As previously announced, today, December 6th, Sub Pop is reissuing seven titles – five on LP and digital and two digital-only – by Denver punk legends The Fluid. These releases include the band’s entire Sub Pop output from 1988-1991, choice outtakes and rarities, and their debut album, Punch N Judy, originally released by RayOn Records in 1986. None of this material has been available on digital music services before, and the vinyl versions have been out of print for decades. It sounds better than ever, thanks to extensive mixing and remastering work by the band and Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney).
 
The Fluid holds a special place in Sub Pop’s history as the label’s first non-Seattle signing, and their astounding live show and Detroit-fueled rock power made an indelible mark on the nascent grunge scene. Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil offers this first-hand account of The Fluid’s initial connection with the Seattle scene:
 
Everything about the news that Sub Pop is reissuing the entire indie catalog of The Fluid’s recordings is exciting and long overdue! The fact that they’ve commissioned Jack Endino to oversee most of the remixing and to have him supervise remastering with JJ Golden indicates their dedication to the sonic justice that these reissues are due. Sub Pop is including The Fluid’s 1986 debut album, Punch N Judy, which was originally released on RayOn records. This is the album that put them on my radar when label founder Bruce Pavitt played it for me in their offices atop the Terminal Sales Building in downtown Seattle circa 1987. My first reaction was to interrupt Bruce’s finger snapping, air guitar playing, lip synching karaoke dance moves to ask what we were listening to.
    
“This is Punch N Judy, Buy the Fluid”, is what I thought he said over the screaming stereo. “They’re from Denver!”.
   
“This is way cool!”, I replied. “This sounds like the MC5!!” “Punch N Judy is a great band name!”, I yelled. “And, Buy the Fluid is a witty album title!”.
    
Bruce brought the volume down and flipped his air guitar over. “No, the band is The Fluid; their album is called Punch N Judy.”
    
“Well, that’s even cooler! Are you going to sign them? Can you get them on Sub Pop?”
    
“We’re hoping! Yeah, they’re cool; we’d like to! You dig this?”
 
“Man, you got to, this is great!”
 
What a significant and important signing it was for the Sub Pop roster and the Seattle “Grunge” community. For Soundgarden it was encouraging and reassuring to learn that the vision developed within our scene was shared elsewhere, and that this milieu went beyond our regional geography. It also gave credence to the belief that Seattle in the late 80’s was analogous to Detroit in the late 60’s, with this Denver band bringing the legit spirit of the MC5 (my favorite band!) to pair with the often cited and repeated, but dubious comparisons between Seattle’s Green River and Mudhoney, and Detroit’s Stooges. The Fluid also brought a heavy dose of the New York Dolls and they along with our “Iggy” bands all referenced the stylings of NY’s Dead Boys!
 
Why The Fluid weren’t more successful is a mystery to me. They were better than most bands from our scene and around the international indie circuit. They had great songs and could play them really well! They could actually perform background vox and harmonies in pitch and key, with hooks! If you ever had the opportunity to have seen them live, like Soundgarden did when we first played shows with them, you’d have seen a band that commanded the stage with a charismatic presence and swagger that asserted the cohesion of five fingers clenched into a fist. They were rock stars that were a dangerously wild and real cool time.
 
Mudhoney’s Mark Arm highlights the mutual admiration between The Fluid and Mudhoney:
Mudhoney opened for The Fluid when they first played Seattle in 1988.  We were blown away by how amazing they were and instantly became great friends. Our bands dug deep, mining similar veins, but we applied different alchemy to the rock we dug. We admired each other’s results. They were one of the best live acts of the era.  Their albums were in heavy rotation in our tour van. And now they are available again for you to hold in your grubby little hands.
 
And Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys, Guantanamo School of Medicine, Alternative Tentacles Records) sings the praises of The Fluid and their scorching debut album:
At last, The Fluid are available again!! The best part is Punch N Judy, the great lost first album hardly anyone knew existed. The Fluid were always the most Detroit-powered of all the big early grunge bands, and nowhere more than on Punch N Judy. All killer, no filler. Not everyone was hip to them, but other musicians sure were. Especially in Scandinavia a few years later - no Hellacopters explosion without them.

Fluid’s catalog is now available from Sub Pop. Limited colored vinyl preorders are available at the Sub Pop Mega Mart (North America), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), and independent retailers worldwide.

On December 6th, Sub Pop will release seven titles – five on LP and digital, and two digital-only – by Denver punk legends The Fluid. These releases include the band’s entire Sub Pop output from 1988-1991, choice outtakes and rarities, and their debut album, Punch N Judy, which originally came out on RayOn Records in 1986. None of this material has been available on digital music services before, and the vinyl versions have been out of print for decades. It all sounds better than ever thanks to extensive mixing and remastering work by the band and Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney).
 
