It couldn’t be more fitting that Vanessa Marchiano begins Rubix Pube’s Tape Swap Radio appearance by proclaiming, “Greetings, Earthlings!” If any band in the Lehigh Valley seems like they landed here from another planet, it’s Rubix Pube. The eclectic three-piece describes their music as “mountain-based mutant rock,” creating songs about everything from losing your hair because you’re not a good person to gladiatorial bugs battling to the death. Throughout their four-song session, Marchiano’s guitar playing teeters between hefty garage rock riffs and nimble jazz chords. Meanwhile, Rob Shepherd’s bass lines and Felix Wheatfield’s drum grooves are surprisingly sturdy and robust, a kind of reliable glue that holds the weirdo freakout art project that is Rubix Pube together.
The band joined us at Shards in November 2025, performing songs off of their two latest albums, 2024’s FlopHouse and 2022’s Cunnilingus Ouroboros, as well as their recently released new single, “Bad Juju.”