How Train’s frontman helped boost Imagine Dragons to superstardom
Pat Monahan has a message for Taylor Swift: “I would love to work together again.”
He also has a message for Imagine Dragons: “Papa needs some new shoes.”
These are unrelated requests from Train’s front man, as the band rolls into The Theater at Virgin Hotel on Friday night (doors 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m.)
The two stories tell a larger tale of Monahan’s influence on his fellow artists.
As a side project to his Train endeavors, Monahan co-wrote “Babe” with Swift. Sugarland originally recorded the song in 2018. Swift recorded her own rendition for 2021’s “Red (Taylor’s Version),” the re-recording of her Grammy-nominated 2012 album.
Swift, who has announced a March 25 tour stop at Allegiant Stadium, is known to be a Train fan. She’s covered “Drops of Jupiter” and “Hey, Soul Sister” in concert. She and Monahan met at an awards show. She asked him if he wanted to write together.
“She’s a very driven young woman,” Monahan says. “I kind of stepped back and let her lead the way, and she was like, ‘Dude, you’re here because, you know, I like your songwriting. I need you to participate. I was like, ‘Cool, all right. I just needed to make sure that was the way you like to work.’”
Monahan says the process was simply, “A lot of fun. We became friends. She’s a gifted kid” Of any future project, he says, “That would be a good question for her. I would love to work with her.”
But Monahan expands on who he would like to write with. It’s a long track.
“I’d love to work with just about everybody. Post Malone, would be somebody I’d like to work with,” he says. “One of my favorite artists is J. Cole, I’d like to write with him. There’s a young kid named King George is an artist that I’m very excited about.”
Monahan also plays a role in a piece of Vegas entertainment lore. He was a late call-out of the October 2009 “Bite of Las Vegas” at Desert Springs Park, which Train had been scheduled to headline.
In a story oft-recited by avid Imagine Dragons devotees, Train was forced from the bill because of Monahan’s severe vocal concerns. Imagine Dragons took the prime-time slot, playing for 20,000 fans, easily their largest crowd to date.
The event sent the Vegas band to superstardom. They played Allegiant Stadium in September.
“You know, I have not received one payment yet,” Monahan says with a laugh. “Yeah. Next time you talk to the band, tell them that Papa needs some new shoes.”
Hey, that could happen, conceivably.
Monahan has only fond feelings for Imagine Dragons and his role, if incidental, in their success.
“You know, it was a thing where I just lost my voice? It doesn’t happen anymore. Sometimes it’s illness, sometimes it’s nerves, and that’s what happened,” Monahan says. “But I met them in San Francisco, a couple years after that. They were very sweet guys. It was a serendipitous meeting. But it was great for them, looking back on it, and I’m happy about that.”
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.
