Speaker 1: Music Saved Me.
Speaker 2: When Hay Soul Sister came out, there was a family
Speaker 2: with a highly autistic child who is eight years old
Speaker 2: and had not spoken one word in his lifetime.
Speaker 3: The parents were in the kitchen and the television.
Speaker 2: Was on in the other room, and obviously that video
Speaker 2: for Hay Souls Sister was on, and they heard something
Speaker 2: that they've never heard before and walked in and their
Speaker 2: son was singing to Hey Soul Sister. The first thing
Speaker 2: that they ever heard this eight year old do was
Speaker 2: sing that song.
Speaker 4: I'm Len Hoffman and this is the Music Saved Me podcast,
Speaker 4: the podcast where we get to explore the healing powers
Speaker 4: of music with some of the biggest names in music.
Speaker 4: And we also love being supporters of Musicians on Call,
Speaker 4: which is a wonderful charity that does tremendous work using
Speaker 4: the healing power of music to make a difference for
Speaker 4: so many today. Our guest is the leader of the
Speaker 4: multi Grammy winning band and an old pal from Train,
Speaker 4: Pat Monaghan. Pat, it is so great to have you
Speaker 4: on Music Saved Me. I think it's been a minute
Speaker 4: since I've seen you, and I actually still have the
Speaker 4: Train bottle of wine here that I have not drunk yet,
Speaker 4: so a very special occasion.
Speaker 1: For me today.
Speaker 3: Great it is for me too, Welcome.
Speaker 1: To the show.
Speaker 4: I'm not sure when the last time we spoke was,
Speaker 4: but today it's specifically about music and how it can heal.
Speaker 4: And I'm curious, do you believe that music has healing powers?
Speaker 2: Yes, I've received emails many times that music has done
Speaker 2: wonderful things for people that I've been a part of,
Speaker 2: and I'm very grateful for those emails and conversations that
Speaker 2: I've had. One particular was when Hey Souls Sister came out.
Speaker 2: There was a family with a highly autistic child who
Speaker 2: is eight years old and had not spoken one word
Speaker 2: in his lifetime, and the parents are in the kitchen
Speaker 2: and the television was on in the other room, and
Speaker 2: obviously that video for Hay Soul Sister was on, and
Speaker 2: they heard something that they've never heard before and walked
Speaker 2: in and their son was singing to Hey Soul's Sister.
Speaker 2: The first thing that they ever heard this eight year
Speaker 2: old do was sing that song. So there's got to
Speaker 2: be something in music that stimulates our brains and hearts
Speaker 2: to shift or change or progress, whatever it is. But
Speaker 2: I definitely believe in it. I know music has saved
Speaker 2: my life many times.
Speaker 1: Can you give us one example.
Speaker 2: Well, I grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and music was
Speaker 2: a thing that separated me from my peers.
Speaker 3: That I tried.
Speaker 2: Sports to do that, to be exceptional at it, and
Speaker 2: that didn't work, and academic certainly didn't work, and there
Speaker 2: weren't many other choices. So I would just sing to
Speaker 2: everybody in class and it was usually Led Uppelin songs.
Speaker 2: And then from there I became a singer and a
Speaker 2: LEDs Upland cover band, and well, then I ended up
Speaker 2: moving to Los Angeles and San Francisco to start training.
Speaker 4: Well, you have a very strong connection with your fans.
Speaker 4: They're called training acts. I've met quite a few of
Speaker 4: them in my day, and I want to know what
Speaker 4: it means to you when you hear from your fans
Speaker 4: about their lives and their challenges and their loss.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, you know, it means as much as
Speaker 2: it would mean if a close friend told you. Because
Speaker 2: these people have been with me for you know, thirty years,
Speaker 2: so we've become very close friends. We email each other
Speaker 2: and sometimes talk on the phone, and other times we
Speaker 2: meet on a cruise every other year. Which is really
Speaker 2: a great way to connect with them and for them
Speaker 2: to connect with us.
Speaker 4: There's this trend for artists to be transparent about their lives.
Speaker 4: For example, we've had jelly Roll. We've also heard similar
Speaker 4: stories from Brent Smith from Shineedown. I wonder you've always
Speaker 4: been an open book about your life through your music.
Speaker 1: I want to say, how difficult.
Speaker 4: But is it even difficult for you to share what's
Speaker 4: happening in your life with people through your music?
Speaker 2: You know, I share what feels like It wouldn't be
Speaker 2: a burden for people. You know, when I do have struggles,
Speaker 2: I don't really look to train fans for sympathy or comfort. However,
Speaker 2: I will share similar stories that people are sharing with me.
