I'm from the Midwest. And regardless of how I explain the place that I'm from, it seems that folks can't differentiate between reality and what they've figured through preconceived notions, television, its news programs and movies. Contrary to popular belief, there are pockets of relative culture in and around the Midwest. Yup, most of the industry is now a collection of rusted out sculptures representing past successes and current economic problems. But the Midwest isn't just an assortment of farms and cornfields.

Indiana, while still sporting sections of industrialized and burnt out cities and towns, is probably the most boring state to drive through - apart from Wyoming if you take I-90. So it's pretty surprising that there was a decent punk scene brewing in the Hoosier state during at least half of the '70s. With that being said, probably most of the bands on compilations like Gulcher Records' Red Snerts were from some of the more cosmopolitan areas or college towns like Bloomington.

The most well known group from the Hoosier state, though, was the Zero Boys. But before those folks helped codify hardcore, a few bands cropped up that still sound pretty exciting even at this late date. The Gizmos as well Dow Jones and the Industrials trafficked in different punk related musics to various ends.

The Gizmos - who were pretty much just a hard rock band - enervated its music by inserting more childlike phrases and thoughts into the music than even the Ramones were capable of. The melodies were as spartan as their New York counterparts, the beat was as simple and the lyrics might have been even more dumb. "Muff Divin' (In Wilkie South)" and "Pumpin' to Playboy" are pretty good examples of that. It didn't matter, though. Because of the topical and all too relatable lyrical content, perhaps more immediate to its hometown fans, those simple riffs seemed anthemic. And on "Bible Belt Baby," the band reaches back to deliver one of the finest cuts from the first wave of punk.

That track, however, was a part of a disc called Hoosier Hysteria! that feature the Gizmos as well as a band with a wider aural palette - Dow Jones and the Industrials.

Where the aforementioned band was pretty much a straight rock band, Dow Jones was more tied to the next step in punk - that just means that had a keyboard at their disposal. With Hoosier Hyseria! being split between two bands, it only served to extol the groups' differences. And on two back to back tracks from Dow Jones - "Malfunction" and "Dude in the Direction Field" - the band is able to get to a weird futuristic space that not too many punk related acts could or would get near. The tracks aren't in Screamers territory, but Devo wouldn't be too far fetched - on their demos at least. The slowed down tempo and odd timing the Indian group had was most adeptly expressed on these tracks. And while some of their other work may have been tied to a more strict interpretation of rock and roll, there were moments when Dow Jones and the Industrials moved past that and created something unrelated to anything that Midwestern folks had heard before.