Grand Funk Railroad Will Chug Into Town

The year was 1973. Grand Funk Railroad drummer and lead vocalist Don Brewer was driving to band practice, radio blasting, when a familiar beat came over his speakers that caught his attention.

He swerved his 1970 Thunderbird over to the side of the road.

“It hit me, right then,” he said during a telephone interview last week. “‘We’re An American Band’ was on the radio and it was a hit song. I still hear it today and think it’s a hit.”

For the classic rock band, the hits just kept on coming—“I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home,” “Locomotion” and “Some Kind of Wonderful,” to name a few—landing the band tours around the world. And on Sunday, July 8, Grand Funk will take to the stage in Westhampton Beach.

“I’ve been to New York countless times, I even had an apartment there, but I’ve never been to ‘Long Guyland,’” Mr. Brewer said, laughing as he exaggerated the stereotyped accent.

Clare Bisceglia, executive director of the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, said she hopes the crowd is ready for the rock-and-roll show in store.

“It’s a party,” she said. “All aboard! Grand Funk Railroad is coming to town! It will be an outstanding show. This is one of those shows where dancing in the aisles will be allowed. I don’t think you’ll be able to stay in your seat.”

Alongside Mr. Brewer, the five-piece group includes founding member Mel Schacher, who plays bass; and after a series of shake-ups and break-ups, joining the band now are some real rock heavyweights—Max Carl, lead vocalist of .38 Special; former KISS guitarist, Bruce Kulick; and keyboardist Tim Cashion from Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band.

“It has the spirit of Grand Funk, that high-energy, rock-and-roll show,” Mr. Brewer said. “The music is timeless, but the bands are never the same when people leave. It’s about that spirit, though. It’s what we do, it’s what we love. Once you get bit by the entertainment bug, when you get to go on stage and make a fool of yourself and people like it, you’re hooked.”

Mr. Brewer’s first brush with the bug was when he was 12 years old. It was during a school talent show with his band, The Red Devils, in Swartz Creek, Michigan, he recalled. He and his bandmates knew only one tune: the theme song to “Peter Gunn.”

But he knew that he was a music lover even earlier than that, he said.

“My first influence was Elvis Presley,” Mr. Brewer said. “I was just a kid and watched the Ed Sullivan Show and I saw ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ I started doing an impression. My dad would take me to the bar, put me on a table, pop a nickle into the jukebox and I’d just start dancing. There’s where the ham came out.”

His next basement-band was the Jazzmasters, which transformed into Terry Knight and the Pack, Mr. Brewer said. In 1969, Mr. Knight decided to manage the group’s next band, Grand Funk Railroad, which was named after the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known train that ran through Michigan, Mr. Brewer said.

“We wanted to kind of make this change from being the ’60s rock stuff into the new, upcoming, hippy, power-rock trio,” Mr. Brewer said of Mr. Schacher and Mark Farner, who played guitar, keyboard and shared lead vocal. “Later, we got a fourth guy involved and got focused on touring. Capital Records gave us two tours and two records a year. So that’s what we did for the next four years, and I think that really led to the band’s demise in 1976.”

The bandmates decided that they wouldn’t call it quits forever, Mr. Brewer recalled, but two attempts to reunite over the next 20 years disintegrated.

“Mark [Farner] decided that he wanted to leave the band altogether and go back to being solo,” Mr. Brewer said. “Mel and I didn’t know what we were going to do. Then we just happened to run into Max Carl. We started talking and it was like, ‘Wow, this guy would be great with Grand Funk.’ We got a rehearsal together, started working on new material and said, ‘Let’s do this. Let’s go out with Max as our new lead singer, Bruce Kulick and Tim Cashion.’”

In 2000, the band hit the road and has been going ever since, Mr. Brewer said. He added that the 40 tours he and his bandmates do a year are the best part.

“There’s three generations of people who know the words to the songs now,” Mr. Brewer said. “It’s amazing. You see grandparents, parents, kids, babies on shoulders, and they all know ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ and ‘I’m Your Captain/Closer To Home.’ That’s what we’re about. We’re a classic rock band, and we love to play.”

Grand Funk Railroad will give a concert at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Sunday, July 10, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $80, $95 or $115. For reservations, visit whbpac.org or call the box office at 288-1500.