Robert "Bob Rob" Medina is an American artist, author, musician and educator. In 1988, Medina founded the Denver-based punk/hardcore record label, Donut Crew Records, releasing the ''Colorado Crew'' series of compilation

7-inch EP In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

s featuring

The Fluid The Fluid was an American rock band from Denver which formed in 1985, disbanded in 1993, but reconvened in 2008. The group cited the Rolling Stones and MC5 as inspirations for their sound, and was the first group based outside the Pacific North ...

, Warlock Pinchers, and many others. He was a member of the bands Idiots Revenge, Short Fuse, Suede Fruit, Rotoflo
Savalas
Llamas Nova
Chocolate Kiss
Cabron an
Gnar Jar
Medina is a prolific visual artist, having shown in over 50 group and solo exhibitions worldwide. In 2008, he presented a solo exhibition in Tijuana, Mexico, entitled ''Buttoning Up the Border''. In 2012 his

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

solo exhibit, ''Where You From? A Collection of Sights and Sounds from Alexandria, Egypt'' drew coverage from

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

. In 2015, he published his first book, ''Denvoid and the Cowtown Punks'' (launching his own imprint, Robot Enemy Publications, in the process), a collection of illustrations as well as personal memoirs, photos and interviews documenting the punk scene of 1980's Denver.

Westword ''Westword'' is a free digital and print media publication based in Denver, Colorado. ''Westword'' publishes daily online coverage of local news, restaurants, music and arts, as well as longform narrative journalism. A weekly print issue cir ...

magazine named ''Denvoid and the Cowtown Punks'' the "Best Denver Music-History Book" of 2016. Also in 2015, he contributed an article on early Denver punk promoter, Tom Headbanger, to the Colorado Music History series at Denver Public Library. In 2017, Robot Enemy Publications published its second volume, ''Headspaces: Surrealistic Album Art & Collage by

Sonny Kay Sonny Kay is a visual artist and musician. Biography Kay was born in London, England on March 13, 1972, and raised in various locations including the UK, Barcelona (Spain), and Johannesburg (South Africa). His family relocated first to Los Angel ...

''. The follow-up to ''Denvoid'', ''Denvoid 2 Colorado Crew: A Collection of Tales and Images from The Colorado Punk Scene'' ''1988-1996'', is a collaboration with Sonny Kay and was released with much fanfare in 2019. The book includes over sixty interviews featuring bands, record labels, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, academics, photographers, promoters, culture jammers, and media influencers including director/musician Mark Brooks, of

Lil Pimp ''Lil' Pimp'' is a 2005 American adult animated black comedy film directed and written by Mark Brooks and Peter Gilstrap and based upon an episodic web animation by the same name. Originally planned as a theatrical release through Columbia Pict ...

and

Metalocalypse ''Metalocalypse'' is an American adult animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006, followed by a musical one-hour special, '' Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem'', on October 27, 201 ...

;

Pete Lyman Pete Lyman is a mastering engineer, and owner of Infrasonic Mastering, an audio and vinyl mastering studio with locations in Nashville, Tennessee, Los Angeles, California, and Oakland, California. He has mastered Grammy-award-winning and Grammy-no ...

, who has mastered Grammy Award-winning albums by artists including

Chris Stapleton Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky. In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to ...

; Matt Jacobson owner of the influential

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

record label,

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

; punk rock artist icon, Chris Shary who has designed album covers for the

Descendents The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in 1977 in Manhattan Beach, California, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson. In 1979, they enlisted Stevenson's school friend Milo Aukerman as a s ...

and

Less Than Jake Less Than Jake is an American ska punk band from Gainesville, Florida, formed in 1992. The band consists of Chris DeMakes (guitars, vocals), Roger Lima (bass, vocals), Matt Yonker (drums), Buddy Schaub (trombone), and Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxoph ...

, and musician/autho
Jason Heller
among many others. The ''Denvoid'' books were a primary source for Daniel Harvey's ''"Mile High Hardcore"'' paper in the Spring 2021 Historical Studies Journal. In late 2020
Wake Up! Music Group
released a 182-page volume of Medina's

Day of The Dead The Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos or ''Día de los Muertos'') is a holiday traditionally celebrated on November 1 and 2, though other days, such as October 31 or November 6, may be included depending on the locality. It is widely obser ...

artwork and writing, ''Y Con Tu Espíritu: Palabras y Muertitos'.'' In the spring of 2021 Medina conceptualized and created the ''Calaca Tarot Card'' deck. The project was realized through a Kickstarter funded project. Medina's work on the Denver punk scene has been featured in interviews including the Emo Brown podcast, Low Key Arts'
Movers and Makers
', and a

KGNU KGNU (1390 AM) & KGNU-FM (88.5 FM) are a pair of community radio stations licensed to Denver and Boulder, Colorado respectively. KGNU is owned by Boulder Community Broadcast Association, Inc. History KFML 1390 AM was first licensed on April 4, ...

''Metro Episode'' talking about both books and the impact KGNU had on Colorado's punk scene. Medina currently teaches art at the

American Community School of Abu Dhabi The American Community School of Abu Dhabi (ACS) is a non-profit, co-educational school operating in the United Arab Emirates. It was founded in 1972, and follows an American, standards-based curriculum with English instruction. ACS offers the In ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Bob Rob Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Denver Writers from Denver Artists from Denver