Berkeley's Lookout! Records has been putting out smashingly good records for well over ten years now. From pop to punk to everything in between, Lookout! delivers the goods with style and a fine sense of humor.
American Steel
American Steel makes soaring, sneering punk that takes off at cop-evading speed and never looks back.
The Avengers
The Avengers died for your sins and you better start doing some serious genuflection to show your faith and appreciation. Snap to the sound of this seminal San Francisco punk outfit, whose snarling electrifying sound made them one of the most influential American punk bands ever.
Bratmobile
Bratmobile pioneered the riot grrrl movement in the early nineties and then reformed in 1999 to give us more dizzying doses of the new wave punk rock that made them so loved and admired.
Citizen Fish
Descended from the seminal punk outfit The Subhumans, the U.K.'s Citizen Fish mixes classic punk rock, ska, reggae, and capital P Politics into a galvanizing full-throttle assault on the ears and the psyche.
The Cost
The Cost pay their respects to the classic Jehu-ish San Diego and Dischord-eque DC sounds with an enthusiastic and fresh new approach from The Bay.
The Donnas
Even though they've grown up and gone to college, the Donnas remain teen queens of
trashy girl punk. Damn, the music these young ladies make is catchier than pneumonia
(and considerably more enjoyable to be infected by).
Ted Leo/Pharmacists
Former Chisel frontman Ted Leo gets behind the wheel of a new rock band, the Pharmacists, with buddies from the Make Up, Warmers, and Secret Stars. Raw, soulful, and sometimes political punk-inflected rock in the vein of The Jam.
The Mopes
The Mopes' tough, catchy songs are all instant classics. The members of this Lookout! Records all-star band don't want to focus on their old groups to the detriment of this one, but let's just say that they've been involved in some rather important pop-punk bands.
The Mr T Experience
The Mr. T Experience has been making intelligent, catchy pop punk for longer than some of its fans are old. From songs about girls to songs about...well, other girls, MTX mixes sass and smarts with unequaled style.
The Pattern
Oakland's newest underground supergroup mixes up classic '60s blue-eyed soul with spunky '90s pop punk -- and discovers that the two genres aren't so stylistically far apart. Featuring former members of the PeeChees and other Bay Area punk faves.
Pretty Girls Make Graves
Seattle's Pretty Girls Make Graves features former members of the Murder City Devils, Kill Sadie, and The Death Wish Kids. With their refreshing energy and satisfying mixture of hardcore and post-punk, they're one of the best new bands in recent memory.
