Matthew Morgis

After a three-year break, the adult contemporary band from San Francisco, Train, is back on the charts and ready to rock amphitheaters around the country. The trio, consisting of Pat Monahan, Jimmy Stafford and Scott Underwood, is currently on tour with John Mayer and stopping at the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain this Saturday.

The band has won two Grammy awards and returns from the hiatus it took to be with family, start solo projects, and most of all, just take a break.

“We were taking everything for granted, and we felt like we deserved all the success,” drummer Underwood said during a phone interview. “We felt like we didn’t have to put any thought into it anymore, like it was just going to happen. Obviously, that’s delusional in the music business, so it was a good time for that break.”

After all of the members going off on their own for a couple of years, the band decided to start working together again and make some major changes to the band. There are now only three members — a decrease from the previous five — and Train also went through management changes. But after three years, it was time to start writing again.

The band went into its most recent album, “Save Me, San Francisco,” with a totally different attitude towards each other and the music. Train was under no pressure from anyone to write the record, and the band did it without success as the main goal — but it still came.

The band’s first single off the October, 2009 release was “Hey, Soul Sister,” which was Train’s second top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Since then, the band has released “If It’s Love” as its second single and a third, “Save Me, San Francisco.”

“It was a whole new operation. … We wanted to do it just for the love of doing it,” Underwood said. “In the back our minds we’re thinking radio, and we’re thinking success, but if it takes priority when you’re writing, that’s no good.”

The new record was built out of a collection of songs from over many years. One song on the record was written six years ago, and the rest were all brought to the table as different ideas from each member of the band. Even Monahan, Train’s lead vocalist, worked with world-class writers over the three-year period for songs on this record.

“We pulled songs from different collections of our lives,” said Underwood. “Pat’s kind of our secret weapon when it comes to writing lyrics people want to hear. He’s just so good at it.”

It may be a much different approach from the industry standard way of recording an album, but it worked. Not only has Train had radio success, but also many may have heard the single “Hey, Soul Sister” in Samsung’s 3D commercials on television. The band’s songs have also been used in TV shows, movie soundtracks, and even played before every home Los Angeles Angels baseball game.

The band is excited that its success has landed it on tour with a close friend, Mayer.

“It’s always a good fit,” Underwood explained. “His audience always seems to get there early, and seems to really love us. We’ve known (John) since the good old days when we were all smaller bands, and in fact there were many shows when he opened up for us, and it’s amazing to see his career take off, and we’re so proud of him and glad to be a part of it.”

As for what fans can expect to hear at the show Saturday night, Underwood stated that Train will perform the old radio hits “Meet Virginia,” “Calling All Angels” and “Drops of Jupiter.” The band will also play the three singles off of its current record and another titled “I Got You.”

And as for playing in Scranton, Underwood seemed pretty excited.

“With Pat being from Pennsylvania (Erie) and myself being from New York, the Northeast kind of feels like home to us. … It just feels like I’m right at home.”