Lit drummer dies days after band’s local show

By Las Vegas Sun Staff (contact)

Friday, Aug. 14, 2009 | 3:03 p.m.

The drummer for California-based alternative rock band Lit has died after a battle with a malignant brain tumor.

The death of Allen Shellenberger, 40, comes less than a week after the band performed at Green Valley Ranch with replacement drummer Nathan Walker. Lit performed poolside this past Saturday at the Henderson resort.

Shellenberger's tumor had reached Stage IV, the worst stage of cancer. Lit had been in limbo ever since the diagnosis.

“It’s tough,” frontman A. Jay Popoff said during a telephone interview with the Sun last week. “We’ve been performing together for 18-plus years. We don’t know how we want to go about moving forward yet. It’s been the four original members from the beginning, and we want to be there for our brother, who is sick."

Lit was formed in Fullerton in 1990 by Popoff, his guitarist brother Jeremy, Shellenberger and bassist Kevin Baldes. They released two records: “Five Smokin’ Tracks from Lit” and “Tripping the Light Fantastic.”

After signing with RCA Records, the band made its breakthrough with “A Place in the Sun.” Lit has released two more albums, “Atomic” and “Lit.”

When Lit performed poolside at the Hard Rock last summer, Shellenberger played a limited number of songs.

“He was sick but he was able to play some, so he would play a couple of songs and then a fill-in played,” Popoff told the Sun last week. “We kept him in the show as long as he could physically handle it.”