THE LEGEND OF THE GIZMOS 1976-1978

Are we legendary yet? Infamous? An embarrassment? One version of the myth begins in 1974 when I met Ken Highland and Bob Richert in Bloomington, Indiana. A couple years later, just as Ken was about to enter the Marine Corps, Bob convinced him to make a record. Ken brought together various friends to become his instant band the Gizmos. No gigs, almost no rehearsals--just some songs and a day in a “studio” (a guy’s spare bedroom). And voila! The Gizmos became the first Indiana punk-rock band, even though we were barely a band, and neither Ken nor I were in Indiana for very long. Somehow we came together again in 1977 to record enough for two more EPs, played two live shows at the Bloomington library, and disappeared again (until our 2014 return). Ted Niemiec was the one original Gizmo who remained in Bloomington, and producer/manager Bob formed another band around him. Most importantly, guitarist/songwriter Dale Lawrence joined the new group. This lineup acted like a real band--played lots of shows. They even did a short tour that resulted in three songs from the fourth Gizmos EP being recorded at Max’s Kansas City in NYC. But eventually Ted also quit, leaving Dale to regroup a third time for a Gizmos lineup that included zero original members. But that story happens after this story (Dale’s Gizmos did a split LP and recorded lots of archival stuff that has been released since then). So, y’know, punk-rock refuses to die. Here’s some very early American examples for the first time on the cassette format that everybody thought was dead and buried 30 years ago. Just like punk, it won’t go away! Will ANYTHING ever go away again??? Have fun!

gulcher