Train singer Pat Monahan digs into his deep Irish roots

Sunday World

06-06-2025

The lead singer of the hit American band has connections to Galway – and a good friendship with golf superstar Rory McIlroy.
Singer Pat Monahan of American hit band Train has spoken of his Galway roots and his friendship with golf superstar Rory McIlroy.
The Hey, Soul Sister singer and songwriter, set to play Dublin's Iveagh Gardens with Train in July, reveals that his paternal grandparents were from Tuam.
'I have not gone to Tuam yet, but my older daughter has,' Pat tells Sunday World.
'There's a guy who provides my cars here in the United States and he's Irish. He tells me everything I need to know about everything and he told me if you blink driving through Tuam you'll miss it,' he laughs.
The talk over Zoom turns to Tuam's favourite sons The Saw Doctors. 'I've heard of them, I know The Saw Doctors for sure,' Pat says.
Train will be at the Iveagh Gardens
We chat about The Saw Doctors' music and their success and then he breaks away to find a pen and make a note to himself. 'I'll listen to them later today,' he says.
Like many rock stars, Monahan is a golf fan and counts Rory McIlroy and Jason Day among his pals.
'I'm such a Rory fan,' Pat says. 'A few years ago I got the opportunity to play nine holes with Rory. I love him. I'm also very good friends with Jason Day and I've played with him a bunch of times.
'I saw Jason that day that I played with Rory and when he saw that I was with Rory he goes, 'You got upgraded, huh?''
Are you a decent golfer? 'I'm OK, I love the game, I love what it does for people, I love what it does for friendships, relationships…it's a beautiful game.'
Was it extra pressure on your golf playing with Rory McIlroy? 'You know, guys like Rory don't care how you play,' Pat says. 'They care about the kind of person you are because they don't expect you to be good at golf. They are supposed to be good at golf and we're just supposed to be decent people.'
Is McIlroy a fan of Train? 'I think so, but he's really close friends with Harry Styles and Niall Horan because those guys are similar ages,' Pat says.
Pat Monahan
News in 90 Seconds - 6th June 2025
'I think Niall originally was obsessed with golf before Harry and I'm told that, just like me texting Jason Day all the time, Niall would text Rory a hundred times when he was playing a round. Rory would read all these texts …'great shot in the bunker, what happened over there with that putt?''
Going back to Train and their music, I mention that the train is still rolling. 'Yeah, whether you like it or not,' Pat laughs.
Well you obviously like it, you stuck with it? 'Yeah, you know, I have a lot of people that depend on me,' he says.
'They are incredible musicians and they are my family now, so I feel like it's my obligation to not just go out there and do the work, but to continue to be creative and try to move in a positive direction.'
Monahan has picked up three Grammys in his career. That's obviously a good feeling to have your place in the history of music?
'Yeah, you know, my place in music is always what's next? It's never what was,' he says.
'I'm always focused on maybe today will be the day that I find out what's next. You never know.
'We have been working on a Broadway musical, me and two other guys in the band, for five-and-a-half years. It looks like by next spring we'll be on stage and that's a good feeling. It could be really great.
'John Carney [Irish movie director] wrote it. It was a movie, Begin Again, which Mark Ruffalo was in. The music in the movie was, if I do say so myself, not up to par for a Broadway musical, and so we wrote brand new songs for the entire thing.
'I figured if I was going to do it, it was going to be my story with my idea because I'm from a big family, the youngest of seven kids. I figured I would write something about that because there's a whole lot that happens in a family of nine.'
Were you spoilt? 'I wouldn't say spoilt,' he reflects. 'We certainly had nothing. I come from nearly nothing at all. I was as spoiled as I could have been with having the little that we had.'
Monahan's Grammy award-winning single, Drops of Jupiter, was inspired by the death of his mother after a battle with cancer.
'For a boy, a mom is a big loss,' Pat says. 'My mom didn't get to see much of it [his success]. She passed away and that's why Drops Of Jupiter was written.
'My father got to see it for 10 more years, so he got to see a little bit of it. But he passed away 12 years ago.'
Monahan promises to roll out the hits and fan favourites when Train play Dublin's Iveagh Gardens on Sunday, July 6.
'I've been to concerts where they don't play the hits and I wonder why I'm there,' Pat adds.
'So we try to do a few songs from other artists, songs that you recognise and some other ones that are just fun to play.'
Train play Dublin's Iveagh Gardens on Sunday, July 6. Tickets are now on sale.