The Shapes (UK band)
| The Shapes | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Punk rock, punk pathetique |
| Years active | 1976–Early 1980s, 2000–present |
| Past members |
Seymour Bybuss Brian Helicopter Nigel Greenway Nick Hadley Charlie Pullen Dave Gee Steve Richards Tim Jee |
The Shapes were an English punk rock group that formed in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1976. 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 because of their Gerry Anderson-themed work.
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). This line-up played their debut gig at Coventry's University of Warwick supporting The Killjoys, and recorded a demo shortly after. They were offered a deal by EMI, 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 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 show the following month. 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.
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