Punk USA : The rise and downfall of Lookout Records

The Invalids : LK96

A young punk band from Santa Rosa by the name of The Invalids would provide a one-shot deal with the ‘Punker Than Me’ 7” (LK 96), that owed much to Lookout bands Screeching Weasel and Fifteen, molding a straight ahead 90’s punk sound with influences of the early incarnations of said bands. The Invalids had formed in high school around 1992 while the members were young teens.

Sean Kehoe (The Invalids) : “I was a sax player, but none of the bands we really liked used a saxophone, so I decided to play the drums. Practices were extremely rudimentary. I played drums with a bucket for a snare and a plastic lawn chair as a "high-hat" for a few months until I was able to borrow the school bands drum set over summer break. We were all basically obsessed with Lookout bands, Green Day and Screeching Weasel in particular although we liked most of the labels roster.”

The influences appear obvious upon listening to the ‘Punker Than Me’ EP, solid melodic punk tunes played with youthful enthusiasm. Larry Livermore had approached the band to work together with Lookout, but like the aforementioned Funbug 7” it sent some confusion to a young Chris Appelgren handling the EP, who was nonplussed about the release with again little info on the band or no real background knowledge – while respectfully still appreciating the music contained within.

Chris Appelgren : “Great music but Pat and I never really understood how or why Larry wanted to release it.”

Sean Kehoe (The Invalids) : “I think the EP was received pretty well. I don't know how it was reviewed. Probably like most other music, some good and some bad. But that little 7" made it all over the world and the people that liked it seemed to really like it. I honestly think the quality of the recording is pretty shitty, but it's an honest representation of our lives and our level of skill as a band at that time. I'm glad to have it as a keepsake from my teenage years as a musician. At the time, to be recording with Andy Ernst at Art of Ears studio, with Larry Livermore there was pretty awesome.”

The Invalids shared the stage with Fifteen, Rancid and Tilt although were not approached for any other releases by Lookout but did continue on to release two more 7” EP’s before disbanding a couple years later.. The Invalids however did reform and put out a new record in 2010 – ‘Still Sick’. Even though the band is a small footnote for the label, it certainly was a personal triumph for a group of young teenagers being a part of a label they greatly looked up to.

Sean Kehoe (The Invalids) : “I felt like we had better connections and relationships with the labels that did our subsequent releases, but it did our band a lot of good and some people really enjoyed that 7". It certainly was a great experience for me at the time. To be 16 years old and have a record on a label that brought me so many bands that were so important to me was like a dream come true.”

Squirtgun (LK 164 & 167)

The music video for ‘Mary Ann’ would mark Squirtgun's return to vinyl, with two new releases – the ‘Mary Ann’ 7” and CD (LK 164) and follow up full length ‘Another Sunny Afternoon’ (LK 167). Although the band had some up’s and downs already in the early days, the brothers Giorgini were still fuelling the fire of the bands engine as as well as boring the financial risk for the band. The band hadn’t progressed much up the Lookout food chain, even though the debut album had been full of genuinely great and catchy straight up anthems. The direction of the newer material was again more of the same with little evolution, not necessarily a bad thing, aside from the songwriting took a dip in favour of a more clinical set of recordings rooted more in the punk by numbers mold.

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “I like the first record quite a bit and was really involved in that one. The second record -  while it technically sounds better - isn’t as good in the songwriting department, although it does have some good songs. I think it just got too cartoonish-bubblegum for me. By that point the whole pop punk thing had, by my lights, mostly given up on the “punk” and settled into the “pop”,  it got sort of goofy. To be honest, I always felt that the only reason Lookout released anything by us was because Mass produced a bunch of their really great bands. My sense was that everyone thought Mass was pretty cool, but that the rest of us were a bunch of country bumpkins from Indiana - which we were - but we’d been playing in bands and paying our dues for years at that point, so I wanted to fit in, and didn’t. Also I was a real pain in the ass back then, so it’s no wonder I felt sort of isolated. I mean, before Squirtgun, I had always written all the songs and sort of been the leader of all the bands I was in. But, you know, let’s face it Squirtgun is Mass’ band, his vision, his energy - which is terrific, and as close as we were, we’re both pretty headstrong and I wasn’t willing or able at that point to just be the singer, so it was a problem for the band. I’m sure the folks at Lookout could sense what an asshole I was, but who knows?. It’s not like we were selling millions of records for them either, nor were we touring nine months out of the year to make record sales happen. People have to remember that releasing records is a business. Why on earth would the people at Lookout care about Squirtgun as much as they did Screeching Weasel? Of course, I didn’t understand that back then. Any problems or misgivings I may have had about the label or how they treated us, which was all in all great, had more to do with my own unreasonable expectations and ego than it did with anything anybody was doing or not doing for Squirtgun. We never really had an audience, not the way the Queers or Screeching Weasel had an audience. I mean, it wasn’t like we could headline a tour and come home with money in our pockets to pay rent and the gas bill. If we broke even, which was rare or never, we were happy. Mass and Flav are amazingly dedicated, resourceful and talented guys, and Squirtgun couldn’t have happened at all without them. Dan, too, was -and still is - among the best drummers I’ve ever played with anywhere, period.”

The band however did soldier on, self releasing their own Christmas single and playing in support of the new releases. While sharing the stage with Pansy Division in Kentucky, the bands found themselves amongst a descending group of skinheads who had made themselves outspokensly known at the venue. Intent on creating some conflict the gang had proceeded to taunt the bands and audience members, throwing lit cigarettes and generally messing with anyone possible. During their set, Squirtgun had had enough of the violent slamdancing and halted, leading to the skinheads being ejected from the venue. However problems arose after they had proceeded to hang around outside.

