Summer is at its end, but Sweet Jets aren’t leaving the beach.

The Kingston-based student band is set to play their last gig before the departure of bassist James Gagne.

But this isn’t the end — it marks the beginning of something new.

“[The band] started out as a desire to play music and jam and rock out,” Gagne, ArtSci ’13, said. “Now that we’ve got the attention of a few people it’s all about giving them something that we don’t think they already have.”

Gagne’s leave isn’t permanent. The guitarist is leaving the Queen’s University base to travel, while band members Paul Dyck and guitarist Colin Robinson are staying behind.

With Skype practices and writing sessions, what will result is a more streamlined and efficient mode of music composition, something they’ve been working toward since the release of their full-length album last May.

“Every time you create, you learn,” Gagne said, highlighting the importance of creating the best work for their fans.

Since their inception in 2011, their style has grown consistently — a testament to their commitment to learning their craft.

Gagne described their previous work as “power pop”, but really sort of “a melt between The Misfits and Scott Pilgrim.”

“The music we’ll be playing [will be] basically one last sun dance for the summer, to try and have a spiritual thing and keep the sun out as long as possible and send everybody to the beach,” he said.

Gagne said the band wants to test their limits before they decide to split from Kingston for good — an inevitable result of them being students.

Aside from their roots as Queen’s students, the band attributes a lot of their success to fellow Kingston acts, like the recently dissolved Sleuth Bears and the well-established Gertrudes. “We’ve learned that our music deserves a little bit of respect from the rest of the band and just respecting ourselves in terms of doing things professionally and smoothly,” Gagne said.

Sweet Jets recently released a music video last Friday for their track “Going Home”, consisting entirely of footage filmed in Gagne’s former basement.

Sweet Jets will be playing at The Grad Club on Sept. 7.