By Josh Herwitt //
GLU with Sofya Wang //
The Moroccan Lounge – Los Angeles
August 28th, 2026 //
You might know Michael Shuman as the high-kicking, loogie-hocking badass who has rocked the low end in Queens of the Stone Age for almost 20 years, but his music career has extended well beyond those duties for quite some time now.
Along with previously co-fronting rock bands Wires on Fire and Jubilee, the LA native who grew up in the San Fernando Valley co-founded the psych-pop outfit Mini Mansions a couple years after joining QOTSA and also contributed to soundtracks for the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V and indie-drama film “Feed” in 2017.
While the role Shuman holds in Mini Mansions sees him singing and handling multiple instruments — from guitar and bass to keyboards and drums — during the recording process, the three-piece hasn’t been active since touring in support of its third album Guy Walks Into a Bar… that arrived six months prior to the pandemic taking the world by storm.
But by 2022 as lockdown restrictions were beginning to ease up, Shuman (aka Mikey Shoes) had grown restless. Queens were already planning to unleash their eighth LP In Times New Roman… the following year and hit the road for what proved to be more than two years, yet that still left him more than enough time to conceive and launch his own solo project in the interim.
Unlike the aforementioned acts Shuman has long been associated with, GLU doesn’t follow the same sonic script that QOTSA or Mini Mansions have maintained to hook listeners. In fact, there has been a consistent nod to hip-hop running through GLU’s output ever since standalone tracks “COLD SWEAT” and “NIGHT SHIFT” were first introduced, starting largely with Shuman’s vocal style that sounds more like he’s rapping than singing.
GLU’s debut EP entitled MY DEMONS merely months later gave fans more material to sink their teeth into and formed a collaborative partnership with Sarah Barthel of Phantogram that continued last year when Shuman featured her on “GONE FISHIN'” for his sophomore EP BOOGIE MAN.
Having just spent much of the summer with Queens playing stadium shows and major festivals while co-producing the desert rockers’ forthcoming full length Perfecth, Shuman somehow found time to drop his brand-new PONY BOY EP two weeks before gracing the stage for a hometown crowd at The Moroccan Lounge in between the Arts District and Little Toyko.
Shuman was only able to squeeze in seven shows along the West Coast for this run after delivering in July several UK performances amid his busy schedule with QOTSA, but the hot and sweaty room that fits no more than 250 bodies still offered a warm (no pun intended) greeting and showed plenty of love over the course of his hour-long set. Armed with solely a microphone, Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom guitar and Roland SPD-SX sampling pad, he left no stone in the GLU catalog unturned and showcased his rendition of Jennifer Paige’s “Crush” that climbed a few charts to No. 1 in the late 90’s. And although such a high-water mark is not one we would expect GLU to reach anytime soon, watching Shuman tap deeper into his creativity and challenge himself as a songwriter remains a worthy endeavor for anyone who’s willing to open their mind and ears.
Setlist:
LOVE YOU TO PIECES
PONY BOY
GONE FISHIN’
NIGHT SHIFT
COLD SWEAT
BOMBS BELOW
MOONWALKIN’
BOOGIE MAN
L.A.
CRUSH (Jennifer Paige cover)
TUNNEL VISION
MY DEMONS
