Personnel: Danny Obler, bass, lead vocals; Keith Houghteling, percussion; Jeff Nolan, guitars; Tim Schmidt, keyboards, vocals.
Formed: July 1989, with the current lineup, in the south suburbs.
Sound: ”It`s changed a lot in the year and a half we`ve been together,” Obler says. ”It started out more like a straight-ahead pop thing, and now we concentrate more on the rhythm part of it. (There`s) a lot of power and emotion behind the songs.”
Influences: Obler says the group`s tastes vary, but influences include Led Zeppelin, R.E.M. and the Clash.
Songwriting: ”We all get together and do it, mainly,” Obler says, adding that he and Schmidt write the lyrics, which are about ”whatever`s been happening to us, mainly-whatever catches our attention.”
Onstage cover versions: Favorites include Zeitgeist`s ”Things Don`t Change,” the Monkees` ”(I`m Not Your) Steppin` Stone” and Naked Raygun`s
”Knock Me Down.”
Namesake: ”We were looking up another word in the dictionary and saw
`poorboy` and were surprised it was in there,” Obler says. ”It could be a sandwich, it could be a less fortunate male. We liked it because it didn`t label us to a certain category and is simple to remember.”
Memorable concert experience: ”Probably our most memorable concert was the first time we played in Chicago-we played at Cabaret Metro, which was pretty surprising,” Obler says. ”That really got us in gear. We said if we could play at Metro, we could play at any other clubs.”
Recordings: The cassette, ”Cotyledon,” came out in late 1989 on the band`s own Green House Records. The Poorboys have been working on another self-produced 10-song cassette at ARS Studios in Alsip, to be released in late summer.
Philosophy: ”We kind of like to rock hard,” Obler says. ”Most of our expression is in our music and not in our show. Our music hits people more so than our show does.”
Goals: ”We just basically want to take this as far as we can and hopefully quit our jobs sometime and make a good, sound living in the music business,” Obler says.
Next appearance: Friday at Cabaret Metro, with Falling Joys and the Pedaljets.
