GLU
6/27/25 \\ The Goldfish // Los Angeles, CA
©M’Lou Elklins / Skip2Photography.com
If there was one good thing to come out of COVID, it’s that a lot of creative people got really bored and, lucky for us, got busy making some seriously great stuff. One of those people is Michael Shuman. Though widely known as the bassist for Queens of the Stone Age and guitarist for Mini Mansions, tonight, it’s all about GLU… Shuman’s one-man sonic experiment that’s hard to pin down and easy to get lost in.
At The Goldfish in Los Angeles, a packed house buzzed with anticipation to celebrate the release of GLU’s second EP, Boogie Man, which dropped earlier today. When Shuman sauntered onstage, it was just him, his guitar, and a quiet air of unbothered coolness. No bandmates to hide behind…just raw, genre-bending grooves ready to spill into the room.
It’s impossible to pigeonhole GLU into one sound. At moments, he raps over slick, synth-heavy beats, then seamlessly slides into smooth, introspective hooks. The electronic textures wrap around drum loops and pulsing bass lines, making it feel more like an immersive trip than a rock show. There’s a swagger to it, but also an honesty where you can tell these songs came from late nights and weird thoughts that turned into something beautiful.
He kept the banter to a minimum, letting the music do the heavy lifting. And it did. Tracks from Boogie Man and 2023’s My Demons EP got the crowd moving, and each song ended with cheers and shouts from an audience who seemed more than happy to keep the genre lines blurry with him. Out of nowhere, he dropped a cover of Jennifer Paige’s ’90s gem “Crush,” expertly warped into GLU’s own hazy, synth-soaked world, and reimagined so smoothly it sounded like it was his all along.
By the end of the night, it was obvious that GLU is no half-baked side hustle, it’s Shuman fully stretching his creative legs and doing things completely on his own terms. Watching him stand alone on that stage, genre lines melting under neon synths and slick rhymes, you couldn’t help but feel you were witnessing an artist happily messing with the rules.
GLU isn’t trying to fit in, he’s out to blow the walls off and drag you through every shadow he finds.
WATCH: GLU – “Boogie Man” (Official Music Video):
