Lookout! Records seems to be back. In November 2018 the label released The Lookouting! as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday event. The two LP live compilation was recorded at a Lookout reunion of the same name a year earlier. The recordings and performances are descent and the album manages to represent artists from all eras of the label although a lot of the bigger names are omitted. This release marks the first time the Lookout! Records name has been used since 2011.
Lookout started to wind down in 2005 and went out of business in 2012, I won’t go into too much detail about that as it’s well documented, most notably in Punk USA: The Rise and Fall of Lookout Records. According to Kevin Prested in Punk USA, “Ownership of the remaining intellectual property and rights to use the name were purchased by Hopeless Records in 2012 but have so far gone unused (p. 191).”[1] This is the only resource I’ve managed to locate where the acquisition of Lookout by Hopeless is mentioned and it isn’t discussed any further. On the 8th of October 2018 the Black Friday Record Store Day list was released. The list included The Lookouting! record artwork and track listing, stating only that it would be released by Hopeless Records.
In early October the Lookout Facebook and Twitter accounts used for the original label were updated to promote the release of this compilation.
The description page of the label’s YouTube channel and biography section of their Facebook states:
“Lookout Records is a record company from Berkeley, California. We like punk rock mostly. That means music made by real people writing about real things like what they think, feel and observe. To us it doesn’t mean a certain sound or style, it’s more of a state of mind. Lots of things can be punk!
If you want to find out about our bands or Lookout in general, why don’t you stop by our official site (www.lookoutrecords.com). While we are currently working on completely rebuilding our site, you can check in on our progress while we work on updating news, our current catalog, and band bios.
All Tour/Show/Concert information can be found at http://www.lookoutrecords.com/shows”
The Lookout website which had remained active but not updated since the label’s closure was rebuilt around this time in conjunction with the release of the record. The site includes a link to a webstore where t-shirts are for sale with the Lookout logo. A YouTube channel was launched on the 27th of September with a video for The Mr. T Experience song Gilman St posted on the 9th of October as a promo for the record.
All signs pointed to this being a comeback record for Lookout, although with the information provided by the official Record Store Day site it was possible it could just be a plain Hopeless release. A quick inspection of the record sleeve revealed the classic Lookout logo, the centre labels of the LPs feature different iterations of the company’s logo. The back cover indicates that it’s released by “Lookout Records/Hopeless Records.” The catalogue number LK318 follows on from where the original label left with the release of LK317 This Is My Bag compilation in 2005.
At this stage it’s not clear if The Lookouting! record is a one off or if Lookout is back and there will be new releases or reissues. The information that has been revealed indicates that it’s probable we will see more from Lookout in the future.
Reference List
[1] Prested, K. (2014). Punk USA: The Rise and Fall of Lookout Records (1st ed.) Portland: Microcosm Publishing.
BLACK MARKET PUNK 