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“Circles” by the Noise FM

Like most wide-eyed young rock bands, the Noise FM isn’t above a good gimmick.

In high school in Fort Scott, Kansas, Alex Ward, Austin Ward and Derek Wright — who were then in a band called the Pond Monkeys — brought a collection of cosmetology heads onstage when they performed.

“Every once in a while, we’d kick ’em at the audience,” Austin recalls.

“People thought it was weird. Not good weird — creepy weird,” Alex adds.

Now that the trio has grown up, moved to Lawrence and released its first nongimmicky album as the Noise FM, things are getting serious — sort of.

“The water plant thinks we’re terrorists because we keep driving by in a big white van,” Alex says of a recent expedition to collect mattresses for soundproofing purposes.

“We could only carry one mattress at a time, so we had to make nine trips [past the plant],” Austin explains. “Two cops were outside of our house when we got home.”

Now based in Lawrence with a mattress-lined basement, the trio has been working its way into the local scene with a melodic collection of dance-oriented rock tunes.

“More than anything, we like a good beat,” Austin says, citing Muse and Queens of the Stone Age as two primary influences.

“It’s accessible but not shallow. It’s detailed,” Wright says.

With all three members schooled in multiple instruments, the Noise FM’s stage show — Alex on guitar and vocals, Austin on drums and vocals and Wright on bass — offers only a hint of what the trio can pull off in the studio.

“Any [recorded] music you hear from us is mostly Alex’s hard work,” Austin says. “He spends endless hours on ProTools remixing and fine-tuning.”

The group’s self-produced debut, Night of the Sentinels, contains 11 tracks of ballsy, riff-driven rock. Ever industrious, the group recently posted two new cuts, “Circles” and “Iron Lung,” on its MySpace profile.

The band also appears to be coming up with more fruitful gimmicks, such as the full-length feature film that the band members just wrapped up. Based on a comedic character sketch of a past-his-prime redneck, Jimmy Flash recently premiered to a sold-out theater in Fort Scott.

“The dream has come and gone, but Jimmy never gave it up,” Alex says of the main character, whom Austin portrays.

Fortunately, the dream is still burning in the hearts of the Noise FM — and that’s the best gimmick of all.