Poison Control Center's covers EP explained

If you buy Poison Control Center's new album "Stranger Ballet" at their CD release shows (Friday at the Vaudeville Mews), or pre-order it on their site you also get a free covers EP, "Running Back."

I was curious how the band chose the song five songs on the EP, and band member Patrick Fleming was kind enough to explain it to me.

Salty Salute by Guided By Voices:
This is the first song off of the amazing record Alien Lanes.  We have been covering this song on and off since we first did it on tour in January of 2008 for Chris Yetter who is a huge GBV fan. He had drove a couple hours to see us in Shreveport, LA so we felt we owed it to him!  This is a great song to cover cause GBV fans are die hards, and they all drink a lot of beer, and put 2 and 2 together and you have a great sing along anthem. Our cover is pretty noisy but not to far away from the original.  Listen close and you can hear Devin (Frank) reading a book about UFO's, do you get it, Alien Lanes!

Running Back by Thin Lizzy:
This past year on tour Joe (Terry) had a mix cd that had this song on it and I fell in love with it and made it a mission to find Jailbreak the album on cd used somewhere!  I got lucky in Cleveland and we started cranking the album all the time.  Even Dave (Olson) who does not usually share Joe, Devin, and I's taste found himself putting on "Cowboy Song," or "The Boys are Back in Town." Elliot Imes of Tyborn Jig and Derek Lambert and the Prairie Fires heard we were digging on Thin Lizzy in the van and told us we should cover this song, we debuted it at the Beachwood Lounge at our homecoming show November 20th of last year. 

What's the Ugliest Part of Your Body? by Frank Zappa:
This is from one of Joe, Devin, and I's favorite albums, Were Only In It For the Money. On tour this past spring I spontaneously played it a few times at the end of the set, one very memorable time was while we were on tour with Brass Bed in Chicago, Johnny from Brass Bed jumped up on stage to sing the crazy back up vocals with us on this Zappa classic.  When we recorded this version I just played the piano and sang and Devin did the back ups it took about 5 minutes to record the whole song.

Most Exclusive Residence for Sale by the Kinks:
The Kinks have always been a huge influence on the Poison Control Center. I bet at least once a week on tour we play a Kinks record.  While on tour Joe and Devin were talking about Kinks songs they would like to cover and I know this one got mentioned.  That same conversation was brought back up when we were recording these covers so we learned it on the spot and Joe said he wanted to sing it, which probably bummed Devin out a bit but heck he got to sing Thin Lizzy!

I'll Stop Loving You by Christopher the Conquered:
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to help record the Christopher the Conquered album Your Gonna Glow In the Dark.  So I remember the night he played me this song in my basement.  I thought to myself, "Oh My God, that's one of the most beautiful songs ever written."  I was amazed that i was going to get to record the song for him. 
While on tour this past year, we played we covered this in Louisville, and a gal at the show has seen CTC play last year at 80/35.  It made my night and I'm so happy we covered this song and I got to sing it, because it truly is one of the most beautiful songs ever written!