Every band hates to categorize their music; it’s very
hard to do. You could call us a pop band with a good
amount of noise and rhythm. Some of our songs
could be played on your local commercial radio
station. Some songs have yelling vocals, others
have singing ones. We like to try to make each of our
songs (and records) sound different from one
another. We never want to fall into a rut. Since we
listen to so many different types of bands, we have a
lot of influences in our music, ranging from punk to
techno. We also have a lot of odd time signatures in
our music, although we like to think that it’s hard to
tell they’re odd; we don’t want to sound like Rush.
Rick’s lyrics are generally about politics or social
problems. And some still think we sound better live
than on our records.
RTFM came out on April 22nd, 1997. It is an
Enhanced CD, playable in regular CD players, Macs
and on Windows 3.1/95/NT. It has 12 songs on it and
video of us recording, technical readouts of our van,
info about old records, instructions on how to start a
record label and how to make a web page, tour
reports from both Rose and Howie, interviews with
each band member, and clips from some of our old
videos. The whole idea behind the Enhanced part of
the CD was to make something that was HUGE, that
contained way more information than anyone would
ever be able to look at in one sitting. And the price is
still the same as any regular CD, since we
programmed the Enhanced part ourselves.
Bryce Goggin, who mixed Junior Citizen, came in to
help produce this album as well as mix it. It was
recorded in Champaign, Illinois, at Pogo Studio, a
great analog studio with tons of awesome amps and
guitars. We believe this is the best-sounding record
we’ve made yet.
“RTFM” stands for “read the f**cking manual.” It is a
geek techie term that tech support people will say to
you if they want to be smarmy and if you are asking a
question that is answered in “the manual.”
Frequently Asked Poster Children Questions
Who is Poster Children? When and where did the
band form?
Poster Children formed in 1987 in Champaign, IL, a
small college town with big computers. Rick (R.N.
Valentin; guitar, lead vocals), and Rose (R.G.
Marshack; bass, backup vocals) are the two original
members of the band. The other people are Jim (J.E.
Valentin; guitar, Rick’s brother) and Howie (H.D.
Kantoff; drummer #6). Since 1987, we have toured
the US many times, and opened for such acts as
Failure, Steel Pole Bath Tub, The Buzzcocks,
Screaming Trees, Fugazi, Jon Spencer Blues
Explosion, Swervedriver, Soul Asylum, Jesus Lizard,
Jawbox, The Wedding Present, and Public Enemy,
(much to the chagrin of their fans).
What kind of music do you play?
Every band hates to categorize their music; it’s very
hard to do. You could call us a pop band with a good
amount of noise and rhythm. Some of our songs
could be played on your local commercial radio
station. Some songs have yelling vocals, others have
singing ones. We like to try to make each of our
songs (and records) sound different from one
another. We never want to fall into a rut. Since we
listen to so many different types of bands, we have a
lot of influences in our music, ranging from punk to
techno. We also have a lot of odd time signatures in
our music, although we like to think that it’s hard to
tell they’re odd; we don’t want to sound like Rush.
Rick’s lyrics are generally about politics or social
problems. And some still think we sound better live
than on our records.
What was it like to work with Steve Albini?
It was fine. It was a long time ago. We got his phone
number from the Didjits, a great Champaign band of
the past. Steve’s studio is in Chicago, 2 hours north
of us, so it was very easy and cheap for us to record
with him. He is very nice. He cooked us a barbeque
over broken hickory drumsticks, and taught us about
major labels and the record industry, things that we
believe to this day. He is a very smart man.
What are the connections between PC and ??
Between PC and Hum: Their bass player, Jeff, was
our guitarist during the Daisy Chain Reaction period,
and Rick and Rose founded “12Inch Records,” the
label that put out Hum’s first two records. Between
PC and Tortoise: Their drummer, John Herndon, was
our 5th drummer. Between PC and Salaryman:
Salaryman is the 4 of us Poster Children playing
“basement” music. It sounds absolutely nothing like
Poster Children.
Who does your artwork?
We do. All except for the Daisy Chain Reaction (our
2nd record, on Twin/Tone Records) artwork. What
are we best at?
Playing shows. We try to present our audience with a
huge amount of energy and intensity at our live
shows; this makes every show a challenge for us, no
matter who or how many people are watching. We do
especially love to play all-ages shows, because there
is a better chance of receiving energy back from the
audience. We were profoundly inspired by the great
indie bands of the 80’s, like Husker Du and The
Minutemen, who toured across the country by
themselves and sold their own t-shirts; did everything
themselves. We do our own artwork, choose who we
record with, make our own t-shirts, drive our own van
(sometimes sleep in it!), and load our own equipment.
We feel this makes touring and being in the band
more fun.
Has Poster Children done any videos?
There are 8 Poster Children videos; “If You See
Kay,” “Clock St,” “Dynamite Chair,” and “What’s
Inside The Box,” “Junior Citizen,” “He’s My Star,”
“Superhero,” and “21st Century.” MTV so far has
played “If you See Kay, “”Dynamite Chair” and
“Junior Citizen.” “Superhero” is a song that we wrote
for a Public Service Announcement for Fox Children’s
Network, for a video that appears during “Might
Morphin Power Rangers” and “Spiderman” once in a
while!
How can I see your videos?
You can see clips from some of them on RTFM.
When we get enough videos, (10 or so) we’ll release
them on a video cassette. We may release them on a
CD-ROM, too.
What do Poster Children do in their spare time?
We collect information.
How To Tour Like Poster Children
Vehicle and Contents
We have a Chevy van, which everyone drives, and
there is room for the 4 of us and a sound engineer to
sleep in the van if we have to, as long as it’s not
moving. There is no tour manager or roadies.
Tour Support
We’ve been touring for many years now, and can
support ourselves pretty easily on tour, so we don’t
take tour support. It’s just better for you if you don’t
take (and spend) unnecessary funds from your label.
It always comes out of your royalties, somehow, so
why buy a tour bus if you don’t need it?
Where Do We Sleep?
We used to sleep on people’s floors most of the time;
people who we meet at our shows who offer their
floors to us, but now more often, we are starting to
stay in motels; we get 1 room for the 4 of us. It’s often
very tiring to be on tour and sometimes when you go
back to peoples’ houses, there are...parties..
Sometimes partying is the last thing a band would
like to do after they play a show. (But not all the
time!) And sometimes we sleep in the van, at rest
areas. We all have sleeping bags.
What Do We Eat?
We each get 10$ a day for breakfast/lunch and when
we play a show, the club must feed us dinner.
Sometimes we get cheap pizza, but more often then
not, we get a really nice meal.
Who Books the Shows?
We have the same booking agent we’ve had since
we first started touring; we are lucky because it is
very hard to find a good booking agent who listens to
you. We tell our booking agent (her name is Ellen
Stewart) to make sure the shows have cheap ticket
prices, try to make them all-ages, and we tell her to
give us about 1 day off every couple of weeks. We
drive ourselves crazy on our days off.
How Long Are The Drives?
Our drives are usually either 8-10 hour drives or 3-5
hours drives, depending where we are in the country.
Sometimes we have to leave right after we play a
show in order to get to the next concert on time.
