Hey, I’m Dee and I had the great honor of interviewing midwest punk legend, founder of the zine, Vulcher and member of 70s punk band, The Gizmos, Eddie Flowers. Eddie has been in the rock music game when all of us were practicing our backstroke in our daddy’s ball-bag so it was really interesting to pick his brain on the past and future of punk rock. Dig it!
What were some of the best and worst Gizmo gigs from back in the day?
The original Gizmos only did two live shows in March 1977—two nights at the Monroe County Public Library in Bloomington with MX-80 Sound opening. I was so sick I didn’t perform, though. But a year earlier, we played a party in Highland, Indiana, where we did all four songs from the first EP in front of a bunch of drunken teenagers. I was 18 and truly outta-my-mind drunk for the first time ever. It was embarrassing and memorable and there’s a recording floating around somewhere. We did a buncha fun shows were after we came back in 2014—Gonerfest, Cleveland Halloween bash, several shows in Bloomington and Indy, WFMU and Brooklyn, etc. And last year in Detroit for the Outer Limits Summer Stroh-Down was one of the greatest times I’ve had in my life! Three wonderful wasted days of fun!
My friend Rik Kasso, of the Windsor hardcore band, The Waterheads, said that you told him there were two different Gizmos, one authentic and the other imposters. What’s the story behind that?
Not quite. No imposters—it was organic but weird. The original band happened in 1976/1977—really just two recording sessions and those two shows I mentioned before. I never even lived in Indiana—I just came up from Alabama a few times 1974-1977. And most of the band was in northern Indiana far away from Bloomington. After the first sessions in 1976, Kenne Highland went into the Marines. Three EPs came from the original group of guys: THE GIZMOS, AMERIKA FIRST, and GIZMOS WORLD TOUR. Then Gulcher Records boss and Gizmos manager/co-creator put together a new band around Ted Niemiec, the one original member who was still into doing it. That band recorded a fourth Gizmos EP called NEVER MIND THE SEX PISTOLS HERE’S THE GIZMOS, which came out in 1978. That lineup played live a fair amount, and even did a short tour with a stop at Max’s Kansas City in New York City. Then Ted quit, and some of the remaining dudes continued as the Gizmos. That lineup did a split LP called HOOSIER HYSTERIA with Dow Jones & the Industrials on the other side. They moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, and broke up after not too long. They returned to Indiana and played occasional shows up through 2016, overlapping with our return. The two different lineups played a fortieth-anniversary show here in Bloomington in 2016, along with Dow Jones & the Industrials. Sadly, their bass player Billy Nightshade died, and they decided to stop doing shows for good. Their main songwriter Dale Lawrence did show up for the Gizmos in Chicago in 2017 to sing his song “The Midwest Can Be Alright” along with us. It’s all very confusing!
Who is the Gizmo that eats the most?
Well, that was Dave Sulak, our original bass player. “Human Garbage Disposal” tells the literal story of an eating contest between Dave and Kenne Highland where “Kenne puked so Dave could boast, ‘I’m the Gizmo who eats the most!’”
Who’s your favorite current punk band?
Oh, no way could I pick a favorite, but there are a lot of hot punk bands right now: Big Hog, the Resource Network, the Stools, Skull Cult, the Pops, Warm Bodies, DANA, Werewolf Jones, Civic, Pious Faults, Bib, etc.
How has rock n roll changed in your lifetime?
Oh wow, that’s a big question! I was born in 1957, so I’ve lived through most of it, and started actively paying attention in 1967 when I was 10 years old. Then I started writing for rock fanzines when I was 14 in early 1972. The first was Andy Shernoff’s TEENAGE WASTELAND GAZETTE a couple years before he formed the Dictators. The biggest thing to me about music changing is how little has changed for thirty years now. The 60s and 70s offered constant change and exploration. Things slowed down, but the 80s and 90s produced tons of new directions as well. I think American culture, in general, is deeply stagnant. We’re simply not progressing and innovating the way we once did. That’s probably inevitable. It used to bug me, but I’ve come to accept it for what it is, especially since there is so much exciting music right now. It’s not truly new in terms of form, but I understand that if you’re 20 years old, it’s ALL new to you! As long as the energy is real—as long as the soul is tingling my toes—I’m fine with it all. But it would be pretty bitchen is somebody had a NEW idea again someday—haha!
What have you been up to, musically or otherwise?
My Feeding Tube LP is out officially on February 14—EDDIE FLOWERS & THE WAX-LIP-SWAMP-DUB. I’ve done a few WLSD shows over the past year. Free improv—no planning—different lineup every time, although semi-regulars include Craig Bell (Rocket From The Tombs/Mirrors), Connor Martin (Skull Cult/The Pops), and Seth Mahern (Apache Dropout/Magnetic South). I’m also doing a new R&R band called Heavy Mother—straight-ahead three-chord rock. That will be with Connor playing bass, Mark McWhirter (ABC Gum/Cowboys) on lead guitar, Jacob Yang (The Pops) on drums, and me doing vox/rhythm guitar. Got half a dozen songs together—wanna do an EP and a few shows in the spring/summer. Also working slowly on the next issue of VULCHER magazine. Try to get to as many shows as possible. Bloomington’s got a handful of cool venues. Hang out, smoke weed, drop by Landlocked Music occasionally, drop a little acid occasionally—haha! It’s life, man.
What do you predict the future of punk to be?
I have no idea! It sometimes shocks me that I even listen to punk at this point in my life. I kinda O.D.’d on punk-rock in the late 80s, hated most of it in the 90s, and only started paying attention again after the Gizmos came back in 2014. Devocore cracked me up! The energy is great when it’s right, but the truth is that most punk is still generic macho dunce-rock. I don’t mind any of those things in theory, but I cringe when I see 20-year-olds flexing like Rollins. It’s cool to see that crap countered by a lot of female energy that was once missing in hardcore. I think the best thing about modern young punk is that the truly creative people involved are amazingly open to all kinds of other musics. The idiotic tribalism that was amusing/disgusting in the late 70s/early 80s doesn’t seem to really exist. Good.
What’s unique about rock music from the Midwest?
There IS something, but it’s hard to pin down. It’s like a FEEL. I guess you can trace it back to the MC5 and the Stooges. Part of it’s the combination of Midwestern friendliness and rock aggression. That’s one of the things I loved about my visit to Detroit last year—there was a sorta sweet-natured cockiness. Indiana’s a lot mellower, but there’s still a similar vibe when you got that fire lit under the butt of a supposedly well-mannered kid with hormones set to stun. I dig being an official Midwesterner for the first time!