THE UNDERGROUND VAULT ~ THE FLUID ~ “COLD OUTSIDE” & “NICK OF TIME”

THE UNDERGROUND VAULT presents ~ THE FLUID

“Cold Outside” & “Nick of Time” are the leadoff tracks on the band’s 1988 Sup Pop/Glitterhouse album CLEAR BLACK PAPER. On Rolling Stone.com, L7 singer-guitarist Donita Sparks called “Cold Outside” “…one of the greatest recordings in rock & roll ever,” and who am I to argue? “Nick” is a glorious runaway freight train, a shambolic mess of a song, powered by drummer Garrett Shavlik explosive, Keith Moon-like drum fills as it stops and starts, seemingly on the edge of spontaneous combustion before finally streaking hellbent to the finish line.

As a Denver-base rock critter from the late-‘80s to the mid-‘90s, I wrote about the Fluid several times, calling singer John Robinson “an energized frontman, looking like a young Roger Daltrey by way of Billy Idol as he contorts his body all over the stage, while unleashing yelping, growling, 10 kiloton vocals.” I noted Matt Bischoff’s “bulldozer bass” and Rick Kulwicki & James Clower’s “roaring twin lead guitars, hardwired for Faster! Louder!” I said their music “mined the early ‘70s punk/metal mother lode first tapped by the Stooges/MC5/New York Dolls.” Called them “a great live band, whose volume, velocity, and rich store of killer chops” could transport and audience to “grunge groove heaven.

I stand by it - all so much yakety yak. Scribble your own description.

The Fluid were : John Robinson, vocals, Garrett Shavlik, drums, Matt Bischoff, bass and vocals, Rick Kulwicki & James Clower, guitars and vocals. © Sub Pop

Like ‘N subscribe… blah, blah. A NOT READY FOR PODCASTING PRODUCTION