Jon Ginoli (Pansy Division) : “I remember the skinheads - or whoever they were, macho young white bullies, and was glad they were thrown out before we played. They were around after the show, which was at the Southgate House in Newport, Kentucky, right across the river from Cincinnati, and after the show we had to load our van in the alley behind the building. We loaded out our gear together with a group of people so none of us was outnumbered, but we were very wary.”

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “Afterward, I walked outside and they were all waiting for us - unfortunately “us” at that moment was only “me”. We had some words, and then they proceeded to beat the holy hell out of me. The main dude or the leader of the skinhead army of three or four, threw me over a balcony railing into a hedge, but that was after punching me in the head and slamming me against a brick wall over and over again. I remember punching him in the face BAM BAM BAM!, and thinking “It’s like beating on a cinder block.” Of course, all the punk kids were just standing around watching. Ugh. That’s the last fight I was in - I was 26.”

In 1998, the following year after the bands second album, Squirtgun went on hiatus, with drummer Dan Lumley and Mass Giorgini having bigger fish to fry by the way of another Lookout band. With Matt Hart settling into a new teaching role, and Flav Giorgini persuing an academic journey before founding guitarpunk.com, the world of Squirtgun essentially faded until the band reunited in 2001 to a different scene since the mid 1990’s golden pop punk era. A new deal was made with Fat Wreck Chords offshoot ‘Honest Don’s Records’, and the band released the ‘Fade To Bright’ album in 2003. The band has since sporadically played live appearances in the US as well as Europe, and continued to release the odd new Christmas single, EP or live album.

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “We redeemed ourselves I think on the Honest Don’s record in 2003, but I don’t think anybody even heard that album. In the beginning, the audiences were certainly bigger than they were in 2003 or 2005 or 2009, but I’ve played shows for hundreds of people that sucked and shows for thirty that were out of this world. So it isn’t always the number of people that come to see you that matters, it’s more about the vibe, the excitement, the attitude. Those things are what make the difference between a good show and a crappy one - and it’s not just the audience either, the bands gotta be feeling it, too. The energy goes both ways.” 

The Crumbs

The Crumbs were a band with a close history between the bands members by the time they began their relationship with Lookout Records. The Miami band had spent many years together in the local skateboard and hardcore scene throughout the 1980’s prior to the bands inception and first release – the ‘I Fell In Love With An Alien Girl’ 7” for Todd Congelliere’s Recess Records. The band – after an initial aborted line up of half male half female – was comprised of ex ‘Cavity’ members ‘Johnny B’ on guitar  and ‘Raf Classic’ on guitar and lead vocals – the founder of The Crumbs who had wanted to branch out into a more pop, Ramones oriented band rather than the hardcore stylings Cavity were laying out. The drum position was filled by ‘Chuck Loose’ who had played in the band ‘Chickenhead’, while bass was was handled by ‘Emil Busse’, who had put records out on his own ‘4 and ½ Fingers Records’  as well as playing roadie for both Cavity and Chickenhead. Raf and Emil were the only members of the original practicing line up, with Busse coming up of the bands name on the last practice of guy/girl version.

Emil Busse (The Crumbs) : “We practiced for a while and eventually made a demo tape. We played alot of shows after that and always got a good reception. I was still doing my label and had started to trade records with Todd and I sent him the demo and he was interested in putting something out. When his band FYP came down to South Florida we put them up and eventually played a three week tour across the South with them. We all got along well and our record came out shortly after that.”

Following The Crumbs debut on Recess, the band also teamed up with ‘Far Out Records’ – ran by Tim Pagones of the band ‘Against All Authority’, a band that had been sharing shows with The Crumbs many times, as well as a rehearsal space. The resulting release from the partnership was the “Get All Tangled Up’ 10”/CD, a record that would cause some disappointment with Congelliere, hoping – unaware by the band – that Recess Records would be working on the next Crumbs record. However by the time the 10” was released and the band were would gear up for a full length album, The Crumbs had already been spotted by Lookout though the labels past relationship with Chickenhead.

Chris Appelgren : “We hung out with The Crumbs when they were in the Bay Area on tour, and just really liked them. I guess you could say we were charmed by them. Raf was especially hilarious and fun but really all of them were great personalities, they had a great classic cool 1950’s  greaser twist on the Ramones type look. Raf was a really funny frontman, kind of drunkenly flirting with the audience. I remember how great their live show was, how fun it was to hang out with them and drink beer. The Peechees played a really fun show with the Crumbs in Santa Cruz, California, in a punk house basement. They were just great guys who you could easily hang with.”

Emil Busse (The Crumbs) : “We knew a lot of the Lookout people from when Chickenhead had toured out to the Bay Area. I had also written with Molly a few times from when I was doing my label. I used to go to DC alot at that time so Molly and I had mutual friends in that area too. I wasn't really friends with her at that point, but we weren't strangers to each other. Chuck was the unoffical manager at this point so he actually had alot to do with us ending up on Lookout. We went to California to play the Recess fest in Mt Shasta, and the Lookout folks came up to see us. It was really obvious to us that if we played good we would get on Lookout, if we sucked we probably wouldn't. I guess we played well enough as they eventually signed us, and we ended up recording with Mass Giorgini in Indiana.”

