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Transit was born from members’ desire to follow their own path.
All formerly of various bands, they tired of obligations to swamp pop and top-40 hits with only courtesy covers of their favorite music, classic rock. So they came together eight years ago, and that they play to their own musical interests is best exemplified by their arsenal of Rush.
“Me and the drummer, Tod Blanchard, we’re Rush fanatics,” said Darren Metrejean, Transit’s bassist. “We used to play Rush when we were 15 years old. We grew up on that stuff, and we found an outlet for it. Not many bands can do it, because it’s technical, it’s hard to play, but we love it because it’s fun. It’s the highlight of our show.”
The Pierre Part band closes each show with “Tom Sawyer” and also regularly performs “Limelight.” Outside of Rush, the five-piece band explores the range of country music, from ZZ Top to Journey, Boston, Foreigner, Styx and Lynard Skynard.
Lyndon Blanchard (keyboard), Mark Duke (guitar) and Lacey Sanchez White join Blanchard and Metrejean. Their balance is now 75 percent classic rock, 25 percent everything else, Metrejean said.
Because the band is a group of middle-aged adults with their personal lives and jobs, the group rarely practices as a unit.
“We have a set list, and the songs we have, we just do them on the fly,” Metrejean said. “We have sound check, and may rehearse during that, but mostly, everybody says, ‘Let’s go home and learn this song,’ and we put it together at the gig.”
Life’s requirements have also, to this point, prevented Transit from releasing an CD, which Metrejean said is often requested.
