00:00The Shapes were an indie rock band formed in 1990.
00:03They were together for two years before splitting up.
00:06Based in Newcastle, England, the band's singer, guitarist Rob Redhead, and drummer Brian Waugh had been best friends at school.
00:14They learned their respective instruments in each other's company while playing truant from school, which they had given up on, deciding to hit the big time as rock stars.
00:22Both musicians landed places in different heavy metal bands on the Northeast UK's legendary indie label, Neat Records.
00:28By the end of their teens, in the new decade of 1990, Rob and Brian formed their own band, The Shapes, and set out to make a name for themselves playing music they loved, typical of their age group who were big fans of 1960s music.
00:43This young generation of UK musicians would go on to form the movement known as Britpop, and it was bands like The Shapes that were the primordial soup of this generation, with more established bands such as Revolver, Osric Tentacles, and Ride.
00:58Being the most well-known before the term Britpop emerged, Rob and Brian recruited bassist Johnny Graham and guitarist-slash-keyboardist Duncan Ferguson.
01:06The band worked hard for two years, establishing themselves on the local live circuit, recording high-quality demo-hapes, and appearing on a vinyl release, a compilation album called Newcastle Underground, which showcased the best young bands in the Northeast.
01:21The Shapes opened the album with a cosmic song called We Might All Be God, and closed it as the final track on Side 2, with the Beatles-esque ballad, With or Without Her.
01:33With two members heading off to university and the other two facing work commitments, the band split in late 1992.
