Emergency Broadcast Network

Emergency Broadcast Network functions chiefly as a multi-media collective instead of a standard band, assembling video collages in much the same way that electronic producers manipulate samples to shape sound. Josh Pearson, listed as Public Relations Programmer, and Gardner Post, identified as Systems Manager, first encountered each other at the Rhode Island School of Design in the early 1980s and started testing video sampling methods there. DJ Ron O'Donnell joined them in 1990. With all their equipment loaded into a Chevy truck, the three trailed the 1991 Lollapalooza tour across the United States, screening soundtracked videos for often puzzled concertgoers. Their initial release, comprising the video Commercial Entertainment Product and the audio CD Behavior Modification, came out on TVT in 1992. Visibility surged later that year when U2 opened its Zoo TV tour with one of the group’s pieces. In 1995 the trio issued a second album while also directing videos for Coldcut and additional electronica artists.