Biography

Angular, distortion-kissed indie rockers the Poison Control Center came together in the early 2000s with Patrick R. Tape Fleming, Devin W. Frank, Joseph P. Terry, and Donald Ephraim Curtis III. Hailing from the college town of Ames, IA, the Poison Control Center gained a strong local following with an intelligent garage rock sound that nodded to influences like Archers of Loaf and Guided by Voices and welcomed comparisons to contemporaries like Tapes 'n Tapes and the Subjects. In the six-year period between 2001 and 2007, the group independently released several EPs and singles, toured the U.S., made two appearances at the CMJ Music Marathon, was featured on NPR, and eventually found a home on the Minneapolis-based label Afternoon Records. Their debut full-length, A Collage of Impressions, was released in the fall of 2007, and a split single with indie pop veterans the Apples in Stereo followed soon thereafter. After some touring behind the album, the members of the group (apart from Fleming) ended up leaving Ames and moving to different towns. While this might have led some groups to disband, instead it pushed the Poison Control Center to be more productive and focused. For the next album they wrote over 40 songs in a three-month period and recorded them during a weeklong marathon. The resulting record, Sad Sour Future, was released in May of 2010. ~ Tim Sendra, Rovi