By Marri Shaeffer ’29
Staff Writer
In an era of music made to go viral on TikTok, The Lookout Honeys are redefining what it means to create art through their music.
Originally a The Stooges cover band, this bilingual, punk, all female melting pot of a band from New York City creates absolutely electric tracks that beg listeners to get up and dance. With a blend of loud, fierce rock and roll and enchanting lyrics, the Lookout Honeys draw their audience in, not only allowing them to hear the music, but also inviting them to be a part of it. Their first album, Aguacatero, was released in March 2025, and features twelve songs.
I had the opportunity to speak with Mexi Cohen, the lead singer of the Lookout Honeys, and Maegan Dolan, the band’s guitarist and backup vocalist. They spoke about their goal for the band, the responsibility they felt as alternative musicians in a politically wrought time, and the creative choices they made for the album. I also had the opportunity to speak with them about their upcoming music video for their song Perro, which will release on April 24, 2026.
According to Cohen, The Lookout Honeys “are a band that creates a certain energy.” She describes their sound as “very fast, and fierce, and dark at some points of some songs.” However, the overarching word that both Cohen and Dolan agreed on was “feminine.”
When asked to expand on this, Cohen said “this kind of patriarchal thing [that women] should be in competition is unacceptable … the only way out of this big, huge mess that we've created for ourselves is to support each other and to lift each other up and to make the other shine.”
“I think beyond the responsibility of being an all-female group, beyond the responsibility of bringing our influences, our culture, our heritage to the music and the scene, it's really important to keep on doing it, to build community and keep on providing those safe spaces for everyone to express themselves as who they are.”
Dolan agreed with this, saying “I also believe in the power of sonic waves to make change. I believe in the power of music to create real change, whether it's in a person or in a larger group, it's a beautiful thing.”
Originally from Mexico City and El Salvador, Cohen has found that “Latin American society is very restrictive when it comes to women.” For her, this band was an escape. “I wanted to liberate myself from that and say, "Well, I can be fierce. I can be aggressive. I can be sensual. I can take on this idea that only men can express themselves this way through this kind of music and make it our own and give a message [that] we can take on this kind of power and take up space in this way."
Although each woman in the band comes from a different background, it was important for Cohen and Dolan that each person felt represented within the album. “We all brought a piece of what we ourselves loved in music into it. Just different backgrounds. I hear so much of this beautiful Irish folk storytelling in Megan's songs. It's so beautiful. It's ancient and it's this kind of storytelling that is generational … it's not a scene, it's not a fad, it's not a new thing, a new wave thing. No, it's like this ancient storytelling that goes on from this Irish folk, same with Aileen. And then I bring my Latina influences of what I was listening [to] in Mexico, but also very kind of a gothic aesthetic that I really enjoy,” Cohen stated.
It was this meshing of culture and specific energy that really defines what The Lookout Honeys’ signature sound is. The album features distinctly different songs that blend perfectly, with songs such as “Off The Radar,” a loud blend of Spanish and English with a heavy guitar line and aggressive drums, and “Empty Stairs,” a slower, quieter song with a more emotional edge.
The title of the album, “Aguacatero,” represents this as well. A slang word for stray dog in El Salvador, Cohen felt that that the word represented the band well.
“First of all, we're all mutts. We come from different influences, not only culturally, but sonically too, musically too. And we really like to be adventurous … we enjoy that freedom. [A] stray dog [gets] to go out and have an adventure without an owner or a thing that owns that being.”
For Dolan, the album title also served as an act of protest.
“I also like the idea of us embracing the inner animal in all of us and as an act of rebellion of active freedom [and] liberation.”
Their song “Perro” represents this idea as well. Cohen explained how they used this track specifically to continue the theme of liberation present throughout the album.
“Perro is the cover of a Stooges song that's called I Want to Be Your Dog. And that is the only song that we kept from our time covering the Stooges, decided to translate it into Spanish and make it our own in that way ... And it gave it such a different cognition to it where I feel like “I Want to Be Your Dog” is sort of a submissive play on what he's saying. Perro is more like a taunt.”
On my first listen of the album, this was the song that initially drew my attention. Cohen’s voice is loud, and demanding, with an almost inhuman growl in her voice that’s reminiscent of the titular dog.
A music video for “Perro” was released on April 24, 2026.
Dolan spoke a bit about the basis for the video, including the setting, saying,“The video is actually shot in the empty house that [our bassist] grew up in … [the] idea of this was like, we were … coming into this house after some activism to let out our rage through music.”
She explains the animalistic transformation the band goes through during the video, eventually donning dog masks. Dolan wanted to convey “how music transforms you.”
When you listen to this album, do it late at night, with day-old eyeliner still on and all the lights off in your tiny dorm room. Put headphones on, and let yourself immerse completely in the pure female power that is The Lookout Honeys’ Aguacatero.
Maeve McCorry ’28 contributed fact-checking.