Train’s Pat Monahan on new Christmas album, the one gift he wants

Train’s Pat Monahan on new Christmas album, the one gift he wants

Train has finally delivered on its long-lingering threat to make a holiday album.

The San Francisco band led by Pat Monahan, best known for soft-rock hits like “Drops of Jupiter” and “Hey, Soul Sister,” takes on standards such as John and Yoko’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” the Pretenders’ “2000 Miles” and Elvis Presley’s “Santa Bring My Baby Back (to Me)” on its latest release, “Christmas in Tahoe.”

The album, which is available in stores and digitally exclusively through Amazon, also includes three originals.

What made you think you could pull it off?

Pitchfork is filled with articles about bands no one will care about again.

The only risk was, will our fans like this as much as we do?

What does “Christmas in Tahoe” mean to you?

At Christmas, all my friends from San Francisco go to two places:

Napa is not where Christmas is at, but as soon as you drive in and smell those pine trees in Tahoe, it feels like Christmas.

Was it hard to go in the studio and sing “2000 Miles” while you were wearing sunglasses and sandals?

Q:

Since your family will probably read this before Christmas, what’s the one thing you want?

Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicle’s pop music critic.