History of Transient Songs
2007 - 2011
Transient Songs is a Seattle based band formed in 2007. The band was started as a solo project by Jon Benjamin Frum after moving to the Northwest and leaving his bandmates and home state of Texas. Soon after starting to write songs for the first EP Frum met a Kansas transplant Andy Gassaway (ex Pomonas) that shared the same affinity for psychedelic rock and roll and the two began writing and recording the first batch of songs in Frum's basement. The output was the first Transient Song EP - "Plantation to your Youth" with Frum on Guitar, Vocals and drums and Gassaway on bass. The fuzzy hazy songs that comprise Plantation are are an early indicator of the bands sound.
2011 - “Foreign Rooms”
In 2011 Frum and Gassaway decided to shape the project into the form of a band and enlisted Ian Pina on drums. For a brief period the three started playing the Cave Syndrome songs as a three piece. One sunny Saturday by chance, Frum ran into previous guitarist Shunk in a bar in Ballard. Shunk was interested in playing again and joined the fold. Around this time the band began looking to expand on the textures of sound and Frum approached Half Light bassist and pedal steel player Dayna Loeffler about playing. Now there were five with Gassaway and Loeffler switching instruments. Although a sound started to form, Gassaway decamped for the sunnier skies of San Diego and Loeffler assumed the role as bassist. The four began writing a new batch of songs. With Shunk's intricate guitar parts and a solid rhythm foundation, the band took shape and went to Electro Kitty studios to record the album "Foreign Rooms". "It's an album with some good songs but I had checked out in a lot of ways mentally during that period. There were suicides and other personal things going on and I wasn't with the the songs, I was just playing on them. Sophmore Slump is a pretty accurate definition." Says Frum. Two of the stronger songs on the album were written and sung by Shunk. It was a collaborative album on many fronts but the band did little to promote the album and it faded into digital obscurity.