Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Podcast

Talking Headways Podcast: Transit Themed Rock Music

Meet a band that writes exclusively about the car-free life on public transit. And it rocks!

This week we’re joined by Cameron Mays, lead singer of the public-transit-themed band, The Frans.  We chat about transit in Cleveland, the songwriting process, and the parking lot in Erie, Pennsylvania that inspired him.

This is a very special episode, so if you want to read the full transcript, click here. But below the player is an excerpt of our conversation. And don't forget to check out the band on its Instagram page, or the Bandcamp link above.

Excerpt below:

Jeff Wood: So how did you all get started as a band? I mean, like, how did you gather all your bandmates and get together? And are they on board with this as well, or they just want to play music?

Cameron Mays: Oh, they’re super on board with it. Our first drummer was just somebody I knew from high school. Half the songs are written by me, the other half are written by my friend, Gabriel, our lead guitar player.

I told Gabe just about the concept of the band: wanting to do kind of a public transit rock thing. And Gabe, same boat as me, hates driving, doesn’t have a car, uses the bus exclusively. He was immediately on board. And so we kind of just got to work getting that.

Gabe’s a way better musician than I am, studied flamenco guitar and just has kind of a wealth of knowledge. And it worked out really well just because the things I was more interested in, which was a lot of the kind of political concepts of the 1970s punk. But the music I really like listening to was like '60s pop music.

And Gabe also really loved like the early classic rock stuff, but had a much broader knowledge on '70s, '80s, '90s, all sorts of music. And we just linked together really well. And the cool thing about the '60s pop movement and the '70s punk movement is they all kind of had like the roots all the same Bo Diddley records, Chuck Berry records and stuff like that.

So we, always had this common language and we went from that. Then, our bass player, Hope, saw us once and just bought a bass and started learning the explicit purpose of being in the band. Same reason, I mean, same feeling as Gabe and myself: they don’t drive.

Hope doesn't have a car and takes the bus or the red line in Cleveland. And that was how it just worked out for us.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Talking Headways Podcast: The California State Rail Plan

This week we’re listening in on a conversation hosted by Seamless Bay Area about the 2024 update to the California State Rail Plan.

April 10, 2025

Thursday Is Pickup Day for Headlines

"Direct vision" trucks would save lives of solid waste workers and those in other industries.

April 10, 2025

Feds Insist They’ll Find A Way To Enforce Fake 4/20 Congestion Pricing Deadline

"The U.S. DOT maintains the position that New York City should stop charging tolls by April 20," a federal lawyer said about the tolls that are not being charged by New York City.

April 9, 2025

Op-Ed: SUV, Cybertruck, Delivery Van Owners Should Pay their Fair Share

It's time for owners of heavy vehicles to pay for the extra costs they cause for cities.

April 9, 2025

What Trump’s Tariff Chaos Could Mean For Transportation

Hint: expensive cars, expensive trains, expensive bikes, expensive everything.

April 9, 2025
See all posts