One of the most iconic lyrics in rock and roll history magically appeared out of thin air.
In the early 1970s, the opening line of “We’re An American Band’s” chorus popped into Grand Funk Railroad‘s drummer and singer Don Brewer’s head.
“The band was going through a pretty rough time period,” Brewer told the New York Post. “We had left our former manager, Terry Knight, and he was suing us over rights to the band name. We were looking for a hit song because Knight had taken all of our money,”
“And so we’re on an airplane, flying into a town to play. I’m looking down at the ground and all of a sudden, ‘We’re coming to your town, we’ll help you party down’ comes to me and I wrote the song around that line.”
A half century later, the classic rockers are still comin’ to your town to help you party down as part of their ‘American Band 50th Anniversary Tour.’
From September 2023 through March 2024, Grand Funk Railroad — which is now made up of members from KISS, .38 Special, Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band and ? and the Mysterians — will hit 13 venues all over North America celebrating their classic song and more at each and every gig along the way.
That includes huge shows at Waterloo, NY’s The Vine at Del Lago Resort and Casino on Friday, Nov. 10 and Atlantic City, NJ’s Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on Saturday, Dec. 9.
Interestingly, the band had a surprise chance encounter at a show out in Waterloo.
“John Ellison, who wrote ‘Some Kind of Wonderful,’ which we cover, came to the show. He was in the front row and yelling to our roadie, ‘I wrote that song!’”
“We brought him backstage after the show and had a great time. He told us his inspiration for writing ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ was driving around with his girlfriend in this old beat up car where you could see the ground under your feet because a floorboard fell out.”
As wild as that story is, don’t expect too many spontaneous crazy things to happen at these shows though.
Grand Funk is mostly coming to your town just to help you party down this year and next.
Want to party down with the band that sold out Shea Stadium faster than The Beatles?
You can catch the iconic group on the road all the way up until March 2024.
All the details you need about the exciting anniversary tour can be found below.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Grand Funk Railroad 2023 tour schedule
A complete calendar including all upcoming Grand Funk Railroad tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.
| Grand Funk Railroad tour dates |
|---|
| Sept. 23 at the The Riviera Theater in Charleston, SC |
| Sept. 28 at the Uptown Theater in Kansas City, MO |
| Oct. 13 at The Showroom at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, NV |
| Oct. 20 at the Raising Canes River Center Theatre in Baton Rouge, LA |
| Nov. 2 at the Hard Rock Casino in Gary, IN |
| Nov. 4 at the Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Van Wert, OH |
| Nov. 10 at The Vine at Del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo, NY |
| Nov. 16 at the Yaamava Resort and Casino in Highland, CA |
| Nov. 18 at the Gila River Resorts and Casinos in Chandler, AZ |
| Nov. 30 at the Deadwood Mountain Grand in Deadwood, SD |
| Dec. 9 at Sound Waves at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Atlantic City in Atlantic City, NJ |
| Dec. 14 at the Peoples Bank Theatre in Marietta, OH |
| March 8, 2024 at the Hard Rock Live in Biloxi, MS |
Grand Funk Railroad band members
The current iteration of Grand Funk Railroad has been together for 23 years and counting. Over their near quarter century together, the quintet has settled into a nice groove.
As expected, Brewer had nothing but nice things to say about his fellow bandmates.
“Our lead singer Max Carl, formerly of .38 Special and Jack Mac and the Heart Attack, is probably one of the last blue eyed soul singers on the planet and just a great fit for Grand Funk,” Brewer told the Post.
“He’s from Omaha. I’m from Flint, Michigan and we’re Midwest boys with a love of R&B.”
Other members of the group have legendary resumes as well.
We have Bruce Kulick playing lead guitar. Bruce played with Kiss for 12 years back when they took their makeup off.”
“And Tim Cashion from Bob Seger’s band is playing keyboards and singing backup with us.”
That’s not to mention the group’s other original member, bassist Mel Schacher who’s been playing with Brewer since 1969.
“Mel and I read off each other. He knows I’m going to be there doing my part. If either of us are ever a little bit off, we don’t have to think about it. We’re two peas in a pod.”
“We’re An American Band” song history
After Brewer had his opening line to the now instantly recognizable earworm, he had a lot of work to do.
“I didn’t have the ‘We’re an American band’ part yet. But the “we’re comin’ to your town, we’ll help you party down,” that’s what this band is. That’s what we do.”
With that in mind, he used the three or four chords he knew on guitar and came up with the lyrics about sweet, sweet Connie, Little Rock and staying up all night playing poker with four young chiquitas in Omaha.
Still, they didn’t have the now unmistakable song title.
“One day I’m sitting in my apartment jamming, and singing the song. Then it just came out of my mouth because it sounded good to sing ‘We’re an American band.’ And that was it.”
As for the rest, it all came naturally.
“I was listening to stuff on the radio at that time and I’m going, it seems like all of the hit records have a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus out. So that’s what I did.”
Before it was released, Brewer had a feeling the single was a hit.
“My first inkling that the song had legs was when we were in the studio in Miami finishing up the album. Capitol Records was just dying to get this next record. So some of their people came from L.A. to Miami to hear some of the material.”
“I’m in the studio and they’re listening in the control room and when it ends, they start jumping up and down, screaming and high fiving each other. I remember walking in from the studio and going, ‘You guys really like that song?’”
“And they were like, ‘That’s a number one hit.’”
Soon after, Brewer heard “We’re An American Band” on the radio while driving to Mel Schacher’s house. He pulled off to the side of the road, cranked up the radio and listened to it on his car speakers.
“It sounded like a hit record,” he smiled.
Soon after, the song skyrocketed to the top of the charts.
Still, it isn’t his favorite song to play live on the road.
“For me, I love to perform ‘Some Kind Of Wonderful.’”
“I get out to the microphone, start singing and see people are on their feet having a great time regardless of age. Whether it’s playing at a festival or fair with grandkids and kids and parents, they’re all singing along.”
Grand Funk Railroad at Shea Stadium
Brewer and fellow original member Mel Schacher have quite a bit of New York history in them.
In 1971, Grand Funk Railroad headlined at NYC’s Shea Stadium and reportedly sold out the venue faster than The Beatles.
“We flew in on helicopters from the Upper East Side to get to a sold out, packed Shea Stadium and were escorted to the stage. It was all surreal like, ‘Pinch me, is is this really happening?’”
As for the show, it was something else.
“The audience was totally separate from the band. We were at home plate and there was nobody on the field. The entire baseball field was empty.”
Classic rockers on tour in 2023
Many great “American Bands” (and some British stars) from way back when are on the road this year.
Here are just five of our favorites you won’t want to miss live these next few months.
• Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
• The Eagles
• Aerosmith
• Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band
• Billy Joel with Stevie Nicks
Who else is on the road? Check out our list of the 22 biggest classic rock groups on tour in 2023 here to find out.