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Friday, Jul. 24, 2009

Grand Funk Railroad looks to make county expo some kind of wonderful

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That '70s American band Grand Funk Railroad is coming to our town to help us party down.

The band, famous for hits "We're An American Band," "Locomotion" and "Some Kind of Wonderful," play opening night, July 31, at the Stanislaus County Fair.

Founding members Don Brewer (vocals, drums) and Mel Schacher (bassist) will be joined by Max Carl (vocals) of 38 Special; Bruce Kulick (guitarist), who has performed with KISS, Michael Bolton and Meatloaf; and Tim Cashion (keyboardist) who has performed with Bob Seger and Robert Palmer.

"We do a high-energy, all hits rock-n-roll show," Brewer, 60, said in a phone interview from his home in Jupiter, Fla. "What (people) need to do is be ready to sweat and smile."

Brewer said he wrote "American Band" in 1973 in desperation to get a hit when the band was undergoing some hard times. FM radio was changing and was no longer allowing the lengthy seven-minute album cuts the band had been known for. The group also was being sued by the manager it had just fired.

He played the three chords he knew and started writing a song about how it felt to be on tour.

"People were very excited about it in the studio," Brewer said. "I said, 'Do you guys really like this?' I wasn't sure. When it was released, it immediately got on the radio and it took off."

Known for its strong working class appeal, Grand Funk Railroad was one of the most successful hard rock bands of its era. It took its name from Michigan's Grand Trunk Railroad and got signed shortly after performing at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival.

The group recorded its popular cover of the 1962 Little Eva hit "Locomotion" on a lark. Members were looking for another single to finish out the record "Shinin' On" and didn't quite know what to do. Mark Farner, the singer at the time walked into the studio singing "Locomotion."

The rest of the band members thought it would be a great idea to record that song. They got the lyrics and started working with producer Todd Rundgren.

"Todd's idea was to make it sound like a party's going on like 'Barbara Ann' with the Beach Boys," Brewer said. "It was really like a tongue-in-

cheek thing but it was a huge hit."

This year, Grand Funk Railroad is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The group just performed before 15,000-20,000 people at a rock festival in Walker, Minn.

Brewer said he's not surprised that people still want to hear the group's songs.

"The music that was created in the 1960s and 1970s, a lot of it was timeless," he said. "The way it made me feel, it still makes people feel that way."

He said today's music is too much about making a dollar.

"There seems to be a big disconnect between the artist, and record labels and radio," he said. "It's not good for creativity. It seems to me the music business has gone into trying to create celebrities whereas before the music industry was about trying to create music."

Brewer said he loves how people of all ages come out to Grand Funk shows.

"It's not only the people of our generation," he said. "We have parents and grandparents - three generations of people that come out to see the band. Grandparents will have grandkids on their shoulder and they'll all be singing 'Some Kind of Wonderful.' "

A few things have changed since the band's heyday. The members no longer wear tight, brightly colored spandex pants or take their shirts off during shows.

"That was definitely that time period," Brewer said. "We have respect now. We're a classic rock act."