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The Shapes were an English
punk rock group that formed in
Leamington Spa,
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
in 1976.
[Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 141] Different in many ways from their peers in the nascent
punk subculture, they were known for eschewing the more political stances that were fashionable at the time, instead producing works of a cartoonish and absurdist nature. They were often compared to
The Rezillos
The Rezillos are a punk/ new wave band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1976. Although emerging at the same time as other bands in the punk rock movement, the Rezillos did not share the nihilism or social commentary of their contemporaries, b ...
because of their
Gerry Anderson
Gerald Alexander Anderson (; 14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was an English television and film producer, director, writer and occasional voice artist. He remains famous for his futuristic television programmes, especially his 1960s produ ...
-themed work.
History
The band was formed by
Seymour Bybuss (Ben Browton, vocals) and
Brian Helicopter (Gareth Holder, bass guitar), who recruited Nigel Greenway (guitar), Nick Hadley (guitar), and Charlie Pullen (drums).
[Ogg, Alex (2006) ''No More Heroes: a Complete History of UK Punk 1976-1980'', Cherry Red Books, , p. 518-520] This line-up played their debut gig at Coventry's
University of Warwick
, mottoeng = Mind moves matter
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £7.0 million (2021)
, budget = £698.2 million (2020â ...
supporting
The Killjoys, and recorded a demo shortly after.
They were offered a deal by
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
, but the record company wanted them to change their name to The Racket and mime to a pre-recorded song; This prompted Hadley to leave the band, and they carried on as The Shapes, with EMI bringing them together with songwriter Nick Brind of Joe Public, but this relationship broke down after Brind insisted on singing on the resulting tracks.
Pullen was replaced by Dave Gee and the band returned to live performances and recorded more material before Greenway left the band.
The remaining trio put an advert in the ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' for
new members, recruiting Steve Richards (lead guitar) as a result, and adding Gee's friend Tim Jee on guitar around the same time.
Feeling that dealing with major record companies was a waste of time, they decided that they would record and release their material under their own independent label, Sofa Records, in order to retain control of their output.
The new line-up recorded four tracks at Woodbine Studios which were released as their vinyl debut in March 1979 as the
EP ''Part of the Furniture'' on their own Sofa label.
The début EP was given airplay by
John Peel, who invited the band to record a session for his
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
show the following month.
[03/04/1979 - The Shapes]
, ''Keeping It Peel'', BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, retrieved 2010-10-03 The EP sold sufficiently for the band to repress it twice, with total sales of 10,000 copies.
A track off the EP was licensed to the Labels Unlimited compilation released by Cherry Red Records in 1979 also.
The band's humorous take on punk rock received comparisons to
The Rezillos
The Rezillos are a punk/ new wave band formed in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1976. Although emerging at the same time as other bands in the punk rock movement, the Rezillos did not share the nihilism or social commentary of their contemporaries, b ...
.
They played support slots with
The Fall,
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith has remained the only constant member. The band's ...
, and
The Reaction
''The Reaction'' is the 12th book in the ''Animorphs'' series, written by K.A. Applegate. It is narrated by Rachel.
Plot summary
At the zoo, Rachel and Cassie witness a boy fall into the crocodile pit. Rachel jumps into the pit to rescue hi ...
, and were picked up by
Terri Hooley
Terence Wilfred "Terri" Hooley (born 23 December 1948) is a prominent figure in the Belfast punk scene and founder of the Good Vibrations record shop and label, responsible for bands such as The Undertones, Rudi, Protex and The Outcasts making ...
's
Good Vibrations
"Good Vibrations" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was composed by Brian Wilson with lyrics by Mike Love. It was released as a single on October 10, 1966 and was an immediate critical and commercial hit, topping record ...
label for the next single, "Blast Off".
Hooley got the band on the bill of a concert by
The Saints at the
Royal Ulster Hall in
Belfast
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
, the band now without Richards.
On their return to England they supported
The Photos
The Photos were an English New wave music, new wave band fronted by Wendy Wu, who had a top 5 album in the UK Albums Chart in 1980.
