Brian Schroeder, better known as Pushead, is an American

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

. He is best known for his album covers and other merchandise for bands in the

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier punk ...

and heavy metal genres.

Career

Originally from Boise, Idaho, Schoeder formed the hardcore band Septic Death in 1981. During this period he developed a career as an artist under the name Pushead, and made that his primary occupation after the band split in 1986. His artwork, often featuring gruesome depictions of skeletons and corpses, first gained popularity in the skateboarding world due to his artwork being printed as skateboard deck graphics for the company Zorlac starting circa 1981 and continued for nearly a decade. His artwork was also noted by artists in the early hardcore and thrash metal scenes in the 1980s, and later by musicians in several other genres. He has designed album covers, T-shirts, posters, and other merchandise for musicians including

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, Misfits,

Travis Barker Travis Landon Barker (born November 14, 1975) is an American musician who serves as the drummer for the rock band Blink-182. He has also performed as a frequent collaborator with hip hop artists, is a member of the rap rock group Transpla ...

Kool Keith Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool ...

, and many others. He has also designed for the

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

subculture, including regular items associated with ''

Thrasher Thrashers are a New World group of passerine birds related to mockingbirds and New World catbirds. Like these, they are in the family Mimidae. There are 15 species in one large and 4 monotypic genera. These do not form a clade but are a ph ...

'' magazine. Pushead operated the record labels Pusmort and Bacteria Sour. In recent years his designs have appeared on sneakers, particularly commemorative items released by Metallica, as well as limited edition products from Nike. His work has also appeared on a special edition electric guitar by

ESP ESP most commonly refers to: * Extrasensory perception, a paranormal ability ESP may also refer to: Arts, entertainment Music * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000 ...

References

External links

The Album Art of Brian "Pushead" Schroeder
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pushead Album-cover and concert-poster artists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)