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Jj connoisseurs of the
Jt\w «J»U Criterion Collection may
recall the ecstatic peroration delivered by
tortured TV executive Frank Cross, played by
Bill Murr:y, at the close of the film Scrooged.
Upon invading a live TV broadcast with the aid
of crazed gunman Bobcat Goldthwait, our hero
explored the addictive quality of doing good
work. Joe Terry is familiar with this feeling.
While speaking of the tour that his indie-pop
band. The Poison Control Center, is currently
on. he strikes a contemplative tone.
"It's a shame to think that it might end."
he says. "When you do a three- or five-week
tour, you start to look forward to the end of
it, so you can... get back to your normal rou
tine. But when we kinda gave up everything,
we didn't have those responsibilities in the
back of our minds, filling up into a ball of
anxiety. It was just kinda like, 'We're just a
freewheeling, carefree band, and all we have
to worry about is driving and getting to the
next town so we can rock out again.'"
The Poison Control Center has been on tour
since June of 2010. This excludes some time
off for Christmas (natch) and the month the
bandmembers took to record, mix and master
their forthcoming album. Stranger Ballet. Aside
from that, the band has been crisscrossing
America repeatedly, playing some places three,
four, five or—in the case of Athens—six
times. Their magnetic pull, time and again,
towards the Classic City is no coincidence.
"It's hard to think that we would even be
a touring band if it wasn't for Athens." says
Terry, speaking to Flagpole from a stop in
Austin, TX. "When Mike (Turner] invited us to
play that first Popfest [in 2004], that turned
us into a touring band. We were like, 'We've
gotta get down to Athens. We don't know how.
but we're gonna make it happen."'
It's been over 10 years since bassist/vocal
ist Terry and vocalist/guitarist Patrick Tape
Fleming met vocalisl/guitarist Devin Frank at
a show in their hometown of Ames. I A; the
bill included Masters of the Hemisphere and
The Essex Green. Fleming approached Frank
and struck up a conversation because the lat
ter was wearing an Elf Power t-shirt.
"It all kinda started at that show—all the
bands that night were great; they were kinda
role models for a young impressionable band
like us," says Terry. "We were all getting into
Elephant Six... so it was pretty exciting for
those bands to come to Iowa because a lot
of bands like that don't make a stop in an
unknown Midwestern state.
This show likely made an impression
beyond the stylistic: the idea of going to far-
flung. rock-starved portions of North America
has undoubtedly been an important facet of
the unbelievably hard-touring quartet, which
also includes original drummer/songwriter
Donald E. Curtis (currently an absentee mem
ber) and current timekeeper David Olson.
The original incarnation of the band was
indeed a sort of mistranslated, regionally
mutated version of the Elephant Six collective,
with ringleader Fleming bringing anyone and
everyone into the fold.
"Patrick was always sort of the master
mind of the band; he was always encouraging
people to bring forth their own ideas," says
Terry. "He's not the most trained musician by
any means, but he knows what he likes, and
he encourages other people to do good stuff.
A part of the band from the beginning was his
openness to invite other people in to play and
share their talents, be it singing or playing or
producing or whatever. That's why the line-up
of the band was fluid for those first few years,
because practically everyone Patrick knew
played in PCC at one point or another."
As a recording project, the band was an
all-inclusive wall of sound; live, it was a cha
otic noisefest. Functioning as a regional party
band, they briefly toyed with the gimmick of
wearing all green onstage. In 2004 the band
whittled down to what would be its core line
up, but for their part, the remaining quartet
have retained much of the frenzied exuberance
of the band’s early days.
The Poison Control Center shows are a
spectacle of leg splits, somersault guitar
solos, sweaty audience interaction and the
occasional swinging guitar fight. "We're a
little older, and the bruises don't heal as fast,
so we have to be a bit cautious," says Terry.
"If you have an equipment failure, you bre k a
string or something, you can't keep rockin'—
you goita do something to kinda vent."
But beyond the horseplay, listeners will
discover a diverse palette on documents such
as their 2010 double album. Sad Sour Future.
This is due, in no small part, to the fact that
the bandmembers all contribute equally to
the band's staggering output of singles and
EPs. Terry, who is responsible for some of the
band's more laid-back, CCR-esque material—a
respite from their more typical fare of high-
spirited power pop—speaks highly of their
unconventionally democratic setup.
"We just take equal responsibility, or equal
blame, for what we do." he says, laughing.
"It’s a bonus; it's nice to share in something
that we were alt equally invested in." It's easy
to see that when you're doing something you
believe in. you can get greedy for it; you'll
want it every day of your life. And it can hap
pen to you.
Jelf Tobias
(
WHO: The Poison Control Center
WHERE. Caledonia Lounge
WHEN: Monday, July 11
HOW MUCH: TBA
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to 4 bedroom furnished
CfVDS,J(J(_y
706.543.4400
JULY6.2011-FLAGPOLE.COM 15
