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Drummer Scott Underwood, left, lead singer Pat Monahan and the rest of Train will perform after Saturday night's Pirates game at PNC Park.
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Train pulls out of station with a lighter touch

Richard Drew

Train pulls out of station with a lighter touch

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Liking the Train song "Hey, Soul Sister" is not a choice. The ukulele, lilting melody, silly lyrics and Pat Monahan's high, supple vocals invade one's consciousness.

Suddenly, you wonder if it is indeed Mister Mister on the radio as you ponder the logistics of an untrimmed chest.

That "Soul Sister" would be a sure-fire hit was clear to every man, woman and (especially) child from its opening notes. That is, everyone but the members of Train.

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"We didn't even think this song would be considered as a single," drummer Scott Underwood, 40, said by phone last week during a break from a tour rehearsal in Seattle, where lead singer-songwriter Mr. Monahan now lives.

The veteran San Francisco-born alternative band was sure its management and label would want a song more like the band's signature hit "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)," a 2001 rock ballad with an ambivalent-bordering-on-negative view of love.

But today's market calls for lightness.

"I think ["Hey, Soul Sister"] is a really happy, positive song, and Pat's lyrics are endearing," Mr. Underwood said. "It is a time when people need positive music. I love Nirvana and that era -- that is my era -- when everybody was 'I am a loser, and I am bummed and let's all be bummed out together.'

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"That was cool, but I think people now need to hear, 'Let's party, let's dance.' "

Singles sales in the millions and the attendant success of "Save Me, San Francisco," the album on which "Soul Sister" appears, reinvigorated Train, which had not had a big hit since "Drops of Jupiter."

"Save Me, San Francisco" followed a three-year band hiatus.

"We were broken," Mr. Monahan, 42, said, alluding to the loss and subsequent unsuccessful addition of band members leading to the hiatus.

Mr. Monahan, Mr. Underwood and the band's third remaining original member, guitarist Jimmy Stafford, regrouped with a more positive attitude that was validated when "Soul Sister" hit.

"We all sort of were taking it for granted," Mr. Underwood said of the band's initial success. "When we got back together, we all kind of talked about it. We [realized], 'This is really special.' And we still have that attitude."

They're even dancing on this tour.

"We have invited a friend of ours who is a female cellist, and she is a great dancer," Mr. Monahan said. "She and I are going to do a thing. She is really great, and I am pretty bad."

The spirit of experimentation was cultivated, in part, by Mr. Monahan's work on his 2007 solo album, "Last of Seven." Although the album was not a big hit, Mr. Monahan said working with outside songwriters for the first time later benefited his band.

Other songwriters contributed to "Save Me, San Francisco" as well, and encouraged Mr. Monahan to challenge himself vocally, as he does on the top-of-his-range "Soul Sister."

"One of the things they do, that I never thought of, was, 'OK, let's get to your highest point,' " Mr. Monahan said. "And I would say, 'Why?' and they would say, 'You'll see, just listen.' ... I don't think 'Soul Sister' would be so successful if it wasn't in a high key. There is something really fun that happens up that high."

Mr. Monahan attributes his sunny attitude in life and music to his wife of four years, Amber Peterson Monahan.

"I met the girl of my dreams, and I never knew what love could cure," Mr. Monahan said.

He met her thanks partly to Mr. Underwood, who spotted Ms. Peterson waiting outside a sold-out Train show at a club in Seattle.

"He said, 'Dude, I just saw the most beautiful girl in the world -- you should try to get her in,' " Mr. Monahan recalled. Mr. Monahan, then divorced from his first wife, did get Ms. Peterson into the club.

Mr. Underwood recalled the evening differently.

"It's not the most charming story," he said with a laugh. His comment to Mr. Monahan regarding Ms. Peterson's beauty actually was more specific -- and observed as Ms. Peterson walked away.

The conflicting stories, like the sunny "Soul Sister," reflect the 2011 iteration of Train: more upbeat and wholesome, yet still rock 'n' roll.

Train performs following the 7:05 p.m. Pirates game Saturday at PNC Park. Call 412-321-BUCS.

First Published: August 3, 2011, 8:00 a.m.

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Drummer Scott Underwood, left, lead singer Pat Monahan and the rest of Train will perform after Saturday night's Pirates game at PNC Park.  (Richard Drew)
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