A belated tribute to a drummer's drummer

This is one of those good news/bad news kinds of posts.

I've been crazy busy the past few years, but seemingly moreso the last six months. So,  the other day I found myself looking for something "comfortable" to listen to, something to take me to calmer times. I thumbed through my CDs, and settled in the L Section, more specifically three CDs from Lit.

These Orange County rockers gained some acclaim late in the 20th century, spilling into the 21st. As I fired up "A Place in the Sun" and its kickoff track "Four," I turned to YouTube in search of some Lit videos. Sadly, I stumbled across this touching video tribute to drummer Allen Shellenberger (with original song by Lit's A. Jay and Jeremy Popoff). Uh oh.

Shellenberger died of cancer in August  2009 at age 39, something that had flown under my radar as the band slid into the has-been bin. Even though his death had occured more than a year ago, the news still hit me like a brick.

It's not that Shellenberger was a great drummer -- he was not. But he was good, solid and steady with an ability to sneak in some quick bits without cluttering the song. And while he sometimes looked uncomfortable with some of his stick positioning, he drove the beat with a locktight snare-bass drum combination, giving Lit a sense of urgency that seemed rare for the time, when too many weak bands seemed to luck into their 15 minutes of fame. He was a drummer's drummer, willing to take a backseat to other over-the-top performers at the front of the stage but no less critical to the band's fortunes.

Lit has regrouped with a new drummer, but still lists Shellenberger as a member, a nice tribute from a band that seemed friends first, band second like no musicians I can remember. If you love good hard-driving rock with killer melodies, pick up any of Lit's last three CDs.

I've embedded the video for "Four" not because it contains Allen's best playing -- although there is a very choice high-hat/snare fill toward the end that regularly prompts me to hit rewind -- but because it moves like a safe on wheels, fast and furious but never out of control.

Kind of like Lit itself.