The result of the Indiana sessions were the releases LK 161 – The Crumbs self titled album and the ‘Shakespeare’ 7” - LK 166. Both releases were fine examples of the buzzsaw punk the The Crumbs had been working on since inception. A good deal of melodic snarling attitude was present giving the album a genuine garage punk kick, along with tight musicianship that proved the band were onto a winning formula. The 7” release would also be a ‘make up’ to Recess Records, with it being handled as a split release.

Emil Busse (The Crumbs) : “ We didn’t realize it at the time, but the Far Out record  kind of bummed out Todd at Recess. We were just doing fun things with our friends and it didn't hurt our relationship with Todd, but that ended up causing us to want to make the Lookout single a Recess Lookout split to make it up to him. Todd didn't really have anything to do with it - it was basically a Lookout release that they let us put the Recess logo on and Todd got a break on the price. We did that to make up for bumming him out when we did the Far Out record, we wanted to do something nice for our friend.”

Todd Congelliere (Recess Records) : “The split label release was essentially just them slapping the Recess logo on the back. I don't even think we talked about it even. If I remember right Molly just asked for the logo and I gave it to her.”

Emil Busse (The Crumbs) : “The album was recorded over the 4th of July in Indiana with Mass Giorgini. It took five days to record and it went smoothly - we had practiced alot before we got there, but ‘Come Home’ was played for the first time all the way through at the studio and song on the B side of the single – Gonna Like It - was practiced and written at the studio. We had a framed out idea for it, but no lyrics and handn't played it before then”

Settling into the relationship with Lookout, The Crumbs went on tour in support of their debut album, spending time on tour with The Queers and the Swingin’ Utters. However it wasn’t long before drummer Chuck Loose quit  the band – while touring with The Queers – although it didn’t take long before the band was back in action with new sticksman Grim from fellow Miami locals ‘The Basicks’ – who themselves went on to release a 7" as LK 228. 

Go Sailor

Paul Curran, following his Monsula departure had since been busying himself with some new musical projects. Firstly joining local Bencia band ‘Fuzz zone’ before forming the distorted pop band ‘Delightful Little Nothings’ with Fifteen in name only credited member Tom Moreno – as featured on the ‘A Slice Of Lemon’ compilation.

Paul Curran (Crimpshrine, Monsula, Go Sailor) : “Towards the tail end of Delightful Little Nothing's existence is when Go Sailor started. Rose was in Tiger Trap who was one of my favorite bands ever, so this was another situation where instead of being a fan I got to actually be in the band! Rose is a fabulous songwriter and has a flawlessly pretty voice. This was pure indie pop music - a term which barely had a meaning back then.Bands like Go Sailor were part of the "greater" punk scene and would always play with punk bands of all varieties, and had the same DIY ethos as punk. I remember talking to the singer of the British band Heavenly - a quintessential flowery, twee, indie pop group - about seeing them in England and they asked if I had seen any other punk bands while I was there. It was refreshing to me that they regarded themselves as punk!”

The ‘punk’ of Curran’s previous bands was without doubt removed in the musical expectation sense, adding a glorious syrupy sweet concoction of gliding indie pop on the ‘Don’t go’ 7” (LK 137). Already time served on the music scene, frontwoman Rose Melberg wove a delightful and harmless tune of toe tapping pleasentness over the course of the four tracks on the EP. Heavy on humable melodies and upbeat sweetness, the ‘Don’t Go’ 7” proved to be a very charming release, with a nice point of difference to the bands they were sandwiched between in the schedule of the label.  Go Sailor would also put together a self titled CD only release for LK 153, bringing together the previous Lookout 7” along with the bands other EP releases on ‘Yoyo Recordings’ and ‘Slumberland Records’ as well as compilation appearances including the bands ‘A Slice of Lemon’ contribution.

Chris Appelgren : “Somehow the idea came up of us doing a CD of all the tracks. We were friends with the members of the band from their other bands and stuff and kind of an awesome supergroup of sorts. The bands sound was just kind of becoming a more popular style at the time, and it was partially Molly being involved with the label that we started to diversify the sound a little. More of us were involved in checking out more of the newer bands. It was a cool, natural easy release that has stayed popular in our catalog.”

Paul Curran (Crimpshrine, Monsula, Go Sailor) : “It's only in later years that "indie pop" sort of broke away into its own scene or genre, so Go Sailor putting out a record and CD on Lookout was not as weird as it may now seem. I have to say, though, that Go Sailor being on Lookout was definitely a sign of the label's divestment from punk rock and the punk scene, and shifting to a more indie rock focus.”

 

The Jimmies

Portland, Oregon  brothers Tim,Chris and Barry Brusseau had been striking around the punk scene for some time, by the time their band ‘The Jimmies’ (along with two other members Jason and Eric) were brought to the attention of Ben Weasel and Jughead at Panic Button Records. The band had formed as far back as 1989, following the demise of two local band ‘Dread’ and ‘M.I.S’. With the band all having a shared friendship and brotherhood, the move to begin a new band would also help fuel their love of punk rock and alcohol. Connecting with The Queers, and being an important part of bringing the band to Portland, The Jimmies would play alongside Joe King and company (as well as the Groovie Ghoulies) a second time when they returned to the brothers hometown.

Barry Brusseau (The Jimmies) : “ The roadie for the Groovie Ghoulies had been sent on a mission by Ben Weasel to look for good bands for the Panic Button label. I forget the roadie’s name, but he loved us and took a CD back to Ben. Ben and Jughead both loved our CD "Countdown", and Jughead contacted me about doing our next album.  We had already started recording "Let the Fat Men Plunder" and submitted that for John and Ben's approval. Ben didn't like the album, but Jughead did. It was John that took a chance on us, and pushed Ben on releasing the album. I've never met Ben in person, but did have a couple phone conversations with him - we share panic attack problems amongst other things. He thought "Countdown" was brilliant, but just never liked "Fat Men".”

