Courtesy of Charles Peterson
Audio By Carbonatix
Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Hole, L7, pre-Pearl Jam group Green River: All had records released on the legendary Seattle label Sub Pop in the late ’80s and early ’90s. And in the process, the sound of grunge – and the blueprint for ’90s rock overall – was created.
But the second band that sported the Sub Pop imprint in 1988, the Fluid, never got as huge as its labelmates. The fact that Sub Pop issued a split single featuring both the Fluid and Nirvana in 1991 – the year the latter’s history-changing Nevermind came out – still didn’t boost the Fluid to the heights of fame it deserved.
Part of that lack of mainstream success may have been that the group hailed from Denver, not the grunge epicenter of Seattle. The Fluid wasn’t exactly grunge, either, but more of a feral, punk-injected rock group. After decades of relative obscurity and cult worship, however, the Fluid’s music is getting a massive, long overdue reboot – on vinyl.
On December 6, Sub Pop is reissuing almost all of the Fluid’s recorded output: the Sub Pop LPs Clear Black Paper from 1988 and Roadmouth from 1989, plus the 1990 Glue EP as well as the band’s non-Sub Pop debut from 1986, Punch n Judy. On top of that, a new compilation of odds and ends, Overflow, will be released.
Among Overflow‘s rare tracks is a live version of the song “Candy,” which appeared on a Sub Pop split seven-inch single in 1991; the other half of the record features a song by Nirvana, a tourmate of the Fluid in the years just before grunge exploded. All of these releases have been remixed and remastered, and they’ll be available on limited-edition colored vinyl.
The Fluid grew partly out of the Frantix, a local hardcore act in the early ’80s that became legendary in its own right. After the Fluid left Sub Pop, the group signed to a major label, Hollywood Records, for its final album, 1993’s Purplemetalflakemusic. The Fluid broke up later that year, and no plans are in the works to reissue that final, vital piece of the band’s saga.
Ex-members of the Fluid went on to play in various Denver bands, including ‘57 Lesbian, the Buckingham Squares, Cyclo-Sonic and Spell (not to be confused with the current local outfit SPELLS) before reconvening for a set of reunion shows in 2009. Guitarist Rick Kulwicki died in 2011.
Plenty of Denver record stores are sure to stock the Fluid reissues. But Wax Trax Records was the Fluid’s home away from home back in the day, so, yeah.
In advance of the reissue, we conducted a quick Q&A with Matt Bischoff of the Fluid:
Westword: When did Sub Pop first approach you guys about an extensive reissue of the Fluid’s music?
Matt Bischoff: It was about two years ago when Jonathan [Poneman, co-founder of Sub Pop] approached us. Yeah, it’s been a long time in the making.
Was it a pretty businesslike offer, or were there some deeper conversations about the impact of the band?
We all had these emails with Jonathan before we started going into the project. He felt that something needed to be done, because the Fluid was a pretty big deal in the early Sub Pop days. He wanted this stuff back out there again, but he also wanted this historical documentation. He’s always been a passionate guy about music, and he remains that way. I think this is kind of a legacy thing for him – you know, “These guys never really hit the big time. They never really accomplished what maybe they could have or should have or whatever.”
The Fluid never made it as big as so many of its contemporaries, but you’ve always had a rabid underground following. And lots of famous bands have talked about how much they love you.
We’ve got some friends that we made early on in Seattle when we would play with them and tour with them, and those bands went on to pretty great things. They were always Fluid supporters – the guys from Soundgarden, Mudhoney and so on. It’s kind of a cool thing. We were all pretty young when we were doing this together, and it sort of sticks if you have that mutual respect.
What was it like to go into this project and dive so deeply into your past music without Rick Kulwicki there?
Yeah, it’s super strange revisiting this stuff, especially in the process of remixing our old songs. The actual physical points in time came back to me. Like, I remember Ricky being in the studio and panning his guitar back and forth with all this weird noise he was making. It brought back a lot of weird memories.
Will Purplemetalflakemusic ever get this kind of lavish reissue?
That’s all Hollywood Records. They still own that album. But no, I have zero interest in going back to that. It’s still on all the streaming platforms anyway. I can’t imagine why Hollywood Records would even pay for a reissue. I’m sure they never recouped their costs. It would be like throwing good money after bad.
So what you’re saying is, it’s okay if I bootleg it on vinyl?
Yes [laughs]. And you wouldn’t be the first person to ask me that. Not even the third or fourth.
