In 1987 off the grid punk agitator Larry Livermore began documenting the burgeoning DIY East Bay punk rock scene with the newly founded Lookout Records He had no idea this little label first run out of his solar powered cabin in the Northern California mountains then a cramped room in the backstreets of Berkeley would rise to international prominence introducing the world to the likes of Green Day Operation Ivy and a host of other artists How To Ru i n A Record Label documents the author s experiences from Gilman Street to Bialystok Poland as he built Lookout from the ground up only to find himself losing control of the label a mere ten years later and abruptly walking away from the multi million dollar company when it was at its peak of success Throughout that time however he was central to the influential scene that gave birth to Gilman Street Maximum Rocknroll and a new generation of independent music that has had an everlasting effect on both the underground and mainstream In the process he just might even have found himself Longtime Lookout Records fans will find this book answers all the questions they ever had about the rise and fall of this genuine punk rock institution and for the uninitiated this is a document of a time and place where the love of music brought together a bunch of misfits to create a community