It was 55 years ago that Grand Funk Railroad locomotived out of Flint and released its first two albums, “On Time” and a self-titled effort.
And founding drummer Don Brewer says he does not take that longevity for granted.
“I feel blessed that I’ve been able to do this ever since I was a kid,” says Brewer, 75, who now resides in Florida. He wrote the group’s biggest hit, “We’re An American Band,” and leads the current incarnation of Grand Funk with original bassist Mel Schacher. (Singer-guitarist Mark Farner has led his own group since 1998.)
“Ever since I saw Elvis Presley on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ I wanted to be a rock ‘n’ roll, and I’ve been able to do that my whole adult life,” Brewer adds. “Not that there haven’t been a lot of ups and downs, but there’s not many people who can say they’ve been able to do what they love their entire lives so, yeah, I really do feel blessed.”
Grand Funk’s legacy includes 13 studio albums between 1969-1983 and other hits such as “Closer to Home”/”I’m Your Captain,” “Shinin’ On,” “Bad Time” and covers of Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion” and Soul Brothers Six’s “Some Kind of Wonderful.”
The group also has the distinction of selling out its 1971 concert at Shea Stadium in New York faster than the Beatles did in 1965, mostly due to technology.
Grand Funk recently changed guitarists, with Mark Chatfield — who Brewer played with in Bob Seger’s Silver Bullet Band — replacing Bruce Kulick. Brewer says Chatfield brings a different energy and “a whole different feel” to the band while staying faithful to the sound, and the drummer doesn’t rule out the possibility of some new Grand Funk music at some point.
“Over the past 20 years, we’ve done some new stuff in the shows, and I’ve got a lot of live recordings of all the things we’ve done,” Brewer says. “I thought at one point about doing some sort of compilation of all that stuff, but it hasn’t come out yet, so we’ll see.”
Grand Funk Railroad and Foghat perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at the Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort, 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd., Mt. Pleasant. 877-232-4532 or soaringeaglecasino.com.
