The Gizmos were a legendary Indiana band of the late 1970s that put out three EPs at the beginning of the punk-rock/new wave age. Formed by singers and rock critics Ken Highland and Eddie Flowers in 1976, they released the EP The Gizmos (Gulcher, 1976), one of the earlies documents of the era. While naif to the bone, the four songs are quintessential: the surf guitar progressions of Muff Divin', the catchy Them-style anthem Mean Screen, and their little masterpiece, That's Cool, that weds the raw, menacing boogie of the Velvet Underground with the Rolling Stones' thorny rhythm and blues riffs. With Highland enrolled in the navy, Flowers took the leading role on the following EPs, the vastly inferior Amerika First (Gulcher, 1977) and World Tour (Gulcher, 1978). The latter returned partially to the shimmering form of the debut, thanks to the epic, Lou Reed-tinged refrain of Gizmos World Tour and to the swinging rhythm and blues of We're Gonna Rumble. Singer and guitarist Dale Lawrence emerged as the only leader on the EP Never Mind The Sex Pistols (Gulcher, 1978). Two years later the Gizmos shared an album with Dow Jones and The Industrials, Hoosier Hysteria (Gulcher, 1980), a side filled with more blasphemous rock and roll numbers. The EP and the album will be collected on Never Mind The Gizmos (Gulcher).

hide text