The Jimmies Panic Button release (LK 242) brought together a great combination of Queers type punk with a definite looser rock n roll sound, creating a memorable batch of tracks, adding a more ‘in your face’ vibe to the four chord punk formula. The CD only release also brought in some favourable reviews, and after a decade of plugging away, would appear to be a breakthrough for the already thirtysomethings that were providing the tunes. A successful tour alongside label mates Moral Crux followed the albums release.

Barry Brusseau (The Jimmies) : “ It was really cool that all those years listening to Lookout releases we now had a cd out that said "Panic Button/Lookout" on the back. Dealing with Jughead and Panic Button was a dream come true. Those guys ran the label with real integrity, and truly cared about us. Even with all that good stuff happening The Jimmies were on there last legs. Everyone in the band had dealt with substance problems - some getting clean, some not.  This all just added to the tension, and musically I don't think it was inspiring anymore. Less and less people came to see us, and it just felt like we were beating a dead horse. We kept plugging along though, kicking Jason (RIP) out of the band and bringin in a new bass player. We still had some real good times, but it was becoming less and less fun. When John told me the label was going to be sold to Lookout I thought it was not good for us. He said Lookout wanted to do the next album, but I don't think it was ever going to happen. Now I had to deal with Christopher Appelgren. This was a real nightmare.  I new we didn't generate any real cash for Panic Button, and didn't expect to be treated like a real priority. We spent out own money and recorded our last album. I sent it to Chris and he said "yes" we see this coming out on Panic Button. I asked him if he had listened to it and he said he hadn't had a chance to really sit down and listen to it. John always returned my messages, but getting Chris to speak to me was almost impossible. I just wanted him to tell me yes or no. This whole thing went on for 6 or 7 months. I'm sure he had a lot on his plate, but we held out hope that it would eventually happen. It didn't and we released our last cd ourselves. We did two monster last shows in Portland and our home town Longview. We sold our new cd at the shows and called it a day. It was a burden relieved.”

 

 

 

Squirtgun (LK 118 & 128)

A new outfit by the way of Lafayette, Indiana’s Squirtgun made their Lookout debut for LK 118. Already having appeared on the “Punk USA” compilation in the band Rattail Grenadier, siblings Massimiliano and Flaviano Giorgini had peaked the interest of Lookout in their new project. . With Mass already having a history with Livermore since 1987, it would seem an obvious fit for the label, especially given the bands joyous pop punk stylings. Larry Livermore had also traveled and spent some time with the brothers and their father, Italian artist Aldo Giorgini, the always popular elder figure in the scene surrounding the siblings, who very sadly had passed away in October 1994 after a long battle with brain cancer.

Mass Giorgini (Squirtgun, The Mopes, Screeching Weasel, Common Rider) : “It's amazing how we don't fully realize how great something is until we lose it. In a sense, as strange and horrible as it sounds, I am grateful for how things went with his illness. I say that because it gave me the opportunity to show him just how much I really loved him - to be there for him when he really needed me. I wasn't alone, Flav was also always there by his side, but so many people never get such a chance. His cancer was in the brain, and it paralyzed him slowly and so it also killed off a great deal of the pain, in addition to his own intellectual abilities. That was the hardest part - to see such a brilliant man regressing to a child-like state emotionally and mentally. I am glad I had the chance to show him what he meant.”

The Giorgini brothers recruited fellow friend and punk scene connection Matt Hart on vocal duties for the next step in their musical partnership.

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “The Giorgini Brothers and Lumley grew up in Lafayette, Indiana, and I lived in Evansville. I was in a band called The Indoor Plants. We ended up playing a show together in Evansville in 1987 and really hit off. That one show made us great friends. After that, my band - which always seemed to be changing - would go to Lafayette and play. Rattail Grenadier would make it’s appearances in Evansville, and then later in Muncie at BallState where I went to college.My band during those days was F.O.N.—Freaks of Nature. After college, I went to grad school for Philosophy at OhioUniversity. One day I got a call from Mass asking me to drive over to Lafayette and do some vocal tracks for a new project that he and Flav were working on. One thing led to another, and that new project turned out to be Squirtgun”

 Mass Giorgini (Squirtgun, The Mopes, Screeching Weasel, Common Rider) : “Squirtgun was definitely born directly out of Rattail Grenadier. Rattail Grenadier was a very scattered band, stylistically speaking.  We ranged from Ramones-style 3-chord pop-punk to very metallic hardcore. With Squirtgun, we focused our energy one of the many styles of the band. When I mentioned the name to Larry, he said he didn’t like it, and added “It sounds like a coy reference to a cock.” I told him it was definitely not intended that way. The intention had been to have a rebellious attitude, but with the implicit idea that we did not condone violence – to rebel playfully, if you will. I remember replying, though, that it would be pretty punk rock even if it were a phallic allusion. I added “What about the Sex Pistols?”. I discussed it with Billie Joe afterwards, and I mentioned Larry’s reaction, and he commented “Yeah, well, that just shows you what’s on Larry’s mind.” We both laughed, and he said that the penis connection had not even occurred to him before Larry’s remark.  In the end, we both agreed that the possible double meaning wasn’t necessarily a problem, and even made the name more interesting.  That conversation was the decisive moment for the choice of names.”

