2015-2018: Original Lineup, Formation, Hiatus

In 2015, Charles "Izzy" Fortune attended the Arizona State University as q physics, math, and music undergraduate student. During this time, Izzy and classmate Aydin Golabi were recruited to help longtime friend Michael Fong, who was attending school for audio-engineering at CRAS. A number of songs and stories were written both for personal use and as for college assignments that would later be used in future Poppy Roscoe projects. The band was officially formed in 2016 and the group recorded their first single “Palm” under the name “Poppy Roscoe”. After the success of the recording, Izzy Fortune moved to San Diego, California to continue developing the band.

While living in San Diego Izzy worked with Aydin, often discussing the first album and occasionally having him record guitar and vocal parts. The duo was later joined by another local musician and established guitarist, Max Meeder, forming the core members of the original lineup. The band performed together live onstage in various local venues around the city.

While living in a one-bedroom apartment, Poppy Roscoe recorded their eponymous demo tape: “Poppy Roscoe in the Devilish Dance”, an exploratory semi-concept album that touches on themes of personal isolation, childhood bliss, psychedelic spirituality, rebellious spirits, and coming to terms with the meaning of life.  Details on the recoding are scarce, however the album was entirely self-produced and made with broken, used, and refurbished equipment. Several other Arizonian musicians who were also involved in the project included Jake Smith, whom had played in various bands with Izzy, and Adam Pena, Izzy’s younger brother.

After the short-lived release of their first album, the band briefly attempted to begin work on their second album when deepening personal relationships within the band began to worsen. The increasing tension lead founder and primary composer Izzy Fortune to leave the band to pursue other projects.

The band officially went on hiatus in 2018 after each member decided to go in different directions following Izzy’s departure, finding the band untenable in his absence.

2019: The One More for Safety Sessions

After a few-year hiatus, Izzy brought the band back together with founding members Adam Pena (Lead Guitar) and Jacob Smith (Drummer/Percussion) in the spring of 2019 to write the band’s second demo tape “One More For Saftey”, a collaboration of songs jointly written by Adam and Izzy over the course of several weeks.

Plans were made to reunite the band and rerecord the album with a small local tour, however a full reunion never happened.

2022-present: Official Reformation and Commercial Debut

After another brief pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Izzy wrote and recorded with Poppy Roscoe the adventurous concept album “Sea Fortune and the Desert Rats”, a bold and experimental rock-opera that’s an amalgam of different genres, culminating in its own full-length movie. Both Adam Pena and Jacob Smith returned for the project, marking the first time the three members had all collaborated in the same space together. The accompanying animated mixed-media film for “Sea Fortune and the Desert Rats” was produced entirely by the band, with Izzy doing most of the animation and Jake recording most of the live footage sequences.

Since then, original guitarist Max Meeder and rhythm guitarist Dahlia Grizzard have joined the band, and is currently touring extensively as of 2024, with several shows and performances scheduled.

Future Plans

Future plans include several single releases, several more studio albums, a live album, and a full blown space opera (with accompanying animated film).