Roll Hall of Fame. Train tours in a white van for their first tour, this caught on fire 3 or 4 times. They were stuck in a hotel where snow was on the radiator so snow ball fights insued. Then finally they get a bus. Trains second album entitled was originally entitled Something More, because Train thought that that song was going to be the first single until Pat sort of dreams up the lyrics to Drops of Jupiter, he then brings a tape to the rest of Train with a piano melody and that inspires the guys to record the song and include it in the album. This becomes (according to VH1) the biggest hit of the year 2001. Not immediatley following Train is then set up to co-headline the Jeep World Outside Festival with Sheryl Crow. As most know this tour was basically a joke, not on Trains failure to perform, but on the record company because Sheryl Crow was promoted so heavily that when someone would mention co-headlining, many laughed. Train suffers the loss of Rob, and goes to the studio some time later to record their third album entitled My Private Nation. This was released June 3rd, 2003. The first single is Calling All Angels, as well as the first video.
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