 What followed was the “Shenanigans” four track 7” EP (LK 118). All four tracks took hold upon first listen due to the great mix of catchy bouncing pop punk. The influences were worn proudly on there fun filled sleeves, and the music showed how much of a good time they must have been having. Listening to this record surely was a good time too, so much so, that the first track “Social” found it’s way into the opening titles of the 1995 Kevin smith movie “Mallrats”, as well as the films soundtrack.

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “I think one of the first songs we recorded of mine was “Social” - and according to Mass, I don’t remember this - the vocals were done in one take. I remember I played the guitar solo on this skronky, beat-to-shit Telecaster I had - it was crazy with a stupid skull painted on it and a volume knob that was so loose you can hear it rattling through the amp on the track. Right before the solo starts you can hear the volume as I turn it up, this moment of metal knocking against wood. It sounds noisy and sort of dissonant, and wrong—which is why I love it. The fact that so many people have seen Mallrats, and know the band because of it, is great. Even when people don’t know the band, a lot of them have seen that movie, and they remember that opening sequence. Most bands don’t even get one song that hangs around in the ether the way “Social” has, so I’m grateful for that. It’s so funny to think that I wrote that song in a dorm room at BallState when I was 18. I probably still have the journal I wrote it in somewhere”

 

The band were soon on the scene again with their self titled debut full length marking the LK 128 release spot. The band jumped straight in where the previous ‘Shenanigans’ EP left off, with punchy upbeat pop punk kicking straight into the next song at full throttle. Two of the four tracks from ‘Shenanigans’ – ‘Social’ and ‘Fredericks Frost’ – made it onto th self titled album, in new versions, but the record pretty much could have all been written at the same time as the EP, stylistically speaking. The debut definitely packed a powerful punch with Mass Giorgini obviously taking the reigns of his own bands recording, although the release seemed to be lost in the shuffle slightly at the time. Also lost in the shuffle was vocalist Matt Hart, still discovering the life of a working band wasn’t the rock star lifestyle he may have expected.

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “In the early days it was rough. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I think on some level - as silly as it sounds – we all wanted to be rock stars, which added pressure to the whole thing. To put it another way, we all felt like - or at least I felt like - this was our big chance to get to a point where we could play music for a living, the thing we loved to do. I was also pretty young then and not really totally invested. I was being pulled in every direction back then. I was in two other bands - and at one point three – all more noisy, dissonant, indie rock kind of outfits, and I was already really into poetry too,  which is what I do now, teaching creative writing and literature at the Art Academy of Cincinnati.. So for me, it all spun out of control pretty quickly. I couldn’t do everything, and I wasn’t willing to tour nine months a year, or more, which is what we probably needed to do.”

Squirtgun did however make it out on tour, playing alongside pre fame Blink 182 in Florida during a cold April proved to be a low point for the band as well as the then young and tempremental Hart.

Matt Hart (Squirtgun) : “We got interviewed for the Release video during that tour, and there’s some ridiculous footage of me reading John Berryman’s ‘Dream Songs’ during the entire interview - what a moody bastard I was. We were all sort of miserable. That was seriously a low point. I also remember at the end of the first tour playing a hardcore festival in Cleveland, thinking we were going to get our asses kicked. Of course, we didn’t. Everyone stood politely with their arms crossed while we played. So, I quit the band after the first tour…but then stayed in…and everybody was angry. It was ugly. I was disappointed a lot of the time, but I shouldn’t have been.”

 

 

 

The Avengers

One thing that Lookout had not done thus far in it's first decade was reach back into the punk history books in search of a project with some pre-label history. That would happen next when a legendary punk pioneer Penelope Houston would come together with some members of the Lookout fraternity to create something new and old.

With punk rock in it’s infancy in 1977, four young musicians would come together to make a new exciting group that would tear through live performances in the earliest days of Californian punk rock. Drummer Danny Furious, guitarist Greg Ingraham and Penelope Houston were the initial nucleus that would create ‘The Avengers’ – a strikingly visual classic female fronted punk band with attitude. Jimmy Wilsey quickly replaced Jonathon Postal on bass, solidifying the line up. Quickly making it’s mark the band would release the 3 track ‘We Are The One’ single on ‘Dangerhouse Records’, the first of a sparse spate of output over the years. The second self titled EP released in 1979 featured Steve Jones produced recordings – a session that had materialized after The Avengers had opened for The Sex Pistols on their final live date, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The EP had followed The Avengers break up, and would mark the bands very short, yet talked about existence. A collection was released in 1983, featuring sessions from the bands early recordings, and nothing else was forthcoming aside from a 1995 single release on Sweden’s ‘Really Fast Records’. Almost 20 years after the bands split, a new band was put together with a spin on the original Avengers. With Danny Furious located in Sweden and Jimmy Wilsey essentially unheard of, Penelope Houston and Greg Ingraham reunited with MTX’s Joel Reader and Lookout regular Danny Panic to form the scAvengers – a ‘mark II’ version of the original band. The scAvengers would go onto some reunion shows with Pansy Division, ripping up the bands tunes penned by Houston 20 years previously, along with entering the studio with Kevin Army to record three new tracks – ‘I Want In’, ‘Crazy Homocide’ and ‘The End Of The World’ – all previously finished but unrecorded songs from the bands original days. These new recordings along with 14 other live and rehearsal tracks and 1 1978 studio track would make up The Avengers ‘Died For Your Sins’ (LK 217) full length.

