That was really our turning point,” he says. “We walked on and played in front of 80,000 people and they gave us a standing ovation and they just loved the band. The cards had not been in the musicians’ favor for that particular show: They had just taken up the name Grand Funk Railroad, so nobody knew who they were, and they were playing as the opening act. The group landed its first record deal with Capitol Records and the little-known Michigan band was on track for national recognition. Grand Funk’s music has received a lot of attention too, racking up 13 gold and 10 platinum records, and amassing record sales over 25 million, starting with the debut album “On Time” in 1969.īrewer points to Grand Funk’s performance at the Atlanta Pop Festival in 1969 as the moment that jump-started the band’s success.

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People didn’t walk around saying ‘funk’ very often, so when you said Grand ‘Funk’ Railroad, everybody always thought you were saying the other four-letter word. “In the mid-’60s, a term for music came along, ‘funk,’ and so we did a play on words,” Brewer explains. The band name is a take on the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, which ran through the area where Brewer and his bandmates grew up. He adds that he “kept the spirits up” and stayed in contact with all the other Grand Funk members throughout that unprecedented time. “It was very difficult for me personally to be at home and be like ‘Oh God, is this it? Are we ever going to be able to get back out on the road?’” he says.

We’re lucky to be back on stage,” Brewer says he told his bandmates before they played their first post-pandemic-shutdown show in July at the Southern Ground Amphitheater in Georgia. He and the rest of the current lineup of Grand Funk Railroad will keep the groove going when their “Some Kind of Wonderful” tour stops Friday at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, giving local fans a chance to sing along to “American Band,” “Closer To Home (I'm Your Captain),” and other hits. Brewer, 73, is the only continuous member of Grand Funk Railroad through numerous lineup changes over the decades. Like any good drummer, Don Brewer has kept the beat going for Grand Funk Railroad through thick and thin without losing his rhythm.ĭrummer Brewer has been the backbone and the backbeat since the classic rock band formed in 1969.

Mark farner some kind of wonderful