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AIPROPX ReportBillboard · 2h ago
Father-Son Stage Collabs Are Stealing the Show During Train’s Summer Tour With Barenaked Ladies
This summer’s Drops of Jupiter: 25 Years In the Atmosphere Tour is offering some chips off the ol’ block amid performances by headliner Train and supporting act Barenaked Ladies .
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Both bands take the stage each night with father-son combinations. Train brings out frontman Pat Monahan’s 14-year-old son Rock to sing and play guitar on a cover of Journey’s “Stone in Love” — going toe-to-toe with lead guitarist Butch Walker on the solos — as well as Dirty Heads’ “Vacation” (Monahan senior featured on a 2021 version) and the group’s own “Save Me, San Francisco.” Barenaked Ladies’ ranks, meanwhile, include Ed Robertson’s multi-instrumentalist son Lyle, 26, as a utility player handling guitar, bass, keyboards and backing vocals throughout the band’s hour on stage.
You can bet the papas are not hiding their pride in having their sons be part of the family business.
“It’s been pure joy, really,” Pat Monahan tells Billboard via Zoom, seated alongside Rock. He says his son “was born a 40-year-old man. He’s always been a mature, well-mannered guy that has a great sense of humor and talent and is easy to be around. It’s a thrill because he’s got a great work ethic; when people bring their kids on stage, if they’re not adults, people immediately go, ‘This will be cute.’ Then when it’s great they go, ‘Oh, sh-t! Karen, get your phone!’ It’s really fun to watch.”
On the BNL front, Lyle Robertson was initially intended as an on-call substitute for bassist Jim Creeggan, whose father passed away last month. Lyle also played with the group last November and December as well during its nearly five-week run on the CPKC Holiday Train.
“The original plan was to have Lyle on retainer in case Jim needed to slip home last-minute to help (his family),” Ed Robertson explains. “The idea was we would fly Lyle out and he could cover bass stuff. Then we thought, ‘Why not keep Lyle out here? He’s already here. He can play some guitar, do some vocals, and if Jim needs to split in a hurry he can slide over to bass.’ Jim’s the one who said right away, ‘Lyle’s a great musician, such a great player. We all know and love him. Let’s bring him along,’ and it’s been a real pleasure to have him out.”
In BNL’s case that’s also allowed the band to perform as a quintet for the first time since Stephen Page left in 2009. “It’s really nice,” the elder Robertson notes. “There are certain songs, like ‘Falling For the First Time,’ where I’ve missed having an extra guitar. Playing ‘Brian Wilson,’ it’s great to have that second acoustic guitar. It’s sure nice having an extra live player to fill out the sound.”
Not surprisingly, the two sons have bonded backstage and on off-day gatherings. “We went out for dinner one night with all the Train guys, and me and Rock sat next to each other, quoting Tropic Thunder and Hot Rod , all these comedy movies that we thought we were the only ones that found them funny. When we’re not soundchecking or playing, everyone’s chatting, getting to know each other. You hear stories of, for lack of a better term, train wrecks of people on tour not getting along … but this is just like summer camp, a huge community in the very best way. I think it’s a dream come true for both of us.”
Alexa Teed/Courtesy Shelter Music
In the Atmosphere
Both of the sons have music in their DNA, of course, and have been around their fathers’ bands since they were born. Rock Monahan, the Seattle-born youngest of three siblings, has been making cameo appearances on stage since he was seven years old, and though he was more focused on singing initially he also began taking guitar lessons when he was young.
“I was never insanely serious about it,” Rock says. Getting exposed to Joe Satriani playing Van Halen songs with Sammy Hagar last year changed his tune, however. “I listened to Van Halen for that Sammy Hagar show,” Rock says, “and I was like, ‘I didn’t know that you could do that.’ It kinda put me down the rabbit hole. My dad showed me Led Zeppelin, and that became kind of the most important thing for me, one of them.”
Now he greatly admires Jimmy Page (“He’s such an amazing songwriter”) and well as Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour (“His solos on everything just feel like you’re literally floating”), along with Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield, Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne guitarists Zakk Wylde and Randy Rhoads. (The Monahans attended the Back to the Beginning Osbourne/Sabbath farewell festival last summer in Birmingham, England.) More recently he’s taken an interest in the late Jeff Buckley’s playing. “All I do is listen to music and play music,” Rock says.
And nobody is doubting that he can.
“He’s very much like I was when I was 14 — a musical sponge, and just obsessed with guitar,” says Walker, who suggested “Stone in Love” as a showcase for the teenager’s talents. “He’s got his dad’s pipes at 14, which is crazy; he literally can sing every range, and we can sing and play any songs with him. He’s a confident performer. He’s been around this for so long, he can hang around and joke and talk shop,...
Pat Monahan'sRockTrain'sDropsJupiterYears InAtmosphere TourTrainBarenaked LadiesShabangScores DrakeRhythmic Airplay No
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