Photo: Adam Wallcavage
It's Wednesday night at Fluid, where one long groove seeps into
another. DJs Josh Wink and King Britt are taking turns on the
turntables spinning trance-inducing house. Underneath the shimmering
mirror balls several guys in baggy pants swarm around the dance
floor, jogging in place or "hard-stepping." A guy on rollerskates
claps out a Latin beat. A woman in a black tank top snakes around
the room.
A guy named Andrew yells: "The sound is so good because there
aren't any right angles in the whole place!"
Well, there are a few, concedes 26-year-old co-owner Tony Schiro,
whose new club off South Street lives up to its liquidy name.
The walls of the club curve in a circle, the long aquamarine and
cobalt-tiled bar waves around one side of the room and swirled
lights hang above the bar.
"We just made it up as we went along really," says Schiro. "Although
we wanted the [Antoni] Gaudi-esque, old-world Spanish feel of
futurism."
The atmosphere is also very "swimming pool," says DJ Dozia, who
spins ambient, trip-hop and hip-hop with John L. on Thursdays.
"The DJ booth is like the lifeguard's chair. "
Schiro worked to make Fluid DJ-friendly with top-of-the-line equipment
like Crown Amps, Community speakers and a Pioneer mixer. It's
the only place internationally famed DJs like Josh Wink spin on
a regular basis. DJ Big Daddy Blake goes as far to say, "It's
the best place I've ever spun. The sound, the space, the people.
Everything."
The venue's history adds to the DJs' devotion. Before Fluid was
Fluid it was Xero, a place where these DJs got their start.
Old Xero fans might not recognize the place, upstairs from the
new restaurant The Latest Dish. Brothers Owen and Eben Kamihira
of Sansei Builders (greatly responsible for Rococo, Café Republic
and the Continental) worked with Schiro and co-owner Philippe
Daouphars on creating the curvy, underwater aura. It's also a
space perfect for the electronica scene spawned by down-the-street
label Ovum records and dance record store 611.
But perhaps the biggest design highlight is the co-ed bathroom
with floors covered in broken mirror pieces. Not a bad way to
look down and check out each other's polka-dotted undies.
Fluid, 613 S. Fourth St., 629-3686.
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Fluid