Басист Queens of the Stone Age Майкл Шуман выпустил новый EP «Pony Boy» и анонсировал дебютный альбом

GLU’s Michael Shuman has spoken to NME about his new ‘Pony Boy EP’, his plans for an album, and returning to intimate venues after playing stadiums with Queens Of The Stone Age. Shuman, who also plays bass in QOTSA and is known to many as ‘Mikey Shoes’, launched solo project GLU in 2022 with the single ‘Cold Sweat’, after releasing three albums with LA psych-pop trio Mini Mansions. He returns this week (August 14) with GLU’s third EP, ‘Pony Boy EP’, a four-track collection featuring singles in the form of the title track and ‘LA’, plus a cover of Jennifer Paige’s ‘Crush’. Most of the original tracks were written as part of the first batch of songs Shuman wrote for the project four years ago, with final track ‘Bombs Below’ an unreleased track written for Mini Mansions. “Everything was a little bit mid-tempo, except for ‘Boogie Man’,” Shuman said of his previous EPs, 2023’s ‘My Demons’ and 2025’s ‘Boogie Man’. “So, with ‘Pony Boy’, I wanted to do stuff that’s faster-paced, maybe more aggressive. My goal with this is to have any boundaries and just do whatever the fuck I want to do, like how Beck does stuff. ‘Pony Boy’ was a good way to open up tempos and heavier guitars and bring that into the mix.” Across the EP, Shuman dissects elements of “being in your own personal hell and how to get out of that”, and how being in that “claustrophobic” space can also sometimes be “really freeing”. “If you’ve been there so long, it just feels comfortable, it feels like home, and you really do get used to it,” he said. On the title track, a mix of grinding guitars and Shuman’s fast-paced rap, he explores having your privacy invaded. “Luckily, I’m not the face of a band, and I think that’s huge – that I get to be in Queens and not deal with the shit that Josh [Homme, frontman] has to deal with, because I do not envy him,” he said. “But I was dating an actress who was very in the spotlight and famous, and I got thrown into this world that I had never seen before. It was very prevalent in the UK, but then at home [in LA], it all of a sudden started to be at my house and on my street, which I’d never even thought of or experienced. Recommended “It was scary and so weird, especially for females, and trying to protect somebody where there’s men in public taking pictures, creeping around and being up in their faces. I don’t envy those people, and I don’t want to be any part of it.” Asked what he would do if GLU did take them to those levels of fame, he replied: “I do want this to be as successful as possible. I think I’ve learned enough. I’m not a 23-year-old kid that got instant fame – that’s where it becomes an issue. “I reference him musically, but who I also think does a great job of [maintaining his privacy] is Damon Albarn. He’s in the media for interviews and things, but he keeps a pretty private life. So whatever he’s doing, I’m gonna keep watching out and following his lead.” ‘LA’ – which shows a brighter, more loved-up side to living in the Californian city – features Lily James, the actress Shuman was formerly in a relationship with. “I made that song for her,” he shared. “She loves making music as well, so we were just like, ‘You should sing that part; let’s change some lyrics, and it’ll be good.’ We really enjoyed doing that together. I’ve got nothing but love for her – we’re great friends, and she’s an amazing person.” Speaking about the dichotomy between ‘Pony Boy’ and ‘LA’, he added: “They’re two different perspectives at two different times. It’s almost like you’re dreaming and then all of a sudden a nightmare comes in, and that’s where ‘Pony Boy’ begins. This carefree life you’re living in LA can get shifted real quickly and get a lot more neurotic and paranoid feeling.” ‘Crush’, meanwhile, continues the more romantic side of the EP and was recorded when Shuman had a crush on someone. “I was like, ‘OK, these are the words that I would have written at this moment for this person, so I’m just gonna put my own spin on it’,” he said. “Doing covers is a really easy thing for me to do – I can chameleon my way through those, and it’s really enjoyable because you can take yourself out of it and not have too many emotions, and focus on the music part of it.” A Jennifer Paige song might not be the first track you’d expect Shuman to cover, given his work over the years, but he explained that he prefers to rework songs that aren’t in his typical wheelhouse. “What am I gonna do if I do a Depeche Mode song – how the fuck am I gonna beat that?” he said. Shuman showcased the new EP on a short UK and European tour last month, following QOTSA’s stadium dates supporting System Of A Down. Ahead of his headline gig at London’s The Lower Third, he reflected on his solo project’s latest run, calling it “the best shows I’ve had so far” – something he attributed to “people now knowing the songs and singing along”. “I’ve been playing ‘LA’ live this whole time, but it wasn’t released,” he said. “Now it’s released, people can sing along. That’s such a great feeling when they sing it back to you. Even for Queens, when we were doing the System shows and having them sing back ‘No One Knows’, that was amazing in a stadium setting. So then having them sing back in a club setting is amazing, too. No matter what size band you are, it’s the best.” Shuman’s latest run with GLU began just days after QOTSA’s tour with SOAD ended, and he described the contrast in the size of the venues he was playing as “a trip, but fun”. “There’s such a disconnect in a stadium – we don’t love playing stadiums,” he admitted. “That’s not what we would want to do if we were as big as System. We’ve talked about that and we wouldn’t. So it’s a weird thing. “[Club shows] are a little scarier because people are right up on you, but I also love it because it feels like what punk rock is – you can touch the people and people can touch you, and that’s really fun. Coming back to [these size venues], it didn’t feel like, ‘Oh no, where are all my things and people helping me?’ It just felt like it kicked right back in from when I did shows four months ago. Despite his profile in QOTSA, Shuman also recognises that, as GLU, he’s “a new fucking artist”. “A lot of people who are in bigger or more successful bands try to do side projects, and it’s really difficult,” he said. “They give up because they go, ‘Oh shit, this isn’t as comfortable. I’m not making any money; I’m losing money. Where are all of our fans? How come there isn’t an instant translation from that band to this?’ Maybe because I’ve done that with Mini Mansion for so long, I know what that feeling is, and I know that doesn’t work that way. You have to grind it out. It takes a long time.” As an artist who grew up in DIY and punk spaces prior to joining Queens Of The Stone Age, he added, he “always expected to just be touring in a van and sleeping on floors”. “That was like, ‘This is my life; I would love to do that.’ Queens was a surprise and a luxury to get thrown into a different atmosphere.” Beyond the ‘Pony Boy EP’, Shuman shared he has been working on GLU’s debut album. “I have 30 songs in the bank, and I just gotta choose and go for it,” he said. “That’s my goal, and I want to make sure it’s levelled up from these EPs.” GLU’s ‘Pony Boy EP’ is out on August 14 via FLG.