The Fluid are arguably the great unsung band from the fertile underground rock scene of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. The Denver five-piece - John Robinson (vocals), James Clower (guitar), Matt Bischoff (bass), Garrett Shavlik (drums), and the dear departed Rick Kulwicki (guitar) - fused the fire of ‘80s hardcore with crunching Detroit protopunk, ‘60s garage rock, and ‘70s rock swagger. Think MC5, Faces, ‘70s Stones, all cranked up and really high on Sex Pistols and Black Flag singles.

Photo Credit:  Charles Peterson

Rising from the ashes of early-’80s Denver bands Frantix (whose “My Dad’s a Fuckin’ Alcoholic” is a true gem of American punk) and White Trash, The Fluid were the first non-Seattle band to sign to Sub Pop, and Clear Black Paper was the second full-length album the label ever released. The label honchos were fans of Frantix, and happily got involved with The Fluid when the opportunity arose via the label’s European licensing partner, Glitterhouse, who handled The Fluid across the pond. Witnessing The Fluid’s dominant live presence helped - a particularly fiery early show at Seattle’s Central Tavern featured The Fluid, Mudhoney, Mother Love Bone, and Soundgarden all trying to outdo one another on stage.
 
The band fit right in on Sub Pop’s nascent roster of acts who, wherever they stood on the spectrum of punk/rock/metal, shared a commitment to thunderous riffs and explosive live shows. Legendary for their ferocious stage presence, famously captured in vivid glory by grunge house photographer, Charles Peterson, The Fluid toured all over the US and Europe, holding their own and then some on bills with Mudhoney, Nirvana (when Nirvana were still the opening act), Soundgarden, Dinosaur Jr., and other powerhouses of the era. From 1986 to 1993, The Fluid put out four albums and a number of EPs and singles, including a split 7” with Nirvana in 1991, before disbanding after their sole major-label album, 1993’s Purplemetalflakemusic.
 
Yet, while their partners-in-crime bulldozed into the mainstream, The Fluid remained something of a cult band, their audience confined to those who got hip during the band’s existence, and crate diggers who nabbed original vinyl or CDs, which had quickly become rarities after selling through their original runs.
 
Why? Record industry machinations? The fickle finger of pop culture? Being from Denver, not Seattle? Who the hell knows… and who cares! The point is the band ripped, and the world deserves to hear them again. The Fluid took influences they shared with their contemporaries and ran in their own direction, focused on ass-shaking grooves more than misanthropic sludge. Rock anthems like “Cold Outside” sit alongside Stooge-oid rhythmic poundings (“Black Glove”), bluesy romps (“Leave It”), the occasional grungy dirge (“Wasted Time”), and raw punk bangers (“Is It Day I’m Seeing?” from the seminal 1988 Sub Pop 200 compilation). The band wasn’t shy about their inspiration, either: scattered through their catalog are covers of The Troggs, The Rolling Stones, MC5, Iggy Pop and James Williamson, and Rare Earth. Whether barrelling through others’ songs or their own, The Fluid stand out as champions of a feral, urgent, exuberant approach to rock ‘n roll. As it turns out, that wasn’t a recipe for stardom in the era of hyper-slick pop, boomer dinosaurs crying tears in heaven, and hair-metal power-ballads. But someone had to do it.
 
Maybe The Fluid were simply ahead of their time? The grungy riffs and raw, hooky rock that permeate their catalog were defining features of the Nevermind-induced cultural earthquake that hit five years after The Fluid’s debut, and of the early 2000s rock resurgence that spawned The White Stripes, The Hives, et al. Regardless, it’s criminal that The Fluid’s music has been so hard to find all these years.
 
To set things right, Sub Pop, The Fluid, and producer Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden, High on Fire, Mudhoney) teamed up to refresh and reissue The Fluid’s entire indie-label catalog: their 1986 debut, Punch N Judy; 1988’s Clear Black Paper; 1989’s Roadmouth; the 1990 Glue EP (produced by Butch Vig, shortly before he teamed up with Nirvana to make Nevermind); and a treasure trove of rarities and previously unreleased material. All the music has been remastered from original tapes by Endino and JJ Golden, and the bulk of it has been meticulously remixed by Endino and the band, righting some sonic quirks that diminished the impact of the original records. Now, with their definitive material sounding better than ever, it’s high time The Fluid get their due.

The Fluid’s catalog is now available to preorder from Sub Pop. Limited colored-vinyl preorders are available at the Sub Pop Mega Mart (North America), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU) - including track listings - and at independent retailers worldwide.