For many Bay Area punks Lookout! Records was the catalyst that helped foment the local scene into a much larger entity. Plagued by the numerous problems which face many independent labels, the company folded in 2012, but its influence can still be felt in much of punk today.
Though this may at first seem a silver lining to a modern-day Icarus story, it turns out there may actually be much more to the rise and fall of the Lookout! Records. Behind the scenes the label was a hotbed of violence, both regular and political, and the consequences of the label’s failure would be inextricably tied to the fate of mankind itself. Here are five things you didn’t know about the collapse of Lookout Records.
1. Larry Livermore Made Frequent, Unexplained Trips to the Cayman Islands
Lookout cofounder Larry Livermore was never shy to take credit for the label’s numerous early successes, at one point going so far as to buy a frilly cape, a scepter and a crown with the phrase “I Made Green Day! Me!” engraved in it, which he would frequently wear around the office. However, the impresario has been noticeably terse about his frequent visits to the Cayman Islands, many of which were by a private jet, and once, the recently hijacked Goodyear blimp. Several former Lookout employees have posited that these “business” trips were actually a front to smuggle unsold Crimpshrine EPs out of the country to avoid the embarrassment of still having them. However, others have speculated that the trips were actually a way for Livermore to indulge his crippling addiction of gambling on illegal zebra fighting, which at that time was only accessible in international waters and all of Texas. Additionally, by the late ‘90s the whole of the Bay area had fallen under the control of a local political boss named “Capricorn Jack,” who would go on to influence some of the label’s most nefarious later dealings.