by Bradley TorreanoThe Exit is a trio of New York City punks that decided to form a band in 1999. Members Ben Brewer and Gunnar had been childhood friends, but bassist Tim Shaya was new to both of them when the lineup developed. The band released an EP just to get on their feet, but the departure of Shaya put things on hold and Brewer shipped off to college to studio political science. Brewer was still passionate about music, and a chance meeting with Jeff DaRosa proved to him that he was still interested in keeping the band together. DaRosa joined the group and they began playing around Boston until they found space in New York City again. They dropped off demos with producer Daniel Rey, and he enjoyed the band enough to produce their debut. The album was released in the summer of 2002 under the title New Beat. Home For An Island followed two years later.