1)How did the Lookouts get started?(how did a 12 and 14 year old end up with a 30 year old?)
I had been trying to form a punk band for several years but could never quite find the right combination of musicians. From about 1982 to 1984 my girlfriend played drums and I played guitar and sang, and we went through a variety of possible bass players. We started playing with Kain, who was the son of the man who built our house and who lived nearby in the mountains. He was only 14, true, but none of the older people in that area were interested in trying to play punk rock. Then at the beginning of 1985 my girlfriend and I broke up, so we needed a new drummer. There was the same problem, trying to find any musicians at all who were interested in punk, so I decided to ask Tre, the kid who lived about a mile down the road, even though he'd never played drums in his life. Kain and I were still learning to play, too, so I figured Tre could learn along with us. And I knew he was a natural showoff, which is always helpful if you're going to be in a band. He turned out to be a natural drummer, so finally, in February 1985, we had a band.
2)How was the name 'the Lookouts' chosen?
Where we lived in the mountains, there was a lookout tower on the highest mountain, where in summer somebody would live and keep a watch for forest fires. No matter where you went, you could always see that tower, and it's windows were shaped like eyes that seemed to be watching you (if you were paranoid) or watching over you (if you weren't so paranoid). I started a fanzine in 1984 which I called the Lookout because I wanted it to represent something that watched out for the community, and when it came time to name the band, I used the same idea. Later on, of course, it would also turn into Lookout Records.
3)What is your favorite Lookouts song? why?
That's always a hard, if not impossible question to answer. I have several favorites. One is "Outside," which Tre wrote for the compilation called "The Thing That Ate Floyd." Another is "Big Green Monsters," which Tre and Kain wrote, and appears on another compilation called "Make the Collector Nerd Sweat." "Outside" is a little cheesy (but so are my musical tastes) yet it's a powerful anthem of alienation and striving, all the more so because it was written and song by a boy who was still only 14 at the time. "Big Green Monsters" was just a whole lot of fun, and the crowds used to always go crazy when we played it. Of my own songs, a couple of my favorites are "Story" from the "IV" EP and "Living Behind Bars," from "Spy Rock Road." "Story" is a very personal song which is also catchy as hell, and "Living Behind Bars" is both catchy and kind of socio-political. Also, both songs sound really good, partly because by the time we recorded them (1989 and 1990), we had really started to learn how to play our instruments, and partly because we had guest appearances on them by two of the best performers around. On "Story," Billie Joe from Green Day played lead guitar and sang backups, and on "Living Behind Bars," Lint from Operation Ivy and Rancid played lead guitar. So it was hard for us not to sound good.
4)Describe the best show you played with the Lookouts.
I would like to describe the last Operation Ivy show, where we played right before Op Ivy, because it was probably the biggest and most exciting show we ever played. Unfortunately I don't remember very much of it. Not because I was drunk or anything, but because it was such an intense experience playing in front of such an insane crowd and at such an important event. All I really remember is when we started playing and when we stopped. For the whole time in between, I must have been on some other planet or in a time warp. But people told us later that it was one of the best times they'd ever seen us.
5)Is there any future for the band?
Unless Green Day breaks up and Tre needs a new job, probably not.
6)Why did you break up?
We didn't really break up, we just sort of drifted apart, partly because we were all doing different things and living in different places. Actually, we did break up once, in the summer of 1989, I think, and that was over some silly fight we had outside the practice space. I think the real reason was that we were all frustrated because it didn't feel like the band was getting anywhere. But we got back together the next year to play some more shows and to record the "IV" EP and a bunch of other tracks. We just never got around to doing anything else after July of 1990, and then around November of that year, Tre joined Green Day, so I guess by then we realized it was pretty much the end of the Lookouts.
7)How did Lookout Records get started?
It originally got started just as a means of putting out the first Lookouts record, and wasn't really a label then, just a name to put on the record cover. But then a year later, I got together with my friend David Hayes to put out some 7" EPs by some of the Gilman bands like Crimpshrine and Operation Ivy, and we used the name Lookout Records again. The records started selling really well, and the label just grew from there.
8)Why did you sell Lookout Records?
I felt it was time to do something else with my life. I like to start new things and to discover new ideas or talent, but I don't especially like being a businessman sitting in an office, which is what I would have had to be if I were to continue doing a good job for Lookout Records. Also, i wanted to have more time to work on my own writing and music instead of spending all my time promoting the music and writing of others.
9)What is your opinion of the Mr T Experience song, 'God Bless Lawrence Livermore'?(do you get a kick out of it?)
Mr. T Experience - God Bless Lawrence Livermore:
[audio http://lookouts.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/29-god-bless-lawrence-livermore.mp3]
Well, of course it's a kick to have someone write a song about you (well, usually, anyway), but to be honest, I don't really know the song all that well. I've only heard it a couple of times. I read the lyrics, though, and while it's pretty funny and cute, I'd have to say that Dr. Frank probably didn't understand where I was coming from. I think because he's very much a city person and I had just spent ten years living in the near-wilderness, we had somewhat different perspectives on nature and the ecology, but he sort of turned that into me being a tree-worshipping hippie, when in fact I had left my hippie phase behind long before Frank ever met me. But it was all in good fun, and since I've known Frank for over 16 years now and had many great conversations with him, I'm sure he doesn't really think of me as a full-blown hippie. But as the old saying goes, "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." Or song.
10)What's going on right now with the potatomen?
We just recorded six songs, some new, some old, to put out ourselves as a CD-EP. We've also got about ten more new songs that haven't been recorded yet. We've had a lot of lineup changes (something like five drummers and four bass players), but somehow we keep going.
11)How did the Lookouts become so environmentally-orientated?
That was probably in large part because we lived in an area that was, as I said, semi-wilderness and extremely beautiful, but which was also under assault by greedy corporations who wanted to cut down all the trees and turn it into a suburban wasteland. When you see destructive, anti-environmental practices being carried out right under your nose, and threatening the beauty and well-being of the place where you live, it's hard not to take it personally.
12)What are your favorite bands/influences?
I'm sure the other guys would answer this differently, but at the time the Lookouts started, some of my favorites included Hank Williams (Sr., of course), the Ramones, Buddy Holly, all sorts of doowop and Motown groups, the Beatles and Rolling Stones, the Dead Kennedys, the Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, and a bunch more. Since then I've acquired many new favorites, but they wouldn't have had much if any influence on the Lookouts.
13)Was it a surprise to see a Lookouts site pop up about 10 years after the band broke up?
To tell the truth, nothing much surprises me any more, especially in the world of bands and punk rock.
14)(my friend really wants to know)What is your opinion of the Ramones?
One of the greatest bands and certainly the greatest punk band of all time. Without them, punk rock as we know it almost certainly wouldn't exist today.
Source - http://home.twmi.rr.com/lookouts/ / http://geocities.com/lookoutz/lookoutz
