Judging by its second album, the assured, rootsy Drops of Jupiter — released three years after its self-titled debut surprised the business and went platinum — the San Francisco quintet Train might just be one of those bands. They have done the sweating, doubting and sacrificing for their music and now they're ready for chapter two. Singer Pat Monahan and percussionist Scott Underwood sat down with Heather Stas to talk about the band's new album, how their latest hit single almost didn't make the cut and why they do it all for the nookie.

MTV: Where did you find the time to make this record? You were still on tour [for your first album]. How did you come to that decision where you [said], "Let's take some time out, sit down and write another album"?

Pat Monahan: "Meet Virginia" had done great things for us at radio, but we had been on the road for two years at that point. Our management and our record company thought [we] should start thinking about making a record. But we were thinking, "Let's put another single out." The compromise was, we'll go make a record and then we'll go tour for the [second single] "I Am," and that's exactly what we did. We took two months to write and record. It was at the beginning of that that we contacted [producer] Brendan O'Brien, who worked on the record with us. We took a chance to try to get him because he was the one guy on all of our lists.

MTV: How did that make you feel when this person that you've respected for so long [agreed to produce the record]?

Scott Underwood: It was kind of unreal. You would assume he didn't even know us, [but] he called us back personally. Making the record didn't take long. We were so anxious to do it. We were on the road for so long that [by the time we got] into the studio, we had lots of energy and ideas. It was almost effortless.

MTV: Who went through all the tapes from your sound checks to pick out songs?

Monahan: Me. When we started making this record, I had to go through about 200 tapes. I narrowed it down to about 40 things that I considered really good. Then [we all] narrowed it down to about 20. Brendan came in and listened to about 15 ideas and said, "Man, let's make this record."

MTV: Was that the plan all along, [to] record each sound check [to use] later?

Monahan: When we're on tour, we get about a day off a week, and usually we travel on that day. There's not a lot of time to write. Sound check is the only logical time to create, and so everybody comes up with ideas.

MTV: You had the tracks done one way, and you brought them to Brendan and he listened to them and all of a sudden [takes them in a different direction]. Did you find that happening a lot?

Underwood: I think he just encouraged our direction. His job wasn't to completely change it and make it his. I think he just pushed us further to find it in ourselves. It's all a matter of trust. We have to trust him — look at his work in the past, Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots and all these great things he's done — and say, "OK, I have to give up some of my ego and let go."