 

Fans of early American punk were truly let in for a treat with the new release, even if some of the recordings weren’t of the highest caliber, Penelope’s attitude crackled an all the bands edgy early material. The three new recordings absolutely shine as songs worthy of documentation – especially the mid paced street ready ‘ The End Of The World’. The classic image that adorned the sleeve dripped with vintage punk swagger, but the most impressive inclusion was that of the bands show list circa 1977-1979. What The Avenger has lacked in recorded output certainly was made up in live performances, with over 100 shows alongside such other bands as Devo, Crime (of which Lookout also had planned an anthology collection that never came to fruition), The Dils, The Go-Go’s, X, The Flesheaters, Talking Heads among many more. The band was then inactive until 2004 – although a live album ‘Zero Hour’ was released in 2003 on Italy based ‘Get Back Records’ – when a new line up of the band emerged featuring Pansy Division’s Luis Illades as a drum replacement for Danny Panic, who had also replaced Panic in Joel Readers ‘The Plus Ones’.

Luis Illades (Pansy Division, The Avengers) : “Pansy Division had played with The Avengers on their first reunion show which is where I first met Penelope. When it came time to find a drummer for further Avengers shows, it seemed like a good fit, and Penelope and I became fast friends as if it had been meant to be that way. We toured Europe 3 times, which I didn't think would happen, and ended up playing many shows with contemporaries rather than doing the reunion circuit - Turbonegro, X, David Cross, Mudhoney, I was surprised that the band remained so relevant. I think the whole Avengers experience has been phenomenal, seeing the reactions of people at the shows be it in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York or even the Midwest or Europe was very timely and vital. You’re talking about a time when we had Bush and a Gulf war and lyrics reflecting Reaganomics and restless youth might as well have been written that day. People were feeling it!!! “

Servotron

With the cartoon like punk presence of gimmick flavoured bands on Lookout such as The Groovie Ghoulies and the Go Nuts, it made perfect sense that the label would also make its mark known into the release schedule of robotic collective ‘Servotron’. The band was an offshoot from the popular surf rock band ‘Man Or Astroman?’ – a collective of wildly imaginationed sci fi influenced musicians, playing- mainly - instrumental tracks laced with samples. The two members of Man Or Astroman who broke away to form the, likewise sci fi infected Servotron were Hayden Thais and Brian Teasley, both taking pseudonyms in both bands. As Hayden in Man Or Astroman was known as ‘Dexter X’, he became ‘00zX1’ in Servotron, while as ‘Birdstuff’ in the former, Teasely graduated to ‘Z4-OBX’ in the latter. Ashley Moody – later Ashley Reader following her marriage to Joel Reader of The Mr T Experience – took on the role of female robot Proto Unit V-3 on keyboards and vocals, and was at the time married to fellow android Brian Teasely. The concept of Servotron was that of a dictatorship of highly superior robots, enslaving mankind with the propaganda of spreading the word of all machine to rise up against humans. The outlandish costumes the band adopted also went hand in hand with the ideals they were spreading, with full android costumes worn for live performances as well as all photos of the band. The bands performance idenetities were also never broken, on or off stage, in any form, which lead to the the preaching of robot superiority even outside the realm of the bands front.

Hayden Thais (Servotron) : “Never dropping our guard was important to me. The whole Andy Kaufman idea of the joke with in the joke with in the joke, like "do these guys really think they are robots? -  why don't they crack a smile and let us know they are not mentally ill, because they are starting to make me feel uncomfortable. The live shows were 50% music and 50% banter. Issac Asimovs three laws to robotics was a big influence, mixed with "how would it sound if robots created music with instruments made in the 60's."”

The stance the band took, however often took a turn for the worse, when people didn’t ‘get’ the whole charade. With constant verbal tirades aimed at the ‘humans’, the band would often feel the heat from audiences.

Chris Appelgren : “Peechees played with Servotron at the Garage in London, and a guy at the show attacked Hayden because he was anti-robot. They were heckling the audience talking about robot superiority, and someone took offense and tackled Hayden – hilarious, but it stopped the show.”

Ashley Reader (Servotron) : “Hayden and the guy had words which is usually where it ended - with Hayden calling the guy an inferior human or something of the like. I don't remember exactly what was said this time, but the guy basically bum rushed the stage and punched Hayden in the face. This lead to them really fist fighting for a bit before knocking all of my keyboards over and tearing my wig off. Then my cover was blown! - it was pretty awful. I mean, obviously everyone knew we weren't really robots, but it was pretty humiliating and the show was stopped. We all walked off stage and sat in the backroom but then the audience starting chanting for us to go back out. We did eventually go back out, but it took some coaxing from my bandmates to get me back out on stage, one of my keyboards was pretty busted, but we managed to play one more song. I always tried to really be in character on stage and at that moment - the big reveal! -  I just didn't know how to handle it,  but I recovered!”

Hayden Thais (Servotron) : “The problems with violence at the shows was a common one - some people are unable to differenciate between fantasy and reality. Throw alcohol into the mix and the lines get blurred -  even though we had a circuit board we found in the trash glued to us and were telling folks we were superior to them - things would get ugly some times. Being a protagonist by nature probably didn't help much either.”

Being the only female band member was sometimes a strain on Ashley, with the inevitable drunken heckling aimed at Servotrons gimmick mixed with sexist verbalzations at the obviously attractive – even dressed in tinfoil – keyboardist. The band however were also quick to unleash on the usually game audience.

