IT CAME FROM THE GARAGE!

They've come and gone for more than 40 years, but these risk-takers are still cool, original and evocative, according to music experts.

In Indianapolis, they have names like The Naked Neighbors, Unikque and Night by Candlelight.

These groups, and dozens of others in the Indianapolis area alone, are called garage bands. In recent years, the number of Central Indiana garage bands has soared, according to Club Logos owner Tom Vornholt. Club Logos is a live music venue in Franklin that caters to the under-21 crowd.

"When we first started five years ago bringing bands in, we could hardly find any," he said. "But in the last year or so, it seems like they're just coming out from everywhere."

Many teens start a garage band as a means of expression because they are dissatisfied with today's popular music.

"Modern music sucks," said Tay Peters, 18, who sings, plays guitar, bass and writes music for The Naked Neighbors. "There are a lot of kids who realize that and are trying to make their own stuff."

He and his band mates amused themselves during a Y-Press interview by cracking jokes in between questions and screaming into the tape-recorder microphone.

Brad Thompson, 17, a vocalist and piano-playing member of Unikque, said the music on the radio all sounds the same. "I think garage bands are getting more popular and more noticed because people want unique music and not the same old stuff."

How did garage bands come to be, and why have they stayed popular?

In the '60s, rock 'n' roll took center stage, and kids -- looking up to their role models -- followed suit. Suddenly, like the popular children's game Whack-a-Mole, garage bands began popping up from the ground, and the trend was born.

"Rock and roll was the first music that kids could make themselves in great numbers," explained Mike Redmond, a former music critic for The Indianapolis News and columnist for The Indianapolis Star. Now a freelance writer and author, Redmond also teaches the history of American popular music at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

"In the Big Band Era, you couldn't just go out and throw together a big band with the kids at your school. You'd need four saxophone players and four trumpet players and four trombone players, and a rhythm section," he said. "In rock 'n' roll, you need a guitar, a bass and a drummer, and you're off to the races."

And today's garage bands have raced beyond rock.

At Club Logos, it's been all about variety when it comes to garage bands.

"You name it, we got it," said Vornholt. "We have punk nights, hardcore nights, alternative night, metal night.

"That's because there are so many different genres of music and so many areas that kids are interested in."

Night by Candlelight, The Naked Neighbors and Unikque reflect that diversity:

Night by Candlelight, an experimental/indie/grunge trio hailing from Lizton and Pittsboro, likes to blend different sorts of music, all the while having respect for classic rock.

"I'm kind of mushy," admitted guitarist Adam Burozski, 16, laughing, "So our music is kind of pop, hard rock mixed in with Smashing Pumpkins and jazz."

The Naked Neighbors, from Greenwood, is a ska group complete with bass, drums, guitar and horns. The members said they have an original sound and were adamant that the best way to find out is to come to one of their shows.

Unikque, an R&B/gospel-fused group whose members attend or have graduated from Key Learning Community, uses only voice and a piano, played by Brad Thompson. Each of the four members has a distinctive style and voice, and that's how the band name originated.

One thing that garage bands don't have to be is perfect. Redmond mentioned that he's a veteran bass and guitar player for several not-very-successful rock 'n' roll bands in northern Indiana, southern Michigan and northern Ohio.

Why weren't they successful?

"We stunk just as bad as (many garage bands) do now."

But it was lots of fun because it was all about making music, Redmond said, noting that being in a band impressed girls.

"If you weren't a football player or a basketball player, a guitar player was not a bad thing to be," he said.

Vornholt is into the fun, risk-taking part of the music, too. "These bands are trying to improve themselves and their music. We will let anybody in a band play at Logos the first time.

"I honestly don't care if their music is on tune or off tune; all I care about is if they're having a good time and if the fans are having fun with them."

Redmond, 52, was quick to point out that not all garage bands stink.

"This is where the great bands come from. You're familiar, I hope, with the Beatles? You're familiar with the Rolling Stones?" Redmond asked a group of Y-Press reporters and editors.

The five Y-Press members answered a collective "Yes."

Redmond replied: "Well, they had to start somewhere, didn't they?"

Another aspect of garage bands that Redmond believes is important is their connection to everyday people, which in today's society is not difficult, with the help of Web sites such as myspace.com, Purevolume .com and Garageband.com.

For example, the Naked Neighbors' Myspace page is full of videos, pictures, samples of music, a blog, links and an opportunity to communicate with the band.

But the Web also can be too much about egos.

"What I see flying around the Internet is not what I would call rock 'n' roll -- it's pop music," Redmond said. "We have a lot of people who have fallen guilty to what I call the 'American Idol' syndrome -- where they think they have to show off all their vocal tricks the first time out. It's not about the music anymore. It's about the performers.

"And that's the wonderful thing about garage bands -- that it's still about the music."

Redmond believes that garage bands just might unearth the next musical genre.

"I'm interested in seeing what the next musical revolution will be," he said. "Hip-hop was the last one . . . and you know, when you hear hip-hop in a commercial for soda pop or hamburgers, then you know we're about ready for another revolution. And won't it be interesting to see what that is?"

Who knows? The next revolution could be The Naked Neighbors, Unikque, Night by Candlelight or any other Indiana garage band -- just waiting to change the world.

REPORTERS: Hrishi Deshpande, 11; Melissa Woods, 10; Luke Nadolski, 12.

To hear audio clips from The Naked Neighbors, Unikque and Night by Candlelight, visit www.indystar.com/ypress.Moving to Focus

Beginning Jan. 28, Y-Press will move to the Sunday Focus section, where it will appear twice a month. IndySunday, which features elements of Arts & Entertainment, Indiana Living and Travel sections, will debut on that day.

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Get outta the garage and onto the stage

For all you up-and-coming bands, here are a few locations to play:

Carmel Performing Arts Center, 575 W. Carmel Drive, is a popular performing venue for garage bands. See its site at www.myspace .com/CPACSHOWS.

Club Logos, 1541/2 E. Jefferson St., Franklin, (317) 446-1503; www.clublogos.com.

Jewish Community Center, 6701 Hoover Road. JCC is holding its sixth annual Battle of the Bands at 8 p.m. March 17. Six local high school-age bands will be invited to perform and compete. All genres are welcome. Applications are available at www.jccindy.org. Selections typically are made by the end of February.

The Teen Arts and Music Festival is held in the summer. Details for the third annual festival will be announced at the music coordinator's Web site: www.mattstokes music.com. Last year, the festival was at the Wayne Branch of the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library and featured a variety of creative expressions by teens.