We got picked up on the Upper East Side of New York City, we set down behind the stage and a limousine picked us up to bring us to the stage.
We flew over Shea Stadium first in helicopters. “It was certainly a rock and roll fantasy. Grand Funk Railroad’s fortunes were at their highest in the early 70s, when a string of hit singles and albums landed them in some rarified company: at one point, the band equalled the Beatles attendance record by selling out New York City’s famed Shea Stadium in just 72 hours, an experience still fondly etched in Brewer’s memory. I never dreamed I’d be 67 and still doing it. From the very first time I saw Elvis Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show doing “Blue Suede Shoes” I was hooked on rock and roll. “When we started the band all I was interested in was chasing girls,” laughed Brewer, who joins Mel Schacher as the two remaining original members in an “American band” that now features lead vocalist Max Carl (of 38 Special), former Kiss lead guitarist Bruce Kulick, and keyboardist Tim Cashion (Bob Seger, Robert Palmer). The days of buses and endless tours are over, but Brewer and his band mates are still on the road wringing every last ounce of enjoyment they can out of Grand Funk Railroad, a band loved by super-fan Homer Simpson for “the wild shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner, the bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher and the competent drum work of Don Brewer.” The various incarnations of Grand Funk have accumulated 13 gold and 10 platinum records over a career that began in 1969, selling in excess of 25 million records on the strength of hits like the Brewer-penned #1 hit “We’re An American Band,” along with “I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home,” “Locomotion” and “Some Kind of Wonderful.” And while his primary motivation for forming a band has changed, his appreciation for the career he’s forged as a result certainly has not diminished.
We have a backline company that drives in from Indianapolis on the east coast and Las Vegas on the west coast and brings our gear to us. We call for it in our rider and we have it there. Now you can get state-of-the-art technology wherever you go. Way back in the day you had to bring everything with you. And certainly the technology makes it easier – the keyboard technology, the amplifiers, the P.A. “We go out and play on the weekends, play and fly home. “We’re weekend warriors now,” said Brewer, in Niagara Falls for a show April 30 th at Fallsview Casino’s Avalon Ballroom. The rigors of the road, however, aren’t quite as rigorous as they were in the old days on tour. But he’s still got plenty of fond memories of the days when his band ruled the Earth.Īfter more than four decades as the drummer, sometime lead singer and #1-hit songwriter for the enduring classic rock juggernaut known as GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, the Jupiter, Florida resident is still rocking his way around the world with the band he co-founded as a 19-year-old.
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