Steel Train Channels 1960s

Two scenesters from New Jersey, an introverted Floridian, a German and a New Yorker with a heart of gold - if you individually depict each member of Steel Train, these five guys hardly seem like the most probable people to form a band that straddles the bluegrass and Americana genres.

"If anything, we're just 30 years too late," said Jack Antonoff.

Antonoff (lead vocals, guitar) describes the band's formation as a series of unfortunate events, to some degree. Antonoff met guitarist Matthew Goldman and bassist Evan Winiker in middle school. A couple of years later, Antonoff moved to New York City to attend the Professional Children's School (PCS), a performing arts high school, where he met Scott Irby Ranniar, another PCS student.

Ranniar (keyboard, vocals) and Antonoff began to jam together regularly. Their first performance was a talent show in which they covered Bob Marley's "Steel Train," Antonoff said. People at the show started calling them Steel Train.

"It just stuck," Antonoff said. "But I like to tell everyone it's from a Tom Waits song."

Weeks later, Winiker's laptop was stolen and he decided to drop out of college to join the band. Following him was Goldman, who joined the band when his house burned down. The four members were already signed to Drive-Thru Records when they met drummer Matthias Gruber. Gruber, who was born and raised in Germany, had moved to Los Angeles three years before to study at the L.A. Music Academy.

It has been three years and the band's debut full-length album, which was released in April, is just starting to raise eyebrows.

Antonoff was born and raised in New Jersey, an area that has been spitting out (the recently labeled "emo") underground bands for the past decade.

"The guys from My Chemical Romance and Saves the Day are the kids we grew up with," Antonoff said.

Immersed in the scene from early on, Antonoff began to play in bands while he was in his early teens.

"The first tour I ever did was with my old band, Outline," Antonoff said. "We toured with Matt and Evan's old band, and we actually put out a record on Triple Crown. We got signed around the same time as Brand New, so we did a couple of tours with them."

However, Antonoff soon grew tired of the type of music his band was playing. Antonoff said that one day they "just quit doing that kind of bullshit."

"We just grew out of it," Antonoff said. "Screamo came from New Jersey. It started because all of our bands were playing in these VFW halls where the sound was so bad that you had to just scream and go crazy. That was the point of it. In stadiums - that's just not what it's supposed to be like. I would never play that kind of music. I love punk and hardcore and all that stuff, but that kind of music is meant to be played in someone's basement."

Antonoff knew early on that his passion for music did not lie in the punk scene. Although he listened to bands such as Lifetime, who heavily influenced Saves the Day's sound, Antonoff's favorite artists are Tom Waits and Fiona Apple.

"One time my friend called me from [Apple's] concert so I could hear her playing ['Paper Bag']."

Antonoff then went on to say how excited he was when he got to meet her.

"I was like 14. She gave me a kiss, and it was amazing," he said.

Saturday marks the first time Steel Train has played in Rhode Island.

Despite the crowd's unfamiliarity with the band, everyone seemed to enjoy the band's 40 minute set (which was more of a jam session than an actual set). The only time the crowd seemed a bit lackadaisical was when the band started to play an unreleased, untitled song that Antonoff preceded with, "This is a quiet one." From the first chord, it was clear that the band hadn't been playing the song live for long, since it was difficult to make out any of the words Antonoff was singing. Midway through the song, the band decided it'd be best to switch gears, and as they dove quickly into the upbeat track "Gypsy Waves," Antonoff yelled, "I guess we'll just have to play over you fuckers."

"That's the funny thing about touring," Antonoff said. "I don't know if it has to do with the social situation, weather or politics, but there's such a different vibe everywhere we go. Oklahoma is huge for us. I mean, I've seen people there with Steel Train tattoos. It's weird though because we sell out clubs in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but then we'll drive three hours to Lawrence, Kan. and play for like 30 people. When we start to play places over and over again, we get to watch it build. The first time we play in a place there might only be 50 people there, then 100 the next time, and so on."

Antonoff knows that the type of music his band plays may never become mainstream, but he said he is not bothered by the fact.

"The kind of music that's big right now, like the whole drive-thru thing, has to end. It's a fad. We are not a fad," he said. "That doesn't necessarily mean we're good. We're just doing what we do. Those are the kind of things that can last for a long time. When Radiohead came out, no one was doing that. No one really plays the kind of music that Wilco does. Anything that matters has to be, in some way, different or new."

Earlier this year, Steel Train played at Bonaroo, a festival in Tennessee, alongside bands such as the Allman Brothers and Modest Mouse.

Antonoff said the crowd of about 15,000 was the largest they've played for, calling it "a big red line in our history."

"We are playing a similar festival at the end of October, called Vegoose," Antonoff said. "It's in Las Vegas. We're playing with Beck, the Arcade Fire and Dave Matthews Band."

Antonoff said living on the road is exciting "because you can be whoever you want, every night, wherever you are ... any part of you can change. You're in a place where no one knows who you are."

He contrasted the freedom he has on the road with how he felt in high school.

"When you're around something so small, like a high school with 500 kids, people think of you a certain way," he said. "And you never have a chance to show any another side of you because you become what people want you to be."

Antonoff said many tours had funny stories. For example, they were traveling through southern Texas with a band called Limbeck, when they decided to stop at a beach in South Padre Island. There, cars are allowed to park up on the beach, in the sand.

"So, we drove our van, which we had just bought, and our equipment trailer onto the beach," Antonoff said. "We're hanging out on the beach eating all these watermelon and coconuts ... then all of a sudden we're like 'How ... are we gonna get out of here?'"

Because the van was so big, there was nowhere for them to turn it around.

"We started freaking out, but then we decided just to enjoy it," Antonoff said.

Apparently, they "enjoyed it" a little too long because a few hours later high tide rolled in.

"We tried turning the van around, but we got stuck, so this tow truck had to come pull us out," he said. "It left, and we ended up getting stuck again. At one point, the van was, like, in the ocean."

The band members all started to really worry at this point because all of their equipment was in the trailer, attached to the van. "We thought we were going to lose everything," says Antonoff. Another tow truck showed up, though, and finally removed the van from the sand.

Steel Train is currently touring the Northeast, opening for State Radio. They will be playing in Northampton, Mass. on Oct. 22.