History
The Photos were originally a punk band named Satan's Rats that formed in Evesham, Worcestershire in 19 ...
on tour, and recorded an EP for Good Vibrations (featuring "Jennifer the Conifer", "Let's Go (To Planet Skaro)", and "My House is a Satellite") but it was never released.
The band split up in the early 1980s, with Holder already splitting his time between The Shapes and another band.
Tim Jee went on to join The Captain Black Solution, while Bybuss made several appearances on ''
Eurotrash'' as transvestite nun 'Sister Bendy' and started a new band, The Ambassadors of Plush.
Holder remained in the music business, playing and recording with
Rogue Male and Hells Belles before moving to California to work as a professional skydiver.
Richards went on to be a horse breeder, while Gee ran a recruitment agency in Northampton.
Original guitarist Nigel Greenway left the music business and committed suicide some years later.
Charlie Pullen is performing and has been drumming in rock covers band 'V8' since 1989.
Having achieved cult status, their records commanded high prices among collectors.
This demand resulted in a belated release of a full-length retrospective of all of the singles, B-Sides, radio sessions and demos as the collection ''Songs for Sensible People'' on Overground Records in 1998.
The independent label Hyped to Death have released Shapes tracks as part of their compilation series from 2002 onwards in the USA. The most recent release being in 2007 on their ''Messthetics'' series of releases. Overground Records re-released ''Songs for Sensible People'' in its original format in January 2008. In mid-2008, it was announced that The Shapes would reform in their original line-up for a tour of the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
to mark the 30 year anniversary of their first single in December 2008 supporting
The Damned,
UK Subs
U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the f ...
,
Penetration,
Radio Stars
Radio Stars were an English new wave group formed in early 1977. They released two albums and had one UK Top 40 single.
Career
Radio Stars were formed by Sparks exile Martin Gordon (bass, songwriter) and also included ex-John's Children v ...
and
Johnny Moped
Johnny Moped are an English punk rock group formed in South London in the mid-1970s, who once had Chrissie Hynde (later of the Pretenders) and Captain Sensible (later of the Damned) as members.
Biography
Formed in Croydon in May 1974, the b ...
, amongst others.
In 2013, the Spanish independent label, Paramecium Records, approached the band with plans to re-release both the Part of the Furniture EP, and the second double A Side single Blastoff/Airline Disaster, in their original 7-inch vinyl format with original artwork, for a limited edition run of 500 records each. These releases, PAR-090 and PAR-010 respectively, proved popular enough for Overground Records to release a full-length 12-inch vinyl LP of remastered tracks in 2014, called More Songs for Sensible People, (OVER81LP).
This renewed interest prompted the band to once again reform in the original line-up of Bybuss/Helicopter/Jee/Richards/Gee to embark upon the "You'll Do Yourself a Mischief" tour in the UK in June 2014. Out of this tour was born 'A Film For Sensible People' filmed and edited by Phil Coupland of Ikonograph, and is a 20-minute documentary featuring interviews with the band and live songs recorded in Brighton in 2014.
In April 2016, the original line-up again toured the UK as the "We're Not Very Famous" tour. During this tour, they recorded their first new single since 1980, the double A side "Don't Play Tennis" and "We're Not Very Famous". They released this on their own Sofa Records label. (SEAT 004).
In March 2017, The Shapes toured Japan for the first time.
In August 2017, the band once again embarked on a short UK tour climaxing in their appearance at the Opera House, Blackpool as part of the 2017 Rebellion Festival.
Discography
Albums
*''Songs for Sensible People'' (1998), Overground
Singles, EPs
*''Part of the Furniture'' EP (1979), Sofa
*"Blast Off" (1979), Good Vibrations
See also
*
Punk pathetique
Punk pathetique is a subgenre of British punk rock (principally active circa 1980–1982) that involved humour and working-class cultural themes.
Origin
The name of the genre was coined by ''Sounds'' journalist Garry Bushell, who actively c ...
References
External links
* ''The Shapes'
history and websiteA Shapes Myspace page with songs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapes, The
English pop punk groups
English punk rock groups
People from Leamington Spa