The Ruby Shots | Band With Small Beginnings Aims Big

What happens when you graduate from one of the most prestigious colleges in the country, set your roots down in NYC, and start experimenting with music? Endless creativity, if you’re lucky like Dylan Eshbaugh, Mia Bergstrom, and Dan and James Yaiullo. The band, who call themselves The Ruby Shots, have become a beacon of 60’s pop and 80’s alternative on NYC’s local band scene, performing at venues such as Pianos and Arlene’s Grocery.

The band’s beginnings are seemingly divine; post-grad, Dylan Eshbaugh knew precisely the right people to realize a dream which arrived back in 2012. Throughout college, Eshbaugh practiced and performed with Blake Zuschnitt—a friend from home—during his months off to kill time and keep an active imagination. And like most bands that begin between two bored minds, goofing off would have been easy. But with the addition of Mia Bergstrom and the Yaiullo brothers, Eshbaugh was able to conceive a real future for The Ruby Shots.

“The name doesn’t really mean anything but it has a very certain connotation. That’s what I wanted my band’s name to feel like. You don’t really know what it means, but it captures the feel of the music.” And somehow it does. Ranging from buoyant and carefree to urgent and energized, The Ruby Shots have truly created a live space between 60’s pop and 80’s alternative music, the defining element being the strong and incredibly versatile voice of Mia Bergstrom.

“We have a few songs now that are inspired by female singers from the 60’s, like Dusty Springfield, that just wouldn’t have even remotely the same feel to them if I were singing them. There are other songs that I’d written years ago that Mia sings now and she’s been able to help me with lyrics that don’t fit, as well as hit notes and melodies in the vocals that I could only dream of hitting.” While Mia belts and bends over the steady backbeats provided by Dan and James, Eshbaugh adorns her vocals with tight guitar and synth lines.

Their unreleased song “Nightmares” veers on the brink of darkness with pop sensitivity, while their BandCamp tracks—”Doldrums” and “This Is What You Said”—approach influences such as The Smiths and The Cure with heavier lyrics set against sunnier melodies and lo-fi brightness. When it comes to the creative process, Eshbaugh has graciously accepted the input from his bandmates, especially when it comes to drum and bass lines from the Yaiullo brothers, who grew up listening to completely different artists than Eshbaugh.

“It makes the songs really feel like they’ve got a little bit of all of us in it, as well as make our particular sound more unique. In any given song, I can be playing a post-punk guitar riff, while Dan plays a bass line that sounds like a solo, while James somehow keeps time while never really playing a normal four-count beat, and Mia goes from sounding like 60’s mod to Siouxsie Sioux.”

This makes The Ruby Shots such a special find on NYC’s local band scene, because not only is the band focused and evolving through each new song, but on an individual level, each member knows and is valued for what they can bring to it. And sure, it helps that the band is composed of friends, but when it comes to undeniable music chemistry, it boils down to much more than convenience.

The Ruby Shots will be performing throughout Brooklyn and Harlem in the upcoming months, and have set their sights on a SXSW set for March. Stay tuned for more details regarding their upcoming EP!