The Gizmos – 1976 / 1977: The Studio Recordings (2000)

Formed in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, in 1976, the Gizmos revolved around several contributors to the alternative broadsheet fanzine Gulcher. They were initially led by vocalist ‘Krazy’ Ken Highland, but he left the ‘group’ to serve time in the US Marines. The Gizmos issued four EPs, The Gizmos (1976), Amerika First (1977), Gizmos World Tour and Never Mind The Sex Pistols Here’s The Gizmos (both 1978). Their music was a curious mixture of 70s-styled rock and smirking, locker-room humour, as evinced in titles such as ‘Pumping To Playboy’ and ‘Gimme Back My Foreskin’. The results were largely non-entertaining and the already-thin premise wore out very quickly. They folded in 1980, having contributed material to Hoosier Hysteria which they shared with another Bloomington act, Dow Jones And The Industrials. Vocalist and guitarist Dale Lawrence, who wrote much of the Gizmos’ later work, then formed Crawlspace, while Eddie Flowers joined the Vulgar Boatmen. In 1987 Highland reignited his recording career with the Kenne Highland Clan And The Exploding Pidgins, a 60s-influenced garage band, who released a self-titled debut that year on the Stanton Park label.