It was only a matter of time before Moosic resident, Brent Guzik, picked up guitar; his father, John Guzik, exposed him to the instrument at a young age, and by 11 he had inherited the hobby. Now he uses what he’s learned over years of playing as guitarist/vocalist in the Scranton area band Days in Transit.
“The bassist, Mitchell Smith, and I were playing together in a high school band; we just played covers and jammed out, it was nothing serious,” Guzik said. “In 2010 we finally decided to do something serious as far as original music.”
After Guzik and Smith filled out their lineup with drummer Bryan Fauver and keyboardist Maxwell Tamasy, Guzik turned his attention toward crafting original music for the band.
“For me, I come up with an idea and flesh it out with the band,” Guzik said. “I’ll sit and write something acoustic and get the lyrics down; a lot of times it’s just playful but it can be arduous for me. I love writing but usually it takes a couple months and endless revisions to get something right.”
Guzik and his band mates worked through the writing process to create an EP in 2012 and followed it up this past October with the release of their newest collection of songs, “Sweep Up the Glass.”
“The writing process took a couple years,” Guzik said. “We’re trying to follow that up pretty soon. We don’t want to wait another few years to release another EP. It was a long time in between and I think it was reflected in the actual material on the album.”
According to Guzik, that wide a gap between releases found the band with a lot of different ideas they wanted to bring to fruition. For the singer/guitarist, those ideas come from the influences he had been collecting since he was a boy.
John Guzik didn’t just have an influence on the instrument his son would play, he also influenced his son’s musical palette. He exposed his young son to classic rock like The Eagles, which Brent named as a major early influence, but when he became old enough to explore the world of music for himself he gravitated to bands like Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie and Bombay Bicycle Club.
“I still listen to classic rock from time to time but it’s not really a big influence on me at this point,” Guzik said. “I’m more into indie and alternative stuff now.”
Days in Transit plans to take their varied, inspired sound out of the local area and into regional venues, but they still site The Keys on Penn Ave in Scranton as their favorite space to play. Visit their Facebook page, Facebook.com/DaysInTransit, for their next date at the venue, as well as other updates and tour dates.
