Avid fans and newcomers alike enjoyed intimate and unplugged performances from the bands Transit and Turnover on Friday, Feb. 28, in the Rathskeller.
Both bands, which are going on major tours in the United States and Europe this spring, changed things up to hang out at the small on-campus venue to meet fans and grab a drink.Turnover vocalist and guitar player Austin Getz, alongside guitarist Eric Soucy, performed songs off their full-length album, “Magnolia,” as well as songs from their self-titled EP.
The rest of the band, drummer Casey Getz and bassist Danny Dempsey, were seen hanging around the merch table and rooting on their fellow bandmates.
The band, hailing from Virginia Beach, Va., recently wrapped up a tour with New Jersey hardcore band Blind Justice and has a new EP out featuring the song, “I Would Hate You If I Could.”
Freshman English major Brooke Schmidt went to the show to try something different.
“I come to the Rat to discover new music,” Schmidt said. “The set definitely made me want to check out more of their stuff.”
In mid-March, they are going on tour with I Am The Avalanche, which had to cancel headlining the night’s show.
In its place, Transit made a triumphant return to the Rat, having played there over a year ago.
Vocalist Joe Boynton and guitarists Tim Landers and Torre Cioffi led the set, strumming away to Boynton’s impassioned singing.
The indie post-hardcore group played songs from their 2013 album “Young New England” and 2011 release “Listen & Forgive.”
“We just came back from Vans Warped Acoustic Basement Tour,” Boynton said. “The snow ended up canceling some of our
shows. In Toronto, it snowed two feet, so we couldn’t play. In Alabama, it snowed two inches, so we couldn’t play.”
The band played hits like “Long Lost Friends” and the so-called drinking anthem “Young New England,” as well as a cover from the New Jersey pop punk band Man Overboard, which played at Ratfest last spring.
“Pick up a shirt, pick up a CD, keep eating that sandwich,” Boynton said, scanning the crowd and sensing the mellow atmosphere of the night.
In one of the last songs of the evening, “You Can’t Miss It,” the band and audience sang the chorus, “you won’t miss us,” in unison. But it seemed that students in the Rat certainly would.