Speaker 2: But I don't feel like, you know, in a position
Speaker 2: of you know, being a successful singer in a rock band,
Speaker 2: that's hard for people to go, oh, well, isn't that
Speaker 2: so bad that that happened to you? When people are
Speaker 2: really struggling with big stuff. If someone shares something with me,
Speaker 2: I will share a similar story if it feels appropriate,
Speaker 2: But otherwise, you know, I keep my woes to myself.
Speaker 4: Your song Drops of Jupiter, it's one of the greatest
Speaker 4: songs of all time, if I may say, and it's
Speaker 4: a very personal song to you, it's about your mom passing.
Speaker 4: Can you tell us about how you created that, how
Speaker 4: you were able to make that and put it out
Speaker 4: there for people to hear.
Speaker 2: We recorded an album called Something More and delivered it
Speaker 2: to Columbia Records, and they didn't think we had a
Speaker 2: first single. I was emotionally not in the mood because
Speaker 2: I lost my mother just recently and now I don't
Speaker 2: have a single for this record company. And one night
Speaker 2: I went to sleep and probably was sleep for ten
Speaker 2: minutes and woke up with all the lyrics and melodies
Speaker 2: in my head as though my mother had delivered me
Speaker 2: the message, this is what it's like when you go
Speaker 2: to the other side. You can swim through the planets
Speaker 2: and come back with drops of Jupiter in your hair
Speaker 2: and don't worry about me. So then, you know, with
Speaker 2: the looking for yourself out there, that was the emotional
Speaker 2: part of it for me. That was like, it's it,
Speaker 2: you know, somehow had to translate into a.
Speaker 3: Love story, and so that was that was the little
Speaker 3: bit of.
Speaker 2: Something I gave to the song that maybe my mother
Speaker 2: didn't deliver.
Speaker 4: That were you surprised at how huge that song was
Speaker 4: and how connected.
Speaker 1: With so many people.
Speaker 3: There's no reason for that song to become a hit.
Speaker 2: It's the same thing as any other song that was
Speaker 2: big for us, Like even Meet Virginia was a quirky
Speaker 2: little song and a song with a yukulele and.
Speaker 3: You know, drops a jupiter.
Speaker 2: It was like four minutes and twenty seconds or something
Speaker 2: at a time, and there were you know, two and
Speaker 2: a half minutes songs on the radio. So that's so true.
Speaker 2: It was a pretty interesting that that it happened.
Speaker 1: It was a big deal.
Speaker 4: You had a charity that you work with, your charity
Speaker 4: house in San Francisco. Can you tell us about that
Speaker 4: and what that work means to you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a it's a place called family House that
Speaker 2: houses you know, low income families with very sick kids
Speaker 2: that are being treated at UCSF Hospital. Most of them
Speaker 2: are you know, brain tumors, eye tumors, things with the
Speaker 2: head that UCSF Hospital is very specialized in. So when
Speaker 2: we started making wine about twelve years ago, we decided
Speaker 2: that it should be a reasonable a reasonably priced bottle
Speaker 2: of wine from you know, the Bay area. Whether it
Speaker 2: was nap or East Bay or somewhere so that train
Speaker 2: fans could get a taste of where we're from. And
Speaker 2: in the meantime, proceeds from those sales would go to
Speaker 2: family house, and then every time that another charity event happens,
Speaker 2: we just give them the money for that as well.
Speaker 2: It's an incredible program that has saved people's lives and
Speaker 2: dignity for many years.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 4: It's really exciting to hear about things that other people
Speaker 4: do to help those but it also it's you know,
Speaker 4: when you have that power and that platform to use
Speaker 4: it for good.
Speaker 1: Things, and it's just it's a special thing. I think.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was obvious at the time that it was
Speaker 2: time to give back to the Bay Area for all
Speaker 2: they've done for us, So it was a pretty easy choice.
Speaker 4: You had vocal surgery in the past, which is shocking
Speaker 4: to me because I didn't realize that until I read
Speaker 4: about it. You love what you're creating and the impact
Speaker 4: that it has. What was it like for you going
Speaker 4: through that surgery? I mean, did you think that you
Speaker 4: were going to be able to still make music?
Speaker 2: Well, that's the you know, that's an example of things
Speaker 2: I don't share with with trained fans or anybody. I
Speaker 2: think I recently mentioned that to someone then, and here
Speaker 2: we are talking about it.
Speaker 1: Oh, forgive me, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2: I had no It's okay, it is what it is.
Speaker 2: I'm the one who said it. But you know it's
Speaker 2: been it's been you know, five or more years now.