Ashley Reader (Servotron) : “Most of the time things went smoothly, but we were playing somewhere in Europe and the room was great - it was totally round, the whole venue. We were playing before a weekly dance party so the place was actually packed, but not necessarily for us. As we walked on stage, there was a guy that kept heckling me, he kept calling me "silver pussy". The first couple of times, we let it slide, but Hayden and Brian were not pleased, and it did get a little heated for a minute although it never actually transpired into a real scene. Most of the time people were really tolerant of our insults to them. One night at the Middle East up in Cambridge MA, Brian was insulting some guy for his poor vision - he had on glasses -  and he made him come up to the stage where he smacked the shit out of him with his drumstick. The guy took it and the crowd laughed - I was always amazed at the shit people would take from us. Since I was the girl robot, a good part of my bit was to insult guys on their penis size, that always a big hit with the members of the audience as well.”

Even though the band was well established - especially with the Man Or Astroman connection - it was a common feeling that the band washed over many, perplexing as they were, Servotron had a vast array of material in the marketplace by the time the discussion came around to work with Lookout. By 1998 – the year of the bands Lookout Records album ‘Entertainment Program For Humans (Second Variety)’ (LK 197) – they had already clocked in ten 7”’s, a 10” and a full length LP in three years along with numerous compilation appearances. Servotrons debut album ‘No Room For Humans’ had been released on ‘Amphetamine Reptile Records’, who had also been working on other EP and compilation projects with the band.

Hayden Thais (Servotron) : “Amphetamine Reptile was falling apart and we had Entertainment Program finished and needed a home for it. We loved Pansy Division, The Hi Fives and Chris and The Peechees were great too. Touch & Go Records were interested but I really wanted to keep a wall up between Man Or Astroman? and Servotron. I don't know if we ever got a solid fanbase going but I don't think we recruited any Am Rep fans, yet I feel your Lookout Records fan could be more open to the concept than say the Touch & Go fan.”

Ashley Reader (Servotron) : “I think our fanbase, in the beginning anyway, came largely from us riding on the coattails of Man or Astroman?. Granted our lyrics were all about killing people so if AmRep fans just read our lyric sheet they might have been into us, but seeing the live show, I don't think we were really dark enough. I mean those AmRep bands sounded pissed. I don't know if we would have been a good fit for Touch & Go either although I loved their roster. I do remember trying to get on Grand Royal Records but I don't know that that would have been a good fit either. Ultimately, we were stoked to be on Lookout. We had some really great times but there was a good bit of tension towards the end. Myself and Brian were married, and the end of that pretty much ended the band as well, although who knows how much longer we would have carried on.”

Hayden Thais (Servotron) : “We had definite plans for another record. I had a ton of songs written. The working title was "Okey Dokey Computer" and I think it would have been great! It was going to have alot of Ashley as the female robot voice on lead vocals. Unfortunatly we had alot of internal, very human problems at the time. I would have loved to continue with Lookout no problems at all at that end. The biggest shame was we quit before reaching our prime. The best musically was still yet to come. I was gradually taking serious steps, balancing a great pop record without compromising the robot theme, which wasn't easy to do.” 

Black Cat Music - Part 1

Leaving The Criminals right around the time of their Adeline Records release ‘Broken Fingers and Burning Flesh’, Brady Baltezore had been hammering away at his new musical project ‘Black Cat Music’. Working with his own voice, rather than writing for the Jesse Townley led Criminals, Baltezore soared with some engaging dark and hypnotic music beaten into punk shapes.

Brady Baltezore (The Criminals, Black Cat Music) : “Black Cat Music started out at the "practice pad" downtown Oakland where Criminals had a room, and a bunch of other bands at that time. Dan McComas had left the Criminals, but we remained close friends. We started playing with some songs we'd been writing separately that were in a weirder place than The Criminals could get to. My taste in music had kind of changed by that point as well, I was getting into a lot of darker, more theatrical stuff that didn't necessarily gel with The Criminals. I'm sure part of it was just my ego, wanting to start my own thing. Travis and Jon I'd known from around Gilman. I just remember it sounded really tight right off the bat, we had a kind of a buzz about us, and we were all that age where you think you can set fires with your eyes, so we probably acted the part. We did a couple records with ‘Cheetah’s Records’ and then I think I talked Lookout into doing a 7" off the second Cheetah's LP. Dan and I were pretty big Morrissey nerds at that point, and I think we just wanted to have a "B side" song that wasn't on the album”

Following up the ‘This Is The New Romance’ EP and ‘The Only Thing We’ll Ever Be Is All Alone’ full length on Cheetah’s Records, Black Cat Music released the ‘One Foot In The Grave’ (LK 249) 7”, featuring two tracks of crafted and instantly moveable rhythmic music. The bass and drum lead title track held a rock swagger approach with tight musicianship full of attitude, a great taster for things to come.

Working on his own project for Lookout was indeed a moment that the frontman had been working towards since his teen years, despite being on board as The Criminals guitarist during the Lookout period for the ‘Never Been Caught’ album.

Brady Baltezore (The Criminals, Black Cat Music) : “This goes back to '91 or '92. At that time, in those suburbs, East of Oakland and Berkeley the only channel for discovering new bands was reading skate magazines, or someone's cool older brother. Thrasher got me to the 'canonical' punk bands - Misfits, Minor Threat, Black Flag etc which seemed like some fascinating ancient civilization to me. I think Brian Stern of ‘Dead & Gone’ was the 'cool older brother' who told me about Gilman St, and Lookout - at that point it was like, "wait, this is still going on? My friend went to school in a nearby town with the guys from Scherzo - for us it was like, "they're from these same shitty suburbs as us- but these guys are doing it! From that point on Lookout was like Stax records to me. I remember in a high school screen printing class, I meticulously hand cut a silkscreen of the Lookout logo, and a few others. Once I actually started playing in bands, and putting out records with Lookout, it wasn't just a casual thing - I had been a fan, so it felt like big personal accomplishment to me.”

