Random Rules: Randall Poster

By AV Club Staff | October 23, 2007 | 5:01am

Music Features Film

The shuffler: Music supervisor Randall Poster has worked on soundtracks for dozens of films including Rushmore, Zodiac, Kids, and The Darjeeling Limited. He recently co-produced Guilt By Association, a tongue-in-cheek yet affectionate compilation of guilty-pleasure covers by indie-rock artists—Superchunk plays Destiny's Child's "Say My Name"; Geoff Farina reworks Eddie Money's "Two Tickets To Paradise," etc.

Minutemen, "D.'s Car Jam"

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Randall Poster: D. Boon is probably the artist who inspired me the most to get into doing music for movies. We met with him when I did my first movie, A Matter Of Degrees, and D. Boon said, "We'll do a song. We'll do all the music." We dedicated that movie to the memory of D. Boon. Mike Watt has been sort of a mainstay player in my career. He was in that movie. We actually just had Geoff Farina, from Karate, record "The Anchor" by the Minutemen. He's great. I guess the problem with him is he's losing his hearing and can't play in that band anymore, so we're gonna try to use him in movie stuff.

The Pretenders, "Stop Your Sobbing"

RP: I'm finishing up the new Wes Anderson movie, The Darjeeling Limited, we have three Kinks songs in the movie. Ray Davies is one of our heroes. The first time I heard The Pretenders' "Stop Your Sobbing" [a Kinks cover], I was completely enamored. And I think Nick Lowe produced that song. I would say he's probably top on my list of somebody I'd like to work with. I think he's had songs in movies—"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, And Understanding?" here and there. I read where this guy Curtis Stigers covered it for the Bodyguard soundtrack and that helps [Lowe] maintain a decent lifestyle, all the sales from the Bodyguard soundtrack.

The A.V. Club: Why do you think he'd be good for movie work?

RP: I just love his voice. One of my favorite records of all time is Elvis Costello's Get Happy!, and then the Rockpile records, I love. It's not so much any kind of real pure cinematic notion as much as I just love the songs. Those first four Elvis Costello records that he produced, those are some of my favorite records of all time.

Mark Lanegan, "Hit The City"

RP: Again, one of the great voices of rock 'n roll—Mark Lanegan from Screaming Trees. I just finished [the Bob Dylan biopic] I'm Not There, and he did a song for us for that.

Sparklehorse, "Dark As A Dungeon"

RP: Kind of a great rock 'n roll tragic figure, Mark Linkous. They used his song ["It's A Wonderful Life"] in that movie Laurel Canyon, and it was his song that the band in the movie was playing, and Lou Barlow was in the band on camera.

Doug Sahm, "Goodbye San Francisco"

RP: I put a Doug Sahm song, "(Is Anybody Going To) San Antone" in a movie, Jesus' Son, which I love, one of my favorite songs that I ever put in a movie, with great Bob Dylan background vocals, or counter-vocals, on it.

Tommy Guerrero, "Create And Destroy"

RP: That's pretty funny, 'cause Tommy lives in the Bay Area. A really super-cool musician, borne out of that skateboard world I find so exciting—the cross-currenting between music, art, and sports, and a very unique collection of people.

House Of Freaks, "40 Years"

RP: They were a legendary two-piece band, which is kind of rare. Unfortunately, that guy in the band [Bryan Harvey] was murdered, or whatever it was, two years ago. That was right in that era where college radio was becoming alternative music.