Kent McClard


Kent McClard is a record label owner and zine publisher from Goleta, California. His work has been a prominent and influential presence in the DIY hardcore and punk scenes.

Early life

Kent McClard was born William Kent McClard on August 21, 1967. He grew up in a "broken home" and describes himself as a troublesome child. As a teenager, he discovered hardcore punk and both its freedom and specific ethics influenced him deeply and helped to "define" his life. From then on, he began several DIY enterprises, including the first show and the first fanzine of his town.
McClard has been straight edge since approximately 1984.

Ebullition Records

In early 1990, the former Maximumrocknroll columnist started Ebullition Records with contributions from Sonia Skindrud and Brent Stephens. Skindrud came up with the name and Stephens drew the logo, but the label is primarily run by McClard.
Los Angeles hardcore band Inside Out was meant to record an LP as the first Ebullition release. However, Revelation Records asked them to release a 7" instead, and the band chose the more established label. The record was not released for another year, after the band had broken up. Inside Out did plan to do a second record called "Rage Against the Machine", which was a phrase Kent coined in some writings he did in issue #9 of the zine No Answers. They never managed to finish this second release and singer Zack de La Rocha ended up using the phrase himself, dubbing his next band Rage Against the Machine. Ebullition's first release came out in late 1990. Kent had been doing No Answers zine since 1983 and the ninth issue came with the Downcast 7". Ebullition released 3,000 copies of No Answers #9 with the Downcast 7" and after those were sold the zine and 7" became separate products.
The label released music by the bands: Admiral, Amber Inn, Ampere, Bread and Circuits, Downcast, Econochrist, Floodgate, Iconoclast, Jara, Los Crudos, Spitboy, Manrae, Moss Icon, Orchid, Policy of 3, Portraits of Past, Reversal of Man, Seein' Red, Severed Head of State, Still Life, Struggle, Submission Hold, This Machine Kills, Torches To Rome, Yage, and Yaphet Kotto.

''HeartattaCk''

HeartattaCk was an internationally distributed punk zine, along the lines of Punk Planet and Maximumrocknroll with a strong bent towards hardcore punk and anti-consumerism. It was published by Kent McClard and Lisa Oglesby from March 1994 through June 2006. In the final years of its publication it remained one of the most popular zines available. O'Connor describes it as "one of half a dozen major punk fanzines in the USA during the 1990s."
Its main characteristic was traditionally seen as its refusal to review anything that has a UPC label, considering that to be a mark of consumerism. Some have felt that this has intentionally marginalized the possible reach this zine could have. Nonetheless, the magazine became a presence in the underground music scene, and a champion of the DIY movement.
HeartattaCk published its 50th and final issue on June 30, 2006. A number of contributors have created a new zine in the same spirit under the name Give Me Back.