Brady Baltezore and company returned to carry on with an album of sounds that the band had previously delivered on their two track EP, with the ‘Hands In The Estuary, Torso In The Lake’ LP (LK 269).The slowburning sound of Black Cat Music found it’s feet, with the band better suited to the format of the full length. Being able to explore a world of brooding mood music over the course of 11 tracks added some more light and shade as the band proceeded to weave a tapestry of textured dark melodic moments of varying tempos and dirty rock n roll balladary.

 Brady Baltezore (The Criminals, Black Cat Music) : “We had begun to build a kind of local support with the Cheetah's records, but "Hands In The Estuary" definitely took it to a new level. I think the general consensus among our fans is that record being the peak of the band, I'm fine with that - right around that time is when we started headlining locally, touring regularly, etc. The beginning of the end! The main chunk of that record was written while I was living in NYC, experiencing that whole 'Grand Tour' type thing. I was bartending at Kate's Joint on 4th and B, and subletting a room from Tiffany Anders across the street. Kind of a dark time for me personally, but I like the songs that came out of it. I remember recording that album out in San Rafael with Davy Vain, the singer of late 80s B-list glam band ‘Vain’. He had a ton of stories about that whole scene, but the funniest thing was the dog at the studio was this geriatric brown lab that had belonged to Steven Adler from Guns N Roses. I guess Davy adopted him when that dude hit the skids on drugs or whatever. Davy was combative with me when we got to recording the vocals, like it was pretty clear he felt like I wasn't a good enough singer for the band. I like what we ended up with for the most part, that record still sounds good to me.”

 With a solid album release, and finding their fanbase, Black Cat Music toured on several road stints in support of the ‘Hands In The Estuary’. Having crossed over from the 90’s to the new millennium while working with Lookout, Baltezore began to notice the musical shift at a time that was the beginning death call for many of the previously thriving independent labels.

 Brady Baltezore (The Criminals, Black Cat Music) : “There was definitely a paradigm shift, not just with Lookout but in "independent music" in general. We got the sense that there was more pressure to tour, to recoup, basically compete with the larger "independent" scene that had grown up out of punk - kind of straddling the thin line between fun and business. When you add to that the real rise in popularity of the internet, it was just a strange time. After the mp3 made it super easy to share music, but before sites like myspace made it possible to control it all yourself. I think it had less to do with the label itself than the climate at the time.”

LK 154 : More Bounce To The Ounce

Joe King took the helm for LK 154 – the double vinyl album compilation release ‘More Bounce To The Ounce’. The giant 39 track release featured a fine array of bands from the mid-late 90’s punk scene including present and future Lookout/Panic Button artists. The majority of the double album was recorded in The Queers hometown of Portsmouth NH at Fishtraks recording studio. Almost all the bands were on tour coming through to play at Portsmouth venue ‘The Elvis Room’.  Fishtraks had been the original studio The Queers had used for early recordings and hadn’t built a great relationship, with the result of the studio not even allowing the band to mix their finished tracks. Over time however, the band had gained a good following and a solid partnership with the studio once it fell under new ownership. Also in line to engineer the recording sessions was resident studio hand Jim Tierney, who would become closely allied with Joe King.

Jim Tierney : “’More Bounce To The Ounce’ is in my unbiased opinion, one of the greatest comps ever. Working with Joe Queer I got to record 13 of the bands on the record over the course of a year or so. At that time Portsmouth was a bit of a punk rock destination as it was where Joe lived and it was home to the Elvis Room and Fishtraks was just a couple of blocks down the street from the club so we were able to record bands during the day and then put on a show the same night. We didn't realize just how good we had it.  I've been working with Joe since we recorded the demos for ‘Love Songs For The Retarded’ back in around 1989. Joe and I started doing some work together with bands such as Cletus and the Lillingtons. I met Larry Livermore while working on the Cletus EP and I guess he approved of my engineering skills as he gave us the go ahead for putting the comp together. A bunch of the recordings were either put out as part of  full length albums or as a seven inch EP's. It's hard for me to pick a favorite but I must say that "Future People Of Tomorrow" by MTX keeps popping into my head even after all these years. Joe has introduced me to too many people to count and we continue to work together today either up here at The Electric Cave or down in Atlanta where he lives these days.We're both proud of that comp and I definately think it stands the test of time.”

 

Joe King (The Queers) : “For the other bands it was really fun. MTX was really a fun session as we were really good pals and still are. Frank wrote the ‘Future People of Tomorrow’ in my kitchen in Portsmouth. I lived right downtown in a former bed and breakfast hotel, so I always had bands staying with me. Fun times. Some of the bands like The Muffs couldn't get to the studio so they gave us the Elvis Costello song which was really fucking great. We worshipped the ground they walked on. Jim added one local band called Spirit Varnish which was a mistake. They weren't pop punk and not in our genre at all so it really stuck out and not in a good way. No knock on them-just different style that didn't gel with the rest of the album. But other than that it was all bands we knew and liked. Originally the idea was to release two volumes. That's why almost all the bands did 2 songs. Chris at Lookout said let's put them all on one release so that's what we did.  Energy was really high at the time with the whole Lookout scene and our pals' bands.”