Grand Funk Railroad brings the funk at Steelers kick-off

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the reigning champions of American football, so who better to open a… The Pittsburgh Steelers are the reigning champions of American football, so who better to open a new season than a band that has called itself “The American Band” since the 1970s?

Grand Funk Railroad will play at the Steelers’ Kickoff and Rib Fest this Saturday. GFR made it big almost four decades ago, thanks to the hit song “We’re an American Band” and a rock ’n’ roll-style audiences went crazy for — catchy lyrics, big hair and tight pants.

Though the band has since changed, it still consists of two original members — Don Brewer (drums, lead vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass guitar) — and they’ve kept GFR relevant by playing hit songs from the past that newer audiences want to hear.

Brewer said he’s excited for this particular event because he’s a Steelers fan.

“I’m really a Steelers fan this year,” he said. “Not just because they won the Super Bowl, but I’m completely against the Philadelphia Eagles because of their lack of ethics recently.”

The band has lost some of its original members with the passing of time, as most classic rock bands do, but GFR has maintained high-energy performances with the addition of lead vocalist Max Carl, former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick and Tim Cashion on keyboards.

“We’ve never been the band that plays a lot of slow songs and talks to the audience. We try to get the audience involved with the show. In that respect, it’s very similar to what it’s always been,” Brewer said.

Just as the band has aged, however, so has its core listeners, but Brewer has noticed that they have found popularity among a younger generation.

“When we were the new hot band, it was a completely different reaction,” Brewer said. “We’re a lot older, we’re more mature, we’re a lot better musicians, I think, but the spirit of Grand Funk Railroad is still the same that it has been.”

GFR’s current tour is appropriately titled, “The American Band Tour,” and Pittsburgh is just one of 40 stops the band will make in celebration of its 40th anniversary. Because some of its shows are held at casinos, Brewer said that the band went into this year’s tour with more anxiety about the effect of the United States’ suffering economy on the turnout of fans.

“It’s turned out to be a great year,” Brewer said. “We went in worried about the big financial meltdown since the casinos have been hurt by the recession — we were asking ourselves: Are there going to be audiences? But our shows have been well attended.”

When asked about the significance of branding themselves with the “American” label, Brewer offers it as a one-word explanation of where the band came from, why they are famous and what they stand for as musicians.

The band comes from a typical American small town, Flint, Mich., and Brewer believes GFR’s everlasting acknowledgement of this modest identity is partly what has made the group famous.

“We ended up being the local band that made it big. A lot of our fans relate to us in that way. We’re not untouchable, we’re just regular guys,” he said.

While other big name classic rock bands have limited their modern-day acts to spectacles ranging from annual VH1 showcases to tours consisting of two shows in New York City, GFR has made its live music available to the masses. And according to Brewer, there are no plans to stop soon.

“It really is a treat. You can just go out there and do what you love — not everyone can say that,” Brewer said.. “We’ll continue doing it until we can’t do it anymore.”