Prior to discovering industrial, Shear recorded at home under the moniker Man On A Stage. The music of Man on a Stage was very simplistic and poorly constructed, as are most musician's first attempts. At this point, the majority of the music was instrumental as Shear was too intimidated to try singing very often. As time went on, however, vocals became a regular part of these early tracks. At the same time Shear was playing bass for a punk-influenced band with some friends from high school. This band (who changed names with almost every gig, but was known collectively as the Advocates) would provide Shear with his first ever live performance experiences.
When Shear entered college, he was doing Assemblage 23 almost exclusively, but soon ended up collaborating with two friends, Mike Ukstins and Matt Guenette, on music as well with the hope of doing some live performances eventually. The music Shear did with Ukstins and Guenette treaded more back to the-synth-poppier side of the spectrum, but as time went on, became more aggressive as Shear's interest in industrial grew. The group (who was also impaired when it came to choosing a proper name... Procession was the one that stuck the longest) would never end up performing live, but the practices provided Shear with still more performing experience that would prove valuable further down the road.