SKOOSHNY is:

MARK BREYER - Vocals, Guitar
BRUCE WAGNER - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
DAVID WINOGROND - Drums

Contrary to popular rock'n'roll belief, flash isn't everything. Case in point: It's quite conceivable that no band in rock's hoary history was less flashy, more self-effacing than SKOOSHNY. The name itself, widely disliked even by the band's strongest supporters, is Russian for "boring."

This modest band, with its equally modest official recorded output, consistently produced music of rare quality: spectral harmonies, labyrinthine song structures, and playful, literate lyrics that transcended the low-budget productions to which they were constrained to resort.

For years a small but devoted coterie of fans, collectors, and writers has remembered SKOOSHNY fondly. Now the opportunity is here to discover a fine, potentially brilliant band lost in limbo.

(From liner notes by Ken Barnes, longtime music commentator and current Music Editor at USA Today)

While they have been likened to The Byrds, REM, Love, Kinks, Green Pajamas, Left Banke and other notables - all very pleasing and in some cases, justifiable - it must be repeated that SKOOSHNY very much tread their own path. For sure there are resonances of the 60s and early 70s with a West Coast atmosphere, pretty much what you'd expect from an LA band with influences based on songs, melody, folk-psych and pop!

The musical strength of SKOOSHNY derives from the three disparate and incompatible personalities involved:
 
MARK BREYER: A skeptical romantic: Writes songs about love, but has little faith in relationships.  Degree in Russian, named the band. Doesn’t get out much, doesn’t drive, and lives in a cramped bachelor flat where singing, even quietly, makes him uncomfortable. This makes it difficult to actually write songs, though he somehow manages (and, hey, being deaf never stopped Beethoven). Insists Skooshny is a democracy, ‘til he’s outvoted. Macrobiotic vegan. Technologically inept.
 
BRUCE WAGNER: Multi-instrumentalist: Can pick up anything at a garage sale and play it. Constantly interrupts you to argue over things you didn’t say. Surgical technician - everything from opening hearts to removing eyes from cadavers. Solo artist in his own mind. Runs marathons for the endorphins. Band conference calls terminate suddenly because he won’t replace the phone batteries. Technologically inept.
 
DAVID WINOGROND: Self-taught, jazz-wanna-be drummer. Photographer. Skooshny referee. Sees himself as the reasonable one in the band; the other two would dispute that. Has heard every drummer joke. Most eclectic musical tastes in the band. Can’t write a lyric or melody, but will critique Mark’s or Bruce’s without being asked. Wants to retire in Africa. The only band member interested in record production, business, and technology. Computer geek.

(David Winogrond and Bruce Wagner are also two thirds of Davie Allan and The Arrows.)