Barkhard - Barkhard (1985/2007) LP Zorlac/Rabid Dog Records

 

Skate rock is one of my soft spots - no matter what I am focused on listening to, I can always take a break and bust out a JFA, Big Boys, McRad, D.R.I. or Drunk Injuns record and get a short fix and leave smiling.

When I first started skating, Thrasher's 'Skate Rock' series of tapes and vinyl were necessities for our driveway and curbside sessions. Those records turned me onto so many bands - COC, JFA, Septic Death, McShred (later McRad), MDC - and I still listen to them with great regularity.

However, I never knew about Barkhard until I stared looking at getting some records that I needed to fill gaps in my pretty solid skate rock section of my vinyl collection. Barkhard was the skate rock house band of sorts of Zorlac. Now, if you didn't skate in 1985, you would probably only remember Zorlac from the graphics which were done by Pushead, lead singer of Septic Death and later made famous by all of the artwork he did for Metallica. Pushead had done of a ton of art for so many bands at that point (including the Misfits and Samhain) and his style was instantly reconizable, so Zorlac gear was worn often, even if the boards seemed scarce.

Barkhard was comprised of four Zorlac skaters - vocalist Todd Prince, lead guitarist John Hancock, bassist Joe Nichols, drummer Scott Campbell, and probably the most well-known of the bunch, guitarist John Gibson.

John was the Christian Hosoi of the TX skate scene, an incredible vert skater and someone who went big all the time. His board graphics remain my favorites from Zorlac, and I'm certainly not the only one who enjoyed them - this pic of Kirk Hammet of Metallica (pre-commercialism) showcases them quite well - were also done by Pushead and just stellar.

The band itself is more direct west coast style hardcore punk with a healthy dose of humor thrown in. Tracks like 'Psycopathic Roach', 'Party Barkhard' and 'Beg Us To Stop'  all have a level of dumb fun in them and the more direct tracks are very reminiscent of MDC, tracks like 'I.C.B' and 'To Myself'.




It's raw and fast and actually talented stuff here, with diving guitar licks spicing up the songs even if the production doesn't. Exactly my kind of skate rock. This is a vinyl rerelease done by Rabid Dog Records in 2007 and there is also a CD reissue out you can get on the cheap at Amazon. Now, if I can only hunt down a John Gibson Zorlac board to adorne my wall...