Black Fork has been described as one of the most explosive and interesting bands to come out of the '90s East Bay punk scene. Making their way alongside more ambitious acts like Rancid, AFI and Green Day, Black Fork had the talent and drive to rival those bands if they'd staked out a more mainstream sound and image, yet they chose to remain underground to the bitter end. Though they often headlined Berkeley's now infamous 924 Gilman St. club and conducted several U.S. tours, punk fans of the day were confused by their oppositional and absurdist tendencies. A 2014 article in Berkeley's East Bay Express commemorated the group's reunion: "They were fast, buzz saw, and careening out of control," remembered Jesse Luscious, who originally released This Is Berkeley Not West Bay on his Zafio imprint. It was reissued by Alternative Tentacles in 2011 under Luscious' label management. Zafio also released Black Fork's follow-up EP in 1995. The tempo and brevity of Black Fork songs set them in the style of hardcore, and, though the group eschewed the era's taste for melodic hooks, its jarring pauses and crescendos were arresting, memorable listening. Chris Appelgren, longtime operator of the flagship East Bay pop-punk label Lookout!, remembered meeting Indar in the early 1990s, when Indar worked at a copy shop in Berkeley. Appelgren pegged Indar for someone who'd make copies for free, and sought his acquaintance. In 1997, Appelgren released Black Fork's sole album on Lookout!. It was an oddity among the label's catalog, which boasted commercially hopeful acts like The Donnas, The Mr. T. Experience, and The Riverdales. But the band's anomalous character appealed to Appelgren. "They were totally irreverent and didn't even take the conventions of punk seriously," he said.