It has now been 17 years for Rick Valentin, his wife, Rose, and their band, the Poster Children. After nine studio albums, one live album, seven drummers and well over a thousand shows, the Poster Children gear up for yet another tour-bus ride to Madison from their hometown in Champaign, Ill.
\We signed this little contract with a guy in Chicago for five years, and we were laughing because five years seemed like forever. We just thought in five years we'd all have jobs and houses in the Chicago suburbs,"" Rick said.
Staples of the early '90s alternative explosion, long before the Rapture became dance hall darlings and Hot Hot Heat had a place on MTV, there were the Poster Children playing the same new wave revival on which the previous bands based their successes. But despite critical acclaim, the Poster Children ended up as a top tier band on the second tier of fame in a genre's revolution they helped create.
Most of the bands that were around when CNN interviewed the Poster Children as a staple of the budding grunge culture have broken up or faded. They alone seem to be carrying the torch; there is no more Mudhoney or Nirvana or Dinosaur Jr. Imperial Teen and Teenage Fanclub have begun to exist more in the background. In the time the Poster Children have been playing, the Pixies released their first album, broke up, and got back together. This, Rick explains, is slightly odd.
""It's a little weird to see a band I remember and I've seen do a reunion tour. At least these other bands-Mission of Burma and Wire-at least I was too young to see them their first time out. But now, with the Pixies doing a reunion-Oh man! I remember seeing them in their first time out. I remember seeing them in their first show in Champaign. It makes me feel kind of old.""
The Poster Children released an album this year, perhaps their most rejuvenated-sounding record since 1997's . , released on their new label, Parasol, picked up right where they left off after their last album in 2000.
Once releasing an album every year and living on the road, the Poster Children's new releases and roadlife have slowed. Long married and now with a baby boy, they seem to be in a new chapter of the band-adulthood.
Rick spent 2003 finishing his undergraduate degree. Rose, now a graduate student in narrative media, split the time between her studies and the classes she now teaches. And both had their son to look after.
""It was the first year in a long time when we didn't play any shows,"" Rick said. ""Maybe since the beginning of the band.""
It seems weird to talk to a rock star who is grown up, who chooses tour dates and cities based on their proximity to an available grandparent. Gram Marshack Valentin, now three months old, comes on tour with them.
""People keep asking how I am adjusting to fatherhood, but really the only question is how are the other parts of our life adjusting to it. The other parts of my life had to make way for it,"" Rick said.
""I think the band and the rest of our lives are two separate things in a way. I mean, we like playing music no matter what, whether or not we can make a living at it. [...]We've figured out ways of making both of them work together, both sides of our lives.""
It's amazing the band has had such longevity. Rick credits the band's positive attitude and notes having his brother and wife in the band helps (""If we broke up, does that mean we don't hang out on Thanksgiving?""). He says he knows people who had ""so many bad experiences that [they] want[ed] to quit playing music. To me, that's really sad.""
But the Poster Children, too, have had experiences that should have soured them. Rose was once an evangelical fan of their one-time label, Warner Brothers. A few years ago, that relationship ended.
""The label was changing, and it was obvious we should leave. When we first were on the label they were very artist-friendly. They really wanted to develop bands over the years, and they also signed cool bands, not just bands who would sell a lot of records. These days you can't run a major label that way. It just doesn't fly. It used to be a really cool label. If Wilco couldn't get a record out on the label, there's no way we could.""
was released on a label only a few miles from the Valentin's house, a testament to how much they still want to record music. One way or another, claims Rick, music will be a part of their lives forever. And it seems like a real possibility. Many freshmen weren't even alive when the Poster Children started playing.
