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 EPs featuring The Fluid, 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 coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

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

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

. 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 circ ...

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 and

Metalocalypse ''Metalocalypse'' is an American Musical film, musical adult animated television series created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha for Adult Swim. It premiered on August 6, 2006. The television program centers on the larger-than-life melodic deat ...

;

Pete Lyman Pete Lyman is a mastering engineer, and owner of Infrasonic Mastering, an audio and vinyl mastering studio with three locations in United States. He has mastered Grammy-award winning and nominated albums for Chris Stapleton, Tanya Tucker, Jason I ...

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

Chris Stapleton Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American country singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born in Kentucky, Stapleton moved to Nashville in 1996 to study for an engineering degree from Vanderbilt University, but dropped out to pur ...

; Matt Jacobson owner of the influential

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, 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, e ...

and

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, 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 death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

record label,

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

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

Descendents The Descendents are an American punk rock band formed in Manhattan Beach, California, in 1977, by guitarist Frank Navetta, bassist Tony Lombardo and drummer Bill Stevenson (musician), Bill Stevenson as a power pop/surf music, surf punk band. I ...

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), Buddy Schaub (trombone), Peter "JR" Wasilewski (saxophone) and Matt Yonker ...

, 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 () 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. The multi-day holiday involves family and friends gathering to pa ...

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 ...

''Metro Episode'' talking about both books and the impact KGNU had on Colorado's punk scene. Medina taught 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