LOOKOUT! RECORDS
Lookout! Records was an independent record label, initially based in Laytonville, California and later in Berkeley, focusing on punk rock. Established in 1987, the label is best known for having released the album of Operation Ivy and the first two albums by Green Day. (More from Wikipedia)
Childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong (lead vocals and guitar) and Mike Dirnt (bass) are from Oakland (across the San Francisco Bay from San Francisco) and formed a band called Sweet Children when they were just 14. Their first live show was on October 17, 1987, at Rod’s Hickory Pit in Vallejo, California. Drummer John Kiffmeyer joined the line-up in 1988; he was previously in Isocracy. By the time their first EP, 1,000 Hours came out on Lookout! Records in 1989, they had dropped the name Sweet Children, since it was similar to that of another local band, Sweet Baby. Their new name, Green Day was selected because of their fondness for marijuana.
In early 1990, the label released Green Day’s first full album, 39/Smooth, with two other EP’s following later in the year, Slappy and Sweet Children; the latter disc features early recordings by Sweet Children for another label, Skene! Records. The following year, Lookout! Records combined the band’s previous releases (except Sweet Children) as 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours. Later that year saw the release of Green Day’s second album, Kerplunk, which sold 50,000 copies.
In late 1990, John Kiffmeyer left Green Day to attend college, with Tré Cool – formerly with the Lookouts; Lookout! Records founder Larry Livermore was their guitarist – filling in on drums and eventually joining the band permanently. The lineup of Green Day has been stable ever since, although Jason White joined the band on stage as a second guitarist beginning in 1999 and was an official bandmember between 2012 and 2016.
(June 2017)
