WORDS & PHOTO BY TOM MURPHY In the annals of Denver underground music history, one of the names that garners the most respect of local punk and alternative rock are post-punk/ garage rock legends The Fluid. Since splitting in 1993, the band’s records have become something of collectors items for the cognoscenti or those who were simply there to witness the passion and camaraderie of Richard Kulwicki, Matt Bischoff, John Robinson, Garrett Shavlik and James Clower in action and giving their all on stage. The Fluid were the first non-Pacific Northwest band to sign to Sub Pop after having already made connections in the region through touring and becoming part of a network of mutual musical influence with the Seattle grunge scene. But their impact went much further, and in Denver, their influence as a band — and as people — extended for years and continues to this day. But the records had long been out of print until December 6, 2024 when Sub Pop reissued the first three full-length albums, Punch N Judy (1986), Clear Black Paper (1988) and Roadmouth (1989), as well as the Glue EP (1990) and a new collection of outtakes and 8-track versions of songs called Overflow. Not to mention the “Tin Top Toy” single and the “Candy (Live - From Nirvana Split).” All remastered by grunge scene engineer Jack Endino and JJ Golden with remixes overseen by Endino and the band. The albums, the collection and the EP are now available in handsome colored No. 133 vinyl editions through the Sub Pop website or at your local record store. Don’t worry, completionists, the Freak Magnet EP is included with the download of Clear Black Paper. When the band unexpectedly reunited in 2008 for the Sub Pop 20th anniversary shows that July, I was living in a warehouse space with Kurt Ottaway (Twice Wilted, Tarmints, Overcasters, Emerald Siam, Leathervains) where the band was doing its early rehearsals. John Call of Veronica was initially filling in on drums before Shavlik and Robinson could be on hand for the Denver show practices ahead of the Sub Pop show and subsequent 2009 tour dates in New Jersey, Brooklyn and Seattle again. I got to know the members of the band — mostly Bischoff and Kulwicki — and came to like and respect them as people even more than musicians. And those reunion shows were proof positive that The Fluid were one of the most vital and electrifying bands Denver has ever produced. All the songs I’d heard from what I could get of their albums came to vivid focus in a way that was immediately inspiring and gave the music its living context. Peers like Mark Arm of Mudhoney and Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth showed up to the 2009 gigs in Seattle and Brooklyn respectively as fans of the Denver legends. The band has already spoken to the varied means by which it recorded
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