http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/news/0...shtml#greenday Green Day Pulls Albums From Lookout! Catalog
James Gregory reports:
Someone get Matlock on speed dial, as according to a report on Punknews.org, reigning pop-punk kings Green Day are currently embroiled in a monetary tiff with former label Lookout! Records. Citing unpaid royalties generated by the band's pre-Dookie releases-- which include the Hüsker Dü-lite of 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk!-- Green Day recently packed up and left with their entire collection of Lookout! discs, reclaiming the two LPs and two EPs the label has distributed since the early 90s.
While the trio haven't issued a statement on the breach of contract feud, a recent post on the official Lookout! website offered the following explanation. "After a tremendously successful decade and a half-long relationship with Lookout! Records, Green Day is taking the reigns of their Lookout! albums. Despite any rumors or conjecture to the contrary, Lookout! and Green Day's long relationship has always been based on trust, friendship and partnership and those bonds remain shared between the label and the band now and into the future."
Giving a far less glossy version of this week's mohawk gossip, former Lookout! president Larry Livermore recently posted his insider account of Billie Joe and Co.'s walkout via the Punknews message board. "The problem has been going on for a long time, and Green Day has been more than patient. It's about money, and also about bad faith. Lookout! has been failing to pay Green Day (and other bands) for years now, and apparently using the money instead to put out a series of terrible records that very few people wanted to buy. Gambling on new bands is part of what a record label does, but you don't do it with other people's money."
And before you can scream "greedy major label bastards," Livermore also defended the multi-platinum artists, saying: "Green Day could have taken their records away several years ago when Lookout! first breached their contract, but they were generous enough to allow Lookout! to keep licensing the records in hopes that the label would get back on its feet. No matter how rich a band is, they shouldn't be expected to subsidize a failing label forever, especially when that label isn't doing anything particularly worthwhile."
This recent loss of revenue has also resulted in an uncertain future for the Berkeley-based label, with Punknews going on to report that Lookout! have recently cut 2/3 of their staff. And while current label president Chris Appelgren assures that they will still issue their extensive back catalog, which includes such indie staples as Operation Ivy, The Donnas and Ted Leo, no new releases are currently expected this year. Adding insult to injury, Green Day are also not the first Lookout! act to jump ship, with past artists Avail, Screeching Weasel, Riverdales, and Enemy You opting to move their catalogs to other record labels.
And while details on the future availability of Green Day's early records have yet to be announced (maybe an exclusive Happy Meal contract with McDonald's?!), the band are continuing to get plenty of mileage out of their most recent release, 2004's Grammy-winning punk opera American Idiot. The band were recently honored with eight nominations for MTV's upcoming Video Music Awards-- with radio star-killing clips for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams and "American Idiot" appearing in such categories as Best Cinematography, Video of the Year, and the Viewer's Choice Award. The video for album's most recent single (and future prom tear-jerker), "Wake Me Up When September Ends", is also set to premiere on VH-1 at 9 p.m. on August 9.
Also, as previously reported, Green Day's Fall tour of North America will launch next week in Rosemont, IL-- with a total of 38 dates scheduled across the U.S. and Canada in support of Idiot. The band recently completed a lengthy European trek last month that included stops at the Rosklide Festival and Scotland's annual T in the Park-- with a reportedly cringe-worthy rendition of Queen's "We Are the Champions" making the setlist almost nightly.
