THE LOOKOUTS — One Planet One People (review)

THE LOOKOUTS — One Planet One People album cover

Album · 1987 · Hardcore Punk

3.5/5 · 2024-09-18
siLLy puPPy

THE LOOKOUTS were one of the Bay Area’s premiere punk rock bands that emerged in the mid-80s in the most unlikely area, that being the Mendocino county town of Laytonville more associated with its escapist hippie population than anything associated with the hardcore grit of angsty youthful punk however the band which was formed by guitarist and vocalist Larry Livermore (born Lawrence Hayes) managed to come to fruition after Livermore recruited a 14-year old Kain Kong (born Kain Hanschke) and 12-year old Frank Wright Edwin better known as Tré Cool who went on to be the drummer in Green Day. At this point he couldn’t play at all but learned as he went along. Now isn’t that what punk rock is about?!!

The band released three albums and two EPs on Livermore’s newly formed indie label Lookout. The band was instrumental in developing the local pop punk scene which adopted the hardcore punk sound ethos of the British rage against the machiners with more palatable irresistible hooks, the kind of punk that would totally piss off purists but propel punk into the mainstream in the 90s with bands like Green Day and The Offspring selling gazillions of albums however at this stage the band fit squarely into the high energy world of the hardcore punk scene. The band was famous for collaborating with Operation Ivy’s Time Armstrong and although only existed for five years has become a Bay Area legend as one of those underground acts that was highly influential in launching a more commercial acceptance of the punk rock sound without actually experiencing success themselves.

THE LOOKOUTS released its debut album ONE PLANET ONE PEOPLE in 1987 which featured short snappy punk rockers with no tracks much over two minutes playing time. A rambunctious youthful rebellion type of delivery system sounding something like The Dead Kennedy’s earliest hardcore offerings only without the finesse and songwriting skills, THE LOOKOUTS narrated the alienation of living in an area of doped up hippies that were at the heart of California’s marijuana growing operations. The tie-dye dominated locality of Laytonville, CA was more synomous with crazy pot farmers pulling guns on hikers who wandered to close to growing operations than anything in the hardcore punk world but yet these guys found their true calling and made it happen even in the most remote chilled out region of the USA.

Stylistically this album is fairly uniform with heavy angsty quickened speed tracks with many lasting under a minute. With 22 tracks that only add up to about 27 minutes it’s a rather dizzying array of hardcore punk rockers that almost seems like the album is being played on a higher speed. Some have even called THE LOOKOUTS’ style of playing “speed folk!” In a way that’s an accurate statement as the band does have a folky poetic prose to its lyrics however as far as the music is concerned this is hardcore punk all the way with fast sometimes almost rapped lyrics. Some of the guitar’s chord progressions sound like songs Nirvana would craft in the 1990s with their more polished grungy version of pop punk. ONE PLANET ONE PEOPLE was only ever released a single time on vinyl and unfortunately didn’t appear on the compilation “Spy Rock Road (And Other Stories)” which featured all of the band’s other material making this one somewhat harder to find. While not the peak of punk majesty, Bay Area punk rock enthusiasts will really dig this one!