Allen Shellenberger, the drummer for the Orange County rock group Lit, died on Thursday at age 39 of brain cancer, the band announced Friday.
Shellenberger was diagnosed in May 2008 with a rare form of brain tumor, a malignant glioma. News of his condition spread after the band posted a message on its Web site explaining the situation and that the group would be canceling its plans to open for Kiss on its European tour to stay at home and support their band mate.
Shellenberger underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatments at the Cedars-Sinai Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute in Los Angeles and remained in good spirits, according to the group’s longtime publicist Ken Phillips. To help offset some of the cost of some of Shellenberger’s medical bills the band put on a benefit concert at the House of Blues in Anaheim in July 2008.
Shellenberger was a founding member of the group, along with brothers Jeremy and A. Jay Popoff and bassist Kevin Baldes.
“I’m going to miss him so much,” Baldes said, breaking down during a phone interview Friday morning. “Even yesterday he would still crack a smile and give a thumbs up. That’s just who he was. He was a very calm, cool and collected kind of guy and I’m going to miss him like hell.”
The Lit bassist and long time friend of Shellenberger was understandably shaken, but shared some extremely touching and personal stories about his bandmate.
“I have a billion memories,” he says. “I asked him just yesterday if he remembered the time when we were younger … like 21 and we’d wake up at 4 a.m. and go down to the studio and just jam on drums and bass and then head down to Huntington Beach and lay in the sand, wrapped up in towels just waiting for the sun to come up so that we could boogie board. We’d dry off after that and head into the Huntington Beach Beer Company and order a pitcher of beer and it wasn’t even like 10 a.m. yet. Those were good times. I said that to him and he just looked at me with this grin and I said ‘What the hell were we thinking? But it was cool, wasn’t it?’”
Baldes also shared that when he and the Popoff brothers got together, originally with A. Jay on drums, he thought about bringing Shellenberger into his band since the duo had first met back in 1986 as roadies for another group. The trio approached Shellenberger, who was working at a Sam Goody store at the Buena Park Mall at the time, and asked him to fill in on drums so that A. Jay could sing. Baldes laughs as he recalls Shellenberger’s initial reply, “he totally shot us down.” The next day, the guys once again pleaded with Shellenberger to jam with them and he agreed.
“Once he played with us that was it,” he says. “He joined the band and it ended up panning out. It took years and years before we got anywhere but along the way there were a lot of really good times.”
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Lit’s platinum-selling album “A Place in the Sun,” which spawned the inescapable MTV and radio hits “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Miserable” and “Zip-Lock” and led to the band appearing at Woodstock ’99.
The quartet got together in Fullerton in the early ‘90s, initially calling themselves Razzle before changing the band name to Lit in 1996, and released a few albums before breaking big in 1999. Over the years, Lit toured with other famous Orange County acts such as No Doubt and the Offspring as well as went out on several of its own headlining jaunts.
Although Lit achieved some success, the band members stayed true to their roots, playing often for hometown crowds at various festivals and turning up now and again at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Members of the group even opened up their own restaurant, bar and concert venue, the Slidebar Rock ‘N’ Roll Café in Downtown Fullerton.
“To know Al was to know laughter,” the band said in a statement Friday morning. “He had a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone. Words cannot begin to express how much he will be missed. This was our brother and not a day will go by that we won’t think about him. Right now we’re trying to find the balance of mourning his loss and celebrating his life. Allen has experienced more in his 39 years than most people dream of in ten lifetimes. This is a tremendous loss for us, our fans, and also for Allen’s family who took such great care of him during his battle with cancer.”
Baldes says that Shellenberger’s passing was peaceful and that he was surrounded by his family, band mates and closest friends at his mother’s home in Artesia. Shellenberger is survived by his 19-year-old daughter Giovanna Mackey, his mother Connie James and his father Paul Shellenberger.
The funeral services will be kept private and a public memorial is pending.
Contact the writer: 714-796-3570 or kfadroski@ocregister.com
