Biography
In 1977, Hayes began to attend punk rock shows in the San Francisco bay area. [1] He soon adopted the "punk rock name" Larry Livermore, an allusion to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a nuclear research and development facility in Livermore, California, run by the University of California. [2]
In 1984, he founded Lookout magazine, based in Laytonville, California, and continued to publish it until 1995. In 1985, he formed the Lookouts, a punk-rock band whose 12-year-old drummer, Tre Cool, later went on to play for Green Day. [3] The Lookouts recorded two LPs, One Planet One People and Spy Rock Road , and two EPs, Mendocino Homeland and IV, between 1985 and 1990, with Livermore playing guitar and singing.
In 1987, with his friend David Hayes (no relation), he co-founded Lookout Records, which released gold and platinum-selling albums by Operation Ivy and Green Day, [4] as well as scores of releases from other artists. Many of the bands on Lookout were associated with 924 Gilman Street, a nonprofit, volunteer-run punk-rock club based in Berkeley, California. David Hayes left the label at the end of 1989 to establish a label of his own, Very Small Records. Larry Livermore continued as president and principal owner of Lookout Records until he retired in 1997. [5]
In 1992, Livermore, Chris Appelgren, and Patrick Hynes formed the Potatomen, [6] a pop band that has released two albums, Now and Iceland, two EPs, On the Avenue and All My Yesterdays, and a split EP, The Beautiful and Damned/The Day I Said Goodbye, with the Canadian band Cub.
From 1987 until 1994, Livermore was a columnist for Maximum Rocknroll magazine, and from 1994 to 2007 wrote a monthly column for Punk Planet magazine. Livermore had a scene report column on East Bay's punk zine Absolutely Zippo. [7] He was also a contributor to the Anderson Valley Advertiser , Janelle Hessig's zine Tales of Blarg, and the seminal queercore zine Homocore. In 2008, quarterly periodical Verbicide Magazine began publishing his column, titled "Beneath the BQE". Livermore's first column for Verbicide appears in issue 23.
Livermore released his first book, Spy Rock Memories, on Don Giovanni Records in 2013. [8] He released his second book, How to Ru(i)n a Record Label: The Story of Lookout Records, in 2015.
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 Operation Ivy’s only album, Energy, and Green Day's first two albums, 39/Smooth and Kerplunk.
39/Smooth is the debut studio album by the American rock band Green Day, released on April 13, 1990, by Lookout Records. It was the band's only album to feature drummer John Kiffmeyer. Jesse Michaels of Operation Ivy contributed the artwork on the album. The inner sleeve shows handwritten lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong and letters by drummer John Kiffmeyer and Lookout owner Larry Livermore to I.R.S. Records, rejecting a fake offer to sign to the label and declaring its loyalty to Lookout. There were no official singles released from the album, although "Going to Pasalacqua" was released as a mock-up single in a Green Day singles box set entitled Green Day: Ultimate Collectors.
The Queers are an American punk rock band, formed in 1981 by Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Joseph “Joe” P. King along with Scott Gildersleeve, and John “Jack” Hayes. With the addition of Keith Hages joining on bass in 1983 the band started playing their first public performances. The revised line-up played a total of six live shows between 1983 and 1984. This earliest era of The Queers formation initially broke up in late 1984; however, Joe Queer re-formed the band with an all-new line-up in 1986. In 1990, after several more band line-up changes the band signed with Shakin' Street Records to release their debut album, Grow Up. The album earned the band notability within New England, but with the release of their next album, 1993's Love Songs for the Retarded, on Lookout! Records, their following grew.
Energy is the only studio album by the American ska punk band Operation Ivy. It was originally released on vinyl and cassette in May 1989 through Lookout! Records with the catalog number LK 010. Although the album itself has never been released on CD, all of the tracks were featured on the career-spanning compilation Operation Ivy issued by Lookout in 1991. Despite achieving no mainstream success, Energy is considered one of the most important albums of ska punk and is frequently cited as an influence by many later bands of the genre.
The Lookouts were an American punk rock band that existed from 1985 to 1990 on Iron Peak, a remote rural mountain community outside Laytonville, California, United States. The members were Larry Livermore on guitar and vocals, Kain Kong on bass and vocals, and Tré Cool on drums and vocals. All three contributed on songwriting.
Sweet Baby was a pop punk band that originated from Berkeley, California, and was part of the 924 Gilman Street scene. They were signed to Ruby Records.
Crimpshrine was an American punk rock band from Berkeley, California. The group was formed in 1982 by Aaron Cometbus, founder of the seminal punk rock zine Cometbus, and future Operation Ivy vocalist Jesse Michaels. They grew out of the East Bay scene, centered on 924 Gilman Street, and had an important influence on later East Bay bands such as Operation Ivy, Green Day and punk rock in general.
Chris Appelgren, also known as Chris Applecore, was owner and president of Lookout! Records from, 1997 when label founder Larry Livermore and partner Patrick Hynes retired, until 2012 when the label folded due to financial troubles and non-payment of royalties. In addition, Appelgren has created original artwork and album designs for many punk bands including Blatz, Green Day, Screeching Weasel, The Queers, The Donnas, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.
