Club Notes: Mini Mansions put the psych in pop

Michael Shuman usually plays bass with the Queens of the Stone Age. However, the band's been on an extended break, so the musician dreamed up his own side project.

Shuman developed the rock trio Mini Mansions, and this band fuses psychedelic and pop music into a very lush batch of tunes.

Friday, the group plays Moe's Original BBQ in Denver. The bowling alley/concert hall -- just down from the Gothic Theatre in Englewood -- recently amped up the bookings and it's bringing some very cool shows to town.

"The Queens of the Stone Age haven't toured for two years -- and that's a long time," Shuman said. "We're all doing other projects. Josh (Homme) is with Them Crooked Vultures and Dean (Fertita) is with The Dead Weather.

"We're supposed to all get together and start writing soon. Plus, we have two weeks of festivals we're playing in Europe coming up. We didn't intend for the break to be this long, but there were opportunities out there we couldn't pass up."

Shuman spent his time developing Mini Mansions and writing a new record for the band. This summer, he's taking his side project on a two-month road trip.

"I'd been writing my own material

Mini Mansions play Moe s Original BBQ on Friday night.

"I'm a big fan of pop music and I wanted to do something different. I wanted to write good songs, but I'm not a big lyric person. To me, melody is the essence of a song and it's what perks my ears up."

Shuman even changed up his instrumentation for Mini Mansions. The Queens bass player now performs on a drum kit and plays guitar. Zach Dawes plays bass for the band, and Tyler Parkford plays guitars and keyboards.

"We wanted to keep Mini Mansions as a three-piece and keep it simple," Shuman said. "We didn't have a drummer, so I took on that role. Now we're a very percussion-driven band -- we have to make a full sound, because there's only three of us."

Mini Mansions' lush pop tunes sound like they're performed by a much larger group. While the band started out playing psychedelic pop, Shuman says the music has taken a new direction.

"We have a new record coming out in September and I think it will surprise a lot of people," Shuman said. "The new music's more goth-pop. It made sense, because there's a darkness in every song They're still pop songs, but I think there's something special about this sound.

"This is really a sit-down-and-listen record that lasts 45 minutes. It's not a concept record, but every song ties into each other and there are recurring themes."

Shuman's looking forward to playing his full show at Moe's. In April, Mini Mansions opened Them Crooked Vultures' Denver concert with a shorter set list.

"We have more time to play this time, so people will hear more of our songs," Shuman said. "We're going to play a broad spectrum of music, so people can hear these songs live."