STOP THE CAR was formed in 1984 in Evansville, Indiana. Over the next five years, their music (an eclectic mix described by one writer as "The Cure meets Black Sabbath at Siouxsie's house while listening to an X album") and their theatrical, high-energy live performances enjoyed considerable success on the local level, drawing large crowds to their shows at the Ross and Alhambra Theatres. During this period, STC released two self-financed cassettes, 1985's Blue Creatures (now available on Compact Disc) and 1988's Secret Desire. In 1989, the band set off to Nashville, Tennessee in search of a larger audience , where they shared the stage with bands like Mr. Crowe's Garden (The Black Crowes), Rock City Angels, Chagall Guevara, Anastasia Screamed, and The Grinning Plowman. In 1991, personal conflicts and professional frustrations took their toll, resulting in the band's demise.

Fast forward six years to Cincinnati, Ohio, where, as fate would have it, the four core band members had all moved, albeit at different times and for different reasons. A phone call between Mark and Kevin resulted in the idea of a one-off "reunion" gig. The show, performed in August 1997 at the Sho-Bar in Evansville,was a rousing success, reuniting the band with a couple of hundred old friends, providing the capital for the recording of a new CD (entitled Stop the Car), and convincing the band to stay together and give STC another shot.

From the first few tentative post-reunion rehearsals to the present, there grew a renewed commitment among the members of Stop the Car, both to the band and to one another. Gigs came at an increased and more consistent rate. Hallowe'en 1999 saw the release of a brand-new CD, Crash, featuring all-new material written since the band's reformation. Secret Desire was also re-released on CD (with 9 previously unreleased tracks) on the heels of the success of the Blue Creatures remaster/re-release. Hoped-for CD releases of more out-of-print or previously unreleased STC material include the demos for the aborted 1987 Black Not Blue album, Unearthed (a collection of live, studio, and basement rarities), and Mark's post-STC band Pale Halo's 1995 album Belle Fleur de Tristesse (also with a CD-only bonus track). Click on the recordings link to the left for currently available Stop the Car CD's.

This chapter of the band's existence came to an end in early 2000 with the departures of Kevin and Vince. Mark and Melissa hope to continue to create and collaborate, but this is definitely a time of retreat and introspection for them both. Watch this site for updates as they occur. In the meantime, feel free to browse the links to the left for access to the STC archive of photos, flyers, lyrics, etc.