Speaker 2: At the time, it was, you know, the scariest thing
Speaker 2: that you know, you can imagine. And right prior to that,
Speaker 2: I was playing golf and pro am and Pebble Beach
Speaker 2: and I was with a guy who is also a
Speaker 2: singer and told them I was about to fly to
Speaker 2: San Francisco after the pro am to have vocal cord
Speaker 2: surgery where they actually removed scar tissue from both folds
Speaker 2: of my local chords because I couldn't there were times
Speaker 2: I couldn't sing at all.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: And he said, man.
Speaker 5: That's like Tom Brady getting his right arm worked on.
Speaker 5: That's not really what I was hoping you'd say. But
Speaker 5: that even scared me more so. But anyway, when I
Speaker 5: came out of it, and the doctor's name is Clark Rosen,
Speaker 5: and he's originally practiced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when I
Speaker 5: met him, I just had a real connection to him,
Speaker 5: and he did an incredible job. And here I am
Speaker 5: able to sing in many cases better than I ever have.
Speaker 5: There are certain things I can't do anymore, but for
Speaker 5: the most part, I can do it all.
Speaker 1: That's pretty amazing.
Speaker 4: I do voice work for my secondary job, and I
Speaker 4: couldn't even imagine if someone said that I had to
Speaker 4: go have that done, I'd be petrified. Did you listen
Speaker 4: to any particular music to get you through it or
Speaker 4: your own?
Speaker 3: Well, well, you know, music is such an interesting thing.
Speaker 6: Music wasn't going to be what was going to like
Speaker 6: pull me out of being scared, because listening to people
Speaker 6: sing is just like I want to keep being.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So there's that.
Speaker 2: It was more of, you know, just communicating with the
Speaker 2: people that I needed to about, knowing that it was
Speaker 2: the right thing for me to do at the right time.
Speaker 2: And but then shortly after music was everything because I
Speaker 2: had to, you know, teach myself to sing in a
Speaker 2: different way because I didn't want to end up having
Speaker 2: to be back there or doing the same thing. So
Speaker 2: I think singing those LEDs upland songs put me in
Speaker 2: more jeopardy than I mean. That's why Robert Plant doesn't
Speaker 2: do it anymore makes sense. You know, he's probably like,
Speaker 2: what are you doing kids that look.
Speaker 1: On your face?
Speaker 4: Well, in closing, how would you like your music to
Speaker 4: be remembered in terms of the good that it spreads
Speaker 4: in the world world.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a big answer, because I'd like it to
Speaker 2: be remembered. And you know, unfortunately, I'm a fan of
Speaker 2: comedy and I just saw Ricky Jarvay special that was incredible,
Speaker 2: and he was like, none of us will be remembered,
Speaker 2: like it's just a matter.
Speaker 3: Of time, and so, you know, quit being an asshole.
Speaker 3: And he's right.
Speaker 2: So I think, you know, for the short time that
Speaker 2: we'll be here on the planet, and for however many
Speaker 2: years after. I just think that music is supposed to
Speaker 2: have hope.
Speaker 3: I always did. I remember writing.
Speaker 2: The first few songs I ever wrote, and it was
Speaker 2: at a time of grunge music, and so people were
Speaker 2: like this sucks, like it's like it's so cushy, and
Speaker 2: but for me, it was like, I don't know, man,
Speaker 2: I think people need to have hope somewhere. So Calling
Speaker 2: All Angels, you know, was at a time where I
Speaker 2: was really I was really at odds with myself, like
Speaker 2: we were successful, but I was incredibly unhappy and I
Speaker 2: found an incredible therapist and she told me that we
Speaker 2: are divided between angels and traders, and I had to
Speaker 2: call my angels and I was like, consider it stolen.
Speaker 2: Those are the things that gave me hope. And I
Speaker 2: feel like that was the message I was supposed to deliver.
Speaker 2: So hope is is underrated and really helps.
Speaker 1: Do you think writing music also is sort of a therapeutic.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 2: Like it's if I didn't have the ability to write music,
Speaker 2: then I would be a mess because it really helps
Speaker 2: a lot.
Speaker 4: I hope a lot of people hear that and try
Speaker 4: it out. It's pretty it's pretty incredible, even if you're
Speaker 4: not writing a song, just writing in general, getting your
Speaker 4: thoughts out of the general.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you, Pat, it was so good to see you.
Speaker 4: Congratulations on all the continued success with the band, and
Speaker 4: thank you for joining us on music save Me and
Speaker 4: and for the joy.
Speaker 1: That your music brings to so many. Well, thank you,
Speaker 1: thank you, you too.