Singer Pat Monahan [ tickets ] of Train [ tickets ] has a simple explanation for the title of his first solo album, "Last of Seven."

"I'm the last of seven kids," said Monahan, in an interview with LiveDaily. "I decided on the 'Last of Seven' because it's the one simple phrase that I've used to describe myself since I can remember. It's hard when you come out with a solo project and you try to come up with a way to define yourself through the title or the music. The songs were taking care of themselves. But to come up with a title in a brief way, that was the best way I could define myself."

"Last of Seven" features 14 new songs, most of which were co-written with Patrick Leonard, a Madonna collaborator and the former lead singer of the '80s hit band Mr. Mister.

"I think he's got a lot of amazing talent," Monahan said. "His songwriting ability is really stunning. He's an amazing piano player. He was a prodigy as a young boy. He's got such depth in his instrument. That's how it came to be that I had him produce the record. We wrote most of the album together and it was such a great experience, I asked him to produce it for me."

Monahan, a Pennsylvania native, wrote some of the material on his own, as well.

"'Two Ways to Say Goodbye,' I wrote backstage at a Train concert. 'Great Escape,' I wrote with a friend of mine in London. 'Her Eyes,' I wrote with Pat Leonard and John Shanks in the studio in Los Angeles. I wrote 'Pirate on the Run' years ago and then asked Brandi Carlile to help me turn it into a duet. There were variations on how the record was written," Monahan said.

Monahan launches a tour in support of "Last of Seven" tonight in the Phoenix area, and will tour through Nov. 18 with his new band: guitarist Luis Maldonado, keyboardist/guitarist Jerry Becker, bassist Brett Simons, drummer Matt Lucich and background vocalist Sakai.

"I'm nervous and really, really anxious to do it," Monahan said. "I have an amazing band and this record means a lot to me. To be able to perform it live is something that I've always dreamt to do one day."

However, he stressed, don't consider "Last of Seven" the end of the line for Train. After all, he will perform "a number" of Train songs on his solo trek.

"No, it doesn't mean the end of Train, really," he said. "I don't like to think of the beginning of something new as the end of something old. I need a little bit of time for myself and I think everyone else is the band did too. I think it'll actually help with the longevity of the band."