One Sock released its album, “Cicero,” in February of 2024.

The band started at Luther Preparatory School in Watertown, Wisconsin, under the name Buffalo Punch, but changed the name to One Sock after the members started playing at MLC. The name of the band was made on the spot right before a show when the lead guitar player placed one of his socks on the drum set, and so the band was christened.

The band has gone through many changes besides the name throughout the years, with members joining and leaving, moving where it performed or practiced, but one thing remains consistent — why it makes music.

“With all this stuff, the stuff in high school and college, I think we can say it’s just fun to play for your friends,” One Sock member Jon Holz said. “Just to put on a concert for friends. We just enjoy it.”

A Spotify code for One Sock’s Spotify page.

The core members of the band currently are Atticus Lawrenz, who plays drums and guitar and is also the sound engineer, Ryan Boggs as the main vocalist, Adam Dahle on Bass and Jon Holtz is the “Muse” in the studio and plays keyboard, along with vocalist Isabel Monday and Luke Staude, who helps on the keys.

Lawrenz is the only member of the band majoring in music, with the others headed on the pastor track at MLC. The group’s background with music varies wildly, with Lawrenz having a long history with music and playing multiple instruments, and Holtz learning to play rock chords on the keyboard specifically for the band.

“I’m the muse to bounce ideas off of,” joked Holz. “Because I’m the least musically talented … I’m a jack of all trades, master of none.”

The band has put on numerous concerts at MLC, along with performances in the talent shows there, and has even played at a wedding. The band rarely takes paid gigs, but rather hosts their concerts for the love of playing music together.

“We’re not really a gig band,” Dahle said. “We’re just playing music for fun.”

A frame from One Sock’s official music video for “P.O. Box (119-4).”

“Cicero” was a cumulation of the band’s efforts throughout the year, with some of the songs planned before recording and some written right at the recording location. That location was a cabin in the woods near Adams-Friendship in central Wisconsin, and over 10 days, the band put together the nine-song album.

“A lot of the projects had already been pre-written by me,” Lawrenz said. “I just pulled up some old files and asked if they liked it.”

The songs in the album have various inspirations. The title song “Cicero,” is a metaphor for when Lawrenz left the band to study music at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh for his sophomore year. It was at Oshkosh where Lawrenz developed many of the melodies for the songs in “Cicero.”

Other songs, such as “Pantry Blankets,” are inspired by the environment of the cabin.

“Essentially, none of the lyrics mean anything,” Dahle, who wrote the first draft of the song, said. “It’s just complete gibberish. Each line is supposed to be a real heartthrob song, because I wanted Ryan to sing a song like that. It was the night I was going to leave the cabin … Ryan had the idea, because he’s such an angel, to make it a healthy breakup song.”

One Sock’s Ryan Boggs sings during a performance by the band.

The title of the song refers to the blankets that the band put up to absorb sound in a closet they used to record — a nonsense title for a nonsense song.

For the album, Lawrenz developed much of the music for the songs, while Boggs wrote many of the lyrics. While much of the music is inspired from 90s rock, the band adjusted to Bogg’s smoother voice.

“I don’t have a rock voice,” Boggs said. “So that’s when we actually started writing our own stuff. We could sort of write around me not having a super manly rock voice. It kind of worked out that way so that it fit a lot better.”

When the album came out, the band didn’t expect much of a reaction. But in certain groups, they have gotten plenty of positive feedback.

“When it first came out, I knew we were going to get some people that just said it’s really good just to say it’s really good,” Boggs said. “But I think the best compliments I ever got, people were like, ‘It kind of just sounds like a band.’ That’s the biggest compliment that we could have gotten.

Atticus Lawrenz (right) plays guitar along with the rest of One Sock at a concert at Turner Hall for the Martin Luther College spring formal dance.

“The best is when you’re on a long car ride with someone or you’re hanging out at someone’s house,” Staude added. “And you’re playing music and you sneak one and see if anyone notices. Just play attention and see if people notice anything. They don’t even realize it and that’s when you know it’s good.”

Now, when the band puts on a concert, they can be sure they can get an audience despite doing little to promote it.

“As just a no-name band, to go to a show and have 150 people show up for you with absolutely no marketing, no advertising at all, we don’t go around and try to build a following, they just know us,” Dahle said. “We can put our name out there and say One Sock is playing, and people will just show up.”

For future work, Staude and Lawrenz are working on a new album with 17 songs planned.

“I’ve been working on an album since last February,” Staude said. “Lots of synths, stuff like that.”

The band may release a single or two if they have time, but for them, the focus is still on just having fun playing music like they always have. Those interested in listening to One Sock’s music can find the band on Spotify or youtube at https://www.youtube.com/@Onesock.one.official