Spitboy was an American anarcho-punk band founded in the San Francisco Bay area in 1990. The all-female band aggressively criticized patriarchy and gender roles but did not associate with the contemporaneous riot grrrl movement. They released several records and toured extensively and then disbanded in 1995. Members later played in the bands Instant Girl and Aus Rotten, while drummer Michelle Cruz Gonzales and vocalist Adrienne Droogas have been active as writers.
Robert Burnett, better known as Robert eggplant, is an American writer, publisher, musician and activist from Pinole, California, United States.
Very Small Records was an independent record label, formed in 1989 by David Hayes, co-founder and former co-owner of Lookout Records. The name of the label was changed to Too Many Records around 1994, but was changed back around 1997. The label terminated in 2003.
Love Songs for the Retarded is the second studio album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in 1993 by Lookout! Records. It was the first of five studio albums the band would record for Lookout!, and their first by the lineup of singer and guitarist "Joe Queer" King, bassist Chris "B-Face" Barnard, and drummer Hugh O'Neill. It was also their first collaboration with Screeching Weasel frontman Ben Weasel, who produced the album and co-wrote two of its songs, and the first of three Queers albums recorded at Sonic Iguana Studio in Lafayette, Indiana with audio engineer Mass Giorgini, who would continue to work with the band on and off for the next 14 years as a producer and engineer. Love Songs for the Retarded became the Queers' highest-selling album, with sales surpassing 100,000 copies.
One Planet One People is the debut studio album by the American punk rock band The Lookouts. It was released in 1987 through Lookout! Records and was the first ever release on the label. One Planet One People is the first recording featuring Tré Cool of Green Day. Lyrical topics in their songs are religion and the establishment, with some silly, funny songs.
Beat Off is the fourth studio album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in 1994 by Lookout! Records. Recorded during a time when the Queers' usual drummer, Hugh O'Neill, was on a forced leave of absence from the band to deal with heroin addiction, it featured Screeching Weasel drummer Dan Panic and guitarist Dan Vapid added to the lineup. It was the third and final Queers album produced by Screeching Weasel singer Ben Weasel, who insisted on a no-frills punk sound for the album and removed Vapid's tracks from the final mix without his knowledge.
Surf Goddess is an EP by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in February 1995 by Lookout! Records. It marked the return of longtime drummer Hugh O'Neill to the band, after a forced leave of absence to deal with heroin addiction. Former Screeching Weasel member Dan Vapid, who had been a member of the Queers in 1994, played on the EP as a guest guitarist. Surf Goddess was the result of band leader Joe King and Lookout! head Larry Livermore being dissatisfied with the production techniques on the band's prior album, 1994's Beat Off, which producer Ben Weasel had insisted on keeping basic. King and Livermore wanted to incorporate overdubbing and other effects which Livermore felt were essential to the Queers' sound. In addition to the title track, which was co-written by Weasel, and the Queers original "Quit Talkin'", the EP includes cover versions of Tommy James and the Shondells's "Mirage" and the Undertones' "Get Over You".
Don't Back Down is the sixth studio album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in August 1996 by Lookout! Records. The band and Lookout! president Larry Livermore, who served as executive producer, sought to balance the sounds of the Ramones and the Beach Boys, and enlisted the help of former Queers guitarist JJ Rassler and Cub singer Lisa Marr. The album's title track is a cover version of the Beach Boys song of the same name; it also features covers of the Hondells' "Little Sidewalk Surfer Girl" and Hawaiian punk band the Catalogs' "Another Girl". The album produced the band's first music videos, for "Punk Rock Girls" and "Don't Back Down".
Later Days and Better Lays is a compilation album by the American punk rock band the Queers, released in March 1999 by Lookout! Records. It combines a 14-song demo tape from 1991 with some demos recorded in the lead-up to their 1996 album Don't Back Down, as well as some outtakes from that album's recording sessions. The compilation fulfilled the band's contractual obligations to Lookout!, following seven years and four studio albums on the label. They moved on to Hopeless Records, but would return to Lookout! for the Today EP (2001) and album Pleasant Screams (2002) before parting ways with the label again.
Mendocino Homeland is an extended play by the American punk rock band The Lookouts. It was released in 1989 through vocalist/guitarist Larry Livermore's label Lookout! Records.
Frank Edwin Wright III, better known by his stage name Tré Cool, is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the rock band Green Day. He replaced the band's former drummer, John Kiffmeyer, in 1990. Cool has also played in the Lookouts, Samiam, Dead Mermaids, Bubu and the Brood and the Green Day side projects the Network and the Foxboro Hot Tubs.
Kamala Lyn Parks is an American drummer, songwriter, tour booker, and author from Berkeley, California. She played drums for Kamala & The Karnivores, Cringer, The Gr’ups, Naked Aggression, Hers Never Existed, and Plot 66.
