Scantly six months removed from playing its first show, instrumental act Stock Options hasn’t wasted any time announcing its presence to the Milwaukee music scene. The band finds former Forstella Ford singer/guitarist Mark Sheppard behind the drum kit and ex-Disguised As Birds drummer Kevin Demars setting aside the skins in favor of a guitar. The change-up has seemed to work, as it — with the inclusion of Martin Defatte on bass — has resulted in a well-received debut EP and an already impressive accumulation of shows. Prior to the Stock Options’ next show (and one of its last before a self-imposed winter break), Music Notes spoke with Demars about the band’s quick start, its decision to take on unfamiliar roles and its all-around easygoing approach.
How did the band start? What’s the background for how everything happened?
Mark and I always would get together and play on and off. We’d toy around with different ideas and different instruments back and forth; just play a few times and come back together later and not remember them.
And when was this?
We were playing last summer, but Marty came in last September, and we kind of abandoned everything that Mark and I had done. Marty had done artwork for Forstella Ford (Mark’s former band), and Mark mentioned we were making music and [Marty] said he wanted to play too. That’s about it. We just started getting together.
How would you explain your band to a person who hasn’t heard you guys before?
A three-piece playing mid-tempo instrumental music with a range in sound from punk rock to metal [laughs]. Pretty much however it comes out, it comes out, I guess.
You’re one of the better local drummers I know of. What led to the lineup switch and you not playing the drums and having Mark on the drums — who’s traditionally been the guy in front?
I played guitar in bands before a little bit, so I thought that would be fun to try and go forward and, you know… Mark had a drum set for a year and just didn’t get a chance to play it much. I don’t think we expected to do a whole lot with it, but once Marty was interested, he… He’s really motivated. So I was probably going to find another band to play drums with, but I ended up focusing on this more. It’s been a lot of fun.
Other than the different instruments, how does this band differ from other bands you’ve had involvement with?
It’s tough to say. I think there’s no preconceived notion of what we’d actually be doing, which is part of why it’s taking so long. It’s pretty equal input. I come up with a lot of it at home, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that every part will be a whole song. It’s a pretty egalitarian kind of thing.
You played your first show only about half a year ago. With the band being so young, you’ve managed to do a lot. You’ve got a record out, you played the Bay View Bash, and you’ve done Summerfest, plus a lot of non-local shows. What’s behind that motivation?
Well, Mark hadn’t played in years, so he wanted to do quite a bit. I always wanted to do a little bit more than I did in previous bands but couldn’t due to logistics and time constraints and just people’s adult lives. With this, we were all in agreement that whatever show we were offered, that we would do it. But we’re kind of getting to the point where we have to start saying no, so we find some time to write some new stuff. But we’ve had a really good time just playing every show that was offered.
I read online that the show this weekend will be your last show for a while. Is that to write more songs, or what’s the reasoning behind that?
Yeah, that’s exactly it. We’ve got two songs that aren’t recorded that we’ve been playing recently. We’ve got a lot of other ideas we haven’t really had time, with all the shows we’ve been playing, to get the ideas on paper. We just really want to get back in the mode and get everything set up for whenever we have an idea or a song to record. By mid-winter or spring, we’ll see what we’ve got.
Other than a new record, what are some aspirations that you guys have with this band?
You know, I think we’re all pretty satisfied with whatever. Granted, we kind of hit the ground running when we first started. I’m looking forward to taking a little bit of a break and getting creative again, and hopefully just starting right back up once we have enough material to play a show without playing the same six old songs we’ve been playing.
Stock Options plays Friday at the Riverwest Public House alongside Astral/Subastral and HALFLETTERs. The show starts at 8 p.m. and costs $3. Go to wearestockoptions.com for more information and to hear or buy music from Stock Options.
Photos courtesy of Stock Options.
