By Neil Cestra....
For most kids in the hardcore scene in the 80's, whether it was in the front or back of their mind at some point they likely entertained the idea of playing in a band. For those who had even the most minimal ability on any instrument this pipe dream could become a definite reality in the stripped down, primitive style of Hardcore punk. Shape of Rage had it's foundation in the mud of this half truth.
Sometime in the summer of 1984 or thereabout, best friends Brian Cummings and Neil Grant decided to start a band. Brian had played in "boy band" 3rd Floor for a year or so around the age of 13. Neil had a little guitar experience so the idea of the band wasn't hard to comprehend, although the actual band itself had yet to form.
Ok, let’s get away from the "VH1 Behind the Music" Bull and cut to the chase. Eventually Brian decided to sing (and write) Blair Powell (Half Life, Doomwatch and Rowdy Bovines) was in as drummer and Greg Gawlas on guitar. Since Greg was a better guitarist than Neil reluctantly Neil accepted Bass duty.
The unofficial first Shape of Rage show was at the Schenley Park Pavilion on the last day of summer vacation of 1984. It was local punk faves "The Urge" last show. Originally Shape of Rage was asked to play but was then told the show was canceled. Neil and Brian were skating in Oakland when they saw a flyer and realized they were playing in a couple hours. They showed up and borrowed equipment and good friend Will Sheppler (Agnostic Front) played drums. They belted out three Fang Cover songs and one original- Poser. At that point they were booed off the stage, by their friends...
This could become really long and boring if I'm not careful. Ok, so they got a little better and Brian became a song writing machine one summer in 1987. Shape of Rage became an actual band and played their first two official shows on the same weekend- a half pipe/pool party in the South Hills at George and Lance Crossland’s, then Bob Lampenfield's (Kingpin, Cultivator) party the next day. His parents bought some commercial sized case of hot dogs, like 500 of them. I'll always remember the ensuing hot dog war during our set. The sky was filled with flying wieners, we were playing the soundtrack to chaos and I felt like I had an outer body experience, I was hooked!
After playing a couple shows and receiving a lot of positive feedback SOR decided to go into "the studio" and record. The recording took place at Spahr Schmidt's (Necropolis) sister’s basement in Wilkinsburg. Renting a 4 track and mixing board from Piano's N' Stuff and borrowing John Dawson (Necropolis) to play guitar (Greg was on the outs from the band at that moment) they recorded and mixed Cheap Beer in three very long days and nights (we couldn't afford to rent the equipment any longer). It was discovered during the sessions that Brian didn't actually have "Lyrics" to much of the songs and just improvised or made gibberish sounds most of the time. So, on top of just getting everything on tape Brian and Spahr were writing lyrics as Brian was laying them down on tape. Spahr helped out so much during that recording as engineer and producer, not bad for a 16 year old kid from Regent square.
What's interesting about Shape of Rage is that unlike most bands, they didn't play out much. It was always surprising to us when people heard of us of we saw our logo on someone’s skateboard. I remember once we were skating in New York City and we met some local skaters. When we told them we were from Pittsburgh they asked if we ever heard of Shape of Rage.
We were offered a couple very small-deal recording contracts, one even from a company in Europe. We always said no immediately. The whole reason we didn't play out a lot or we didn't want to go on tour is that we were in it for the right reasons. We loved playing. It was absolutely euphoric for us. We knew that playing to eat on the road or just playing locally too much would drain that feeling and we didn't want to lose it. A shape of Rage show was more like a sighting and we liked it that way.
So it lasted for a couple of years tops, then the final shows started. I think up until this year we had played 4 last shows, although one in 1992 was titled a "reunion show" in the South Side. Like a rock star cut short in their prime, some things are best left as a snapshot in time.
Shape Of Rage was best described by then friend Guy Asper as "Har-Har core". We put ourselves out there and made fun of ourselves and the music we loved. We made fun of skaters and we made songs that had no social relevance. We didn't change anything, we didn't care to try. We were selfish and only played what we wanted to play, when we wanted to. It was the perfect last bastion of childhood. We were the brat kids that didn't want to grow up and did anything that felt good. We certainly weren't a straight edge band, but we weren't leading a mindless brigade of idiots off a cliff.
It was about fun and endorphins. Hell, a lot of it was about having a good time on stage! Take for example the City Limits Warhammer benefit show in 88'. We brought a life sized dummy on stage with home made squibs in the Styrofoam head. Brian attacked the dummy onstage and drove a knife into the side of its head sending a spray of red food colored water into the air then started ripping it apart. The audience took it and tore it to shreds. Pieces of the dummy were flying all over City Limits. I remember one point when the pants were still intact and they came flying up on stage and wrapped around my bass. The manager told us we would never be invited back again (validation!) That was a high point for us. It had no significance whatsoever. There was no statement it was just fun, so fuck it! Why not!
20 years later I still love to listen to the Cheap Beer demo. The "what if" scenarios do pop into my head occasionally when listening to the modern era of punk bands and comparing them to what we did in the summer of 1988. But I'm glad things turned out the way they did because Punk Rock is not about cashing in. For whatever its worth we stuck to our intentions and never let the pursuit of money cloud our vision. Have fun.
