Transit came home on Sunday night to a raucous crowd at the Middle East Club in Cambridge. They grew up in the New England hardcore scene: church hall shows on the North Shore and all that, right? But as time has passed, they’ve deviated far away from that edgy, hard scene and carved their own sound out of the indie punk rock landscape.

It’s impossible to separate Boston from Transit. An almost overwhelming number of their songs are about Massachusetts, and it makes me wonder what their fans from outside of New England think of that. I’ve only ever seen them in the Northeast, so it’d be interesting to see how they’ve won over a crowd in LA or Dublin. But they have, because this band has been steadily climbing the pop punk charts since their highly-praised 2011 album, Listen & Forgive (off of Rise Records).

But a hometown show is really the best place to see them –or any band for that matter– shine. They’re comfortable on stage and spend time catching up with high school buddies and family members by the bar before their set.

The bands that opened for Transit kind of represented the wide range of influences they’ve collected over the years. The Young Pop Cherrys, a Boston band you’ve never heard of, started the night with some folk rock revival tunes. But the Americana vibe they graced their songs with was similar to Joe Boynton of Transit’s side project, Long Lost, and some of Transit’s songs from 2013’s Young New England (see: “Hang It Up” or “Hazy“).

Driver Friendly, a Floridian pop-punk band, had the expected synths and hair flips, but kicked it up a notch with a trumpet player on most songs. While the visual impact was there, it didn’t really translate as well as it could have aurally, so their sound failed to stand out from all the other white noise that is the American pop punk scene.

Such Gold and Driver Friendly had been touring with Transit for the past few weeks as a run-up to Such Gold and Transit’s tour supporting Four Year Strong in November. The hardcore side of Transit’s past (i.e., their early releases, like 2010’s Keep This to Yourself) made Such Gold a good opening band for Transit. The crowd had been itching for something to get them moving more, and they finally got it with Such Gold. There was a lone wolf in the audience, desperate for a mosh pit all night, and he finally had justification for his sad attempts at amping up the crowd earlier on in the evening during this set.

After the hardcore vibe that was building with Such Gold, Transit comes out and announces that “We’re not a heavy band.” Which is true. They’ve taken a different direction with their latest albums than their oldest fans had expected. It’s no secret that last year’s album Young New England wasn’t as well received as their previous projects, but that hasn’t stopped Transit from producing passionate work.

Even with the departure of long-time guitarist and vocalist Tim Landers right before this tour and their new album Joyride came out (out now on Rise Records), they took the time to squash any rumors that Transit was slowing down anytime soon. But their less aggressive sound has made moshing less acceptable than maybe it once was, and prompted a few ejections from the crowd. As one bouncer escorted an audience member out of the pit, Boynton paused their set, saying he recognized the man as his friend Pat, whom he’s known since middle school.  Only in Boston, of course.

And as Boynton crowd surfed his way off of the stage at the end of the show, the words he said on stage before the final song, “Skipping Stones,” rang for a while longer: “A song I heard when I was 14 years old changed my life and now I’m up here playing the song I wrote about that. No matter what happens with our band, we’re still fucking Transit.”