Music
Press
“…it might seem insane that Shubaly decided to sell all his shit last year, buy a van and tour the country with wry tunes of disaster and heartbreak that are more No Depression than Yes New York. But Shubaly's always maintained strength in the face of being a ridiculously overmatched underdog. He's created gorgeous songs that make grown men cry, that remind you of teenage heartache and totally disarm you” - Portland Mercury
“Mishka Shubaly is this week's unknown that you don't want to miss. Dirty, down-and-out, hungover country rock songwriter Shubaly writes some of the best lyrical lines you've never heard, and delivers them in a gruff, only semi-musical voice while punishing a guitar for some imagined sin. Shubaly is currently homeless, having vowed to stay on the road for a year without a break, and should be just weathered enough by now to sing it like he means it. Great stuff.” - Tampa Weekly Planet
Mishka Shubaly is staggering home. The singer-songwriter wrote his first tunes while living in a Colorado basement, where his blissfully black sense of humor helped him handle a hard-knock life and the stigma of clothes that smelled like pickles. (He kept his duds in pickle jars from his job at a Sonic Drive-In.) He eventually left Denver (and his Vlasic aura) for the Big Apple, where he earned a small cult following and produced two highly entertaining recordings -- Thanks for Letting Me Crash and To Hell With You -- of hung-over, Beck-style rock. He also spent time playing Gotham clubs (solo and with grunge-pop act COME ON), headlining bills opened by the Strokes and doing an internship with rock writer Robert Christgau. The famed music critic deemed Shubaly's voice one of the worst he's ever heard -- a badge of honor Shubaly is quick to flash. Like Scotch, his vocals are an acquired taste worth the time. In a droll, semi-baritone that's equal parts Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and Iggy Pop, Shubaly takes the listener through ragged tales a Pavement fan can adore. And his brainy, smart-ass songs of disappointment and "heartbreak and liver failure" chronicle the loser life in fresh, often hilarious fashion. Shubaly's Denver dates -- the Bluebird Theater on Thursday, October 16, the Larimer Lounge on Sunday, October 19, and the Lion's Lair on Thursday, October 23 -- are especially crucial for him. This August, he sold his possessions and gave up his NYC apartment to spend a year on the road running down his unique musical dream. Make it out to a show, treat yourself to a rare night and make his return a good one. Offers of warm showers, canned goods and couches to crash on might be welcome, too. Hold the pickles. - Westword
'Thank goodness Mishka Shubaly's coarse, druggy poetry outweighs his love for dimestore comedy. Between bad jokes, the troubador and one-time Denver resident serenaded the meager audience at the Hi-Dive on Oct. 20 while jacking singer-songwriter cliches and revealing his ridiculous penchant for booze and devastating songs.
"Home" is a brilliant heartbreaker of an alley waltz. And it's proof of this New York songwriter's fierce sense of self and love of poetry, which has evolved gracefully since his days contemplating the "Washington Ballet."' - The Denver Post
Discography
Thanks for Letting Me Crash EP (2000)
To Hell With You EP (2003)
So Long EP (2004)
How To Make a Bad Situation Worse (2007)
I've gotten some college airplay and I've been included on a bunch of podcasts.
Photos
Bio
Mishka Shubaly’s first songs were written in a grim series of basement apartments, beginning with an unfinished and unheated basement in his mother’s rented duplex in Lafayette, Colorado. Just seventeen, he was working as the night manager of Sonic Burger and attending college full time. “My dad had just left us, our house had gotten repossessed, and my mom and I were totally broke. I didn’t have a dresser to keep my clothes in so I just brought a bunch of green pickle buckets home from work and kept my clothes in them. It worked fine, but I always smelled-- strongly --of pickles.” The darkness, isolation and chill of that basement in Colorado and the unflappable sense of humor it bred has never left the music of Mishka Shubaly.
In August of 2000, Mishka Shubaly recorded “Thanks For Letting Me Crash” on a four track in his bedroom and began performing live. In the years since, critics have compared him to virtually everyone in the country or indie canons, most notably Johnny Cash, Tom Waits and Nick Cave. But it’s still the fans that matter most to Mishka Shubaly. “Every time I play, somebody comes up to me after the show really wasted, looks deep into my eyes with just incredible sadness, then mumbles something incomprehensible and staggers off. That means more to me than I can say.”
By May, 2003, Mishka had his picture in Fader magazine for being the talent buyer at one of the hottest clubs in NYC where he had booked Liars, Walkmen, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Libertines, Secret Machines, We Are Scientists and virtually all the stars of the rising Brooklyn scene. But that summer he walked away from indie hipster-dom for a Toyota mini-van, and toured almost without break for a year. He has shared the stage with Broken Social Scene, The Decemberists, Metric, Bob Log, Calexico, Quintron & Miss Pussycat, The Dirtbombs, The Bronx, Dan Melchior’s Broke Revue, The High Strung and Jason Bonham. He has appeared on WBAI(NY), Radio 1190(CO) and WOUB(OH). His latest record, “How to Make a Bad Situation Worse,” recorded with producer Jay Braun (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, The Stills, Fiery Furnaces) will be released on Terrasoul Records in August, 2007 with a national tour to follow, supported by publicity from In Music We Trust PR.
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