Interview: Transit guitarist Tim Landers on their 'Futures And Sutures' EP

For Transit guitarist Tim Landers, second chances are not just for amending the past–they are also for reimagining it. Futures And Sutures, the new EP from these Massachusetts natives, which comes out December 2 on Rise Records, finds the band revisiting songs from their past two full-lengths (plus a new song) and performing them with a new spin. Fan favorites such as “Long Lost Friends” and “Listen And Forgive” are completely stripped down, while the title track to Young New Englandtakes on a full-band sound. If Futures And Sutures is any indication of Transit’s forthcoming sonic disposition, then don’t count on them to adhere to any of your preconceived expectations.

Interview: TJ Horansky

First and foremost, congratulations on your Boston Red Sox winning the World Series this year.
Thank you very much! It was a good win. It was hilarious, because we were on tour and played in St. Louis the very next day. That was pretty weird. Fenway Park is always a blast. It’s a crazy place. The whole atmosphere in Boston is insane.

What went behind the decision to revisit songs from your last two records and re-imagine them?
In the past, we did something similar on our EP called Something Left Behind. It was predominantly revisions of old songs that we revisited in an acoustic manner. We wanted to do something along the lines of that again because that was fun for us. We had a little downtime, and we wanted to get a release out for the winter. Gary Cioffi, our producer, was really excited about the idea, so we just went for it. It ended up coming out really well. Anytime you record an album, you’ll have songs where you have qualms with they way certain parts came out. That’s why it’s fun to do things like this, because you get a second chance at the songs. You get a chance to make them into something different than what they were first perceived as. I think it’s something we will continue to do.

I had to look this up, but the word “sutures” basically means “a row of stitches around a wound.” Where did the title Futures And Sutures come from?
It was an idea that Joe [Boynton, vocals] came up with. It’s a discreet indication of the direction the new material we’ve been writing is going in a way, but not entirely. It is the way things could be going in the future, mixed with the things that hold us together. It’s the songs that hold us together, which is the backbone of our band and the reason we make music. It’s a combination of those two things.

What do you mean when you say this EP is hinting at a future sound for the band?
Every time we sit down to write or record something, there have always been months in between them. We’re always progressing and growing in this band. We started when we were really young, and we grew up playing in this band. As we’ve matured, our music has matured with us. At this point, I don’t even really know what the “Transit sound” would be. It always just happens when we get in a room together and work on new material. We were there, revisiting the songs with a new light and a new mindset. That’s what the future side of it is.

It seems like Joe’s lead vocals are showcased a little more on this EP. Was that a conscious effort?
I don’t think I would say that it was intentional. When you strip songs down and make them acoustic, it leaves a lot of room for vocals. The first thing you notice is the vocals because they are pretty much naked. I don’t know if that was an intentional thing, but I personally think he did a great job on it, and it’s the best he has sounded in awhile. I think it just happened naturally. >>>

There are five songs from your past two albums on the EP, and one new instrumental track. How did you guys decide on those five songs?
There was a lot sitting down and arguing about it. [Laughs.] Everybody has their favorites from the albums. “Long Lost Friends” and “Listen & Forgive” were the two easiest to pick because we’ve been playing those acoustically for awhile live and in different sessions and stuff. We even got to turn them into a whole new thing with the recording. Picking the songs off of Young New England was a little different. We chose to take the title track, which is a more acoustic-driven song, and turn it into a full-band rock version. That was originally the way the song was written and imagined. We wanted to bring those elements back into it. It was also hard to fit that into our live setlist as an acoustic song, so we also wanted to bring out the live element in that song. We wanted to do “So Long, So Long” as well because it was one of our favorites off the record. We wanted to go for it again and see what we could do with it. The instrumental track has a backbone of this weird, little riff that repeats throughout the song. We sprinkled in parts from all the other songs that fade in and fade out.

Transit are going to be headlining the Acoustic Basement Tour this January and February. What can fans expect at these intimate shows?
We are actually bringing the whole band on tour with us, so it will be a full-band acoustic set. We are going to try some really cool things. There will be some cool percussion stuff. We’re going to try to make it an unique acoustic experience, as opposed to the typical acoustic sets people have seen a hundred times. It worked out well that we have the EP coming out at the same time. It fell into place nicely.

Transit have some holiday shows coming up with your side project Misser, and Joe’s side project Long Lost. What is it like to have all of your different projects playing together?
There have only been one or two shows where Transit and Misser have played together. This is our first time combining all of these different projects in one show. I like to play, so it’s fun for me to do double duty. Having the whole community/family thing for the holiday shows is really cool because when we are home, our recording studio is our base. We’re always in and out of there, whether it’s Long Lost or Transit recording. We always get to see each other. It’s going to be fun to bring in all the aspects of the different music we play together. We’re hoping to do some collaboration things at the end of the night.

Young New England came out in April. You may have not even thought this far ahead, but are there any writing or recording plans for the near future
We don’t have any definite plans as of now, but we have been writing since before Young New England even came out. We hardly ever stop writing. We like to keep it flowing because that’s the way we’ve always been. We have a lot of new material, and we’re excited to get it going in the upcoming months. It’s good to be back together back at home. No definite plans, but things are happening. ALT