Photos: Marissa Huntington
Writer: Brett Porter
The only thing crazier than Shu’s origin story is how many dedicated fans came through on April 15th to celebrate their 30th Anniversary at the Park Theater in Glens Falls, NY. After three decades playing on and off, it seems as if the five man roster has hit a late stride, loading up 2023 with a series of shows and recording their third album. Shu consists of five members who all look like fun dads, even if they don’t have any kids. Bob Smith and Bryan Mull make up the guitar section, Todd Haviland and Eric Hamell hold the rhythm section down on bass and drums respectively, and Matty Carl switches between playing the sax and the keyboard. Amazingly enough, all five of these dudes also do vocals. In some of their songs, you can hear a five part harmony that is in simplest terms, impressive.
Shu became Shu after four different newspapers struggled to spell the actual name of their band, then known as Shoegazer. After seeing the hilarity of journalistic error, the band changed their name to Shu, one of the four “alternate” names. Shoe Quazar almost made the final cut, which is understandable because it is in fact a cool name. From there on, the team would gig with bands like Ominous Seapods and Conehead Buddha.
I tried interviewing the band. I really did. What instead happened was five friends reminiscing on their time together, essentially growing up together as they transitioned from college-aged musicians to the people they are now. I didn’t even want to interrupt them. Hearing them laugh about some of the old school shenanigans felt way more worth it to me than trying to press them for a “serious” interview.
In total, I got to talk to Shu for about 30 minutes before their sound check, and I may have asked a total of three questions. Without having to rely on a list of things to ask, I got to learn some cool stuff about the band, including the fact they got booted from headlining a show for some band called moe. Maybe you’ve heard of them.
All in all, the roughly 100 people at Glens Falls’ Park Theater were in for a treat as Shu played through the entirety of their newly recorded album, Armchair Prophets, along with some of their older works, including one of my new favorite songs, Ska’d For Life. Check out photos from the show below:
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