Crazy‘s trending, I’m getting tired of the fight

Let’s get far away from the lying abusers, the vacant consumers

The haters, the traitors, the truth obfuscators while we’re still alright

We’ll float up to the sky, we’ll sing into space, cry for the human race

Let’s try to feel nice before we’re at the end of time

­­-Still Love You (At The End Of Time)

“When I told Lisa Loeb that I was too busy to join her band even as ‘Stay’ was hitting #1 on the charts, that was the turning point” recounts Skytinual. “While crazy in retrospect, I was just getting interest in my music and knew I had to pursue my own path as an artist – wherever it took me.” So begins the unlikely career trajectory of drummer turned artist Dave Bush – a.k.a. Skytinual. 

After performing with an eclectic roster of artists, issuing his own independent release, and an eventual exodus from the business in the early aughts, former drummer to Grammy artists Skytinual returns to music with the searing pop polemic Still Love You (At The End Of Time) on a fragmented American society against the backdrop of a fraying planet. The first single from Skytinual’s debut album Yes Yes Let’s Hope to be released throughout 2024, Still Love You (At The End Of Time) drops in May 2024 on Peace Army Music.

What happens when you leave New York and all the great musicians you know behind, relocate to America’s Heartland with wife and toddler, and a 6-month stopover turns into 20 years, spanning much of your middle life? This is Skytinual’s unexpected story and the existential detour which pervades much of the accomplished musician’s new album releases. “I never stopped writing and recording, even as I found myself isolated from nearly everything and everyone I knew. As my old identity and sense of self faded, more honest and visceral music emerged.”   

Skytinual’s return brings two new albums on the Peace Army Music label, both to be released in parallel throughout 2024 and 2025. Recorded between Nashville, Woodstock NY, Dayton OH, mid-coast Maine, and St Croix USVI, the forthcoming album Yes Yes Let’s Hope features full-fledged productions of new songs tackling themes from love in the time of climate change, the corruption of power, to individual agency in the face of immense shared challenges. In sharp contrast, the album Too Dark The Hour introduces minimalist renditions of intimately personal songs recorded in various states of midlife distress, all captured after midnight in southern Ohio.

“In many ways, I’m a much different person now, and wanted a new artistic identity. ‘Skytinual’ marks a new chapter – a reinvention of sorts. The sky is both ageless and continually changing. I relate to that seeming paradox, and ‘Skytinual’ embodies that feeling to me.”

Born in Hartford CT, Skytinual took quickly to the drums, eventually studying with many renowned drummers on the East Coast, including Alan Dawson, Ed Soph, Keith Copeland, Gary Chester, and Bernard Purdie. After stints at the Eastman School of Music and William Patterson College, Skytinual graduated from the New School in Manhattan alongside members of the Spin Doctors, Blues Traveler, and pianist Brad Mehldau among others.

By his mid-twenties, Brooklyn-based Skytinual had racked up an impressive rap sheet, performing and/or recording drums with pop super producer Dr. Luke, Grammy-winning songwriter Robert Lee Castleman, Grammy-nominated New Grass artist Tony Trischka, jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell, the Grandfather of Minimalism LaMonte Young, bassist Reggie Workman, keyboardist Larry Goldings, the late Bleeker Street phenom Gordon Gaines, Blue Oyster Cult’s Joe Bouchard, producer Tommy West (Jim Croce), Count Basie bassist Eddie Jones, Dream Theater’s Jordan Rudess, and many others. As a longtime house drummer for National Guitar Workshop, Skytinual also performed with a wide range of guitarists including Zak Wylde, Mike Stern, Leni Stern, Gatemouth Brown, John Abercrombie, Tal Farlow, Reeves Gabrels, Vinnie Moore, and bassist Anthony Jackson. 

Shortly after leaving Brooklyn for Woodstock NY, Skytinual co-formed the band Food, performing at east coast clubs, colleges and festivals prior to releasing The Big One, an EP mixed by producer John Alagia (Dave Matthews, Ben Folds, John Mayer) and Grammy-winning mixer Jeff Juliano (Gwen Stefani, The Roots, Shawn Mendes). “We were getting great reviews, playing solid shows, but momentum slowed and the band splintered. When I look back, I just didn’t have a vision beyond total immersion in the music itself. Pushing myself on my connections was not in my nature, which is a fatal flaw if you wanted shit to happen in the old gatekeeper music business. Today’s business is totally different. Artists have much greater agency, and you can arguably go as far as your talent, vision, willpower and funds allow.” 

After following his wife to the Midwest, Skytinual built the project studio which now serves as home base for his current music production and recording work. Skytinual continues to work with a wide variety of artists worldwide, including musicians and visual artists from Brazil, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the USA.