Californian punk imprint Lookout Records have decided to shut up shop for good.
Perhaps not the most critically adored of genres, but California’s punk scene has been one of the dominant currents in rock music for almost two decades.
Sadly, though, one of the scene’s mainstays has decided to call it a day (via Consequence of Sound). Ted Leo has run Lookout Records for more than twenty years, releasing pivotal early material from Operation Ivy, Rancid and Green Day, amongst others.
Home to material from his own group Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Lookout Records last issued new material some four years ago. Keeping their back catalogue in print, the label has now decided to shut up shop completely.
In a blog posting Ted Leo wrote: “I’ve been getting a lot of Twitter questions about why a bunch of my records have disappeared from all the digital services (Sportify, iDudes, Mandora, etc.). It’s because our beloved Lookout Records, which ceased releasing new material in 2006, but carried on keeping the catalog in print until this past December, has, sadly, shuttered it’s windows for good.”
“A better eulogy should be forthcoming, but just to answer these questions, this means that these records have reverted to my complete ownership, which is kind of cool in some ways, I guess, except that it also means I have to basically run my own label for them now unless I wind up licensing them to someone else in the future. In the immediate, I have to go through some legal stuff with the digital services to get the records back up online, and I’m hoping to have that all taken care of very soon.”
Read the full posting HERE.
Ted Leo finishes by suggesting a possible ‘Tyranny Of Distance’ anniversary event, which wouldn’t be such a bad idea, y’know…
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