Evan Hock thinks a great song "can take a scrawny Midwestern kid and make him feel a little bigger for the day."

As the front man of Win With Willard, Hock says his goal is to "pass that feeling along."

The songwriter succeeds with "Remember the Alamo," an album released early this year.

Lyrically, the songs celebrate American archetypes and legends. Musically, the band treads ground familiar to fans of late '90s indie rock bands Mineral and Get Up Kids, but adds elements of Americana rock familiar to most native Hoosiers.

The band relocated to Indianapolis from Muncie, which has recently taken the lead as the state's most musically prolific college town.

"Muncie is a tight-knit town," Hock said, "I think (Everthus the Deadbeats and Everything Now!) have done a good job of creating a sound and generating an enviable group of fans to push that sound along (to)."

The quirky, multi-instrumental rock propagated by Ball City transplants has taken hold in Indianapolis, but has led to fans putting unrealistic demands on other bands from the area.

"The way the local press goes gaga over bands like them sets the expectation that if you don't have 15 people in your band, or one of them doesn't play the sousaphone, then you don't make art," Hock said.

Rather than fight the perception, Hock and his bandmates are comfortable doing what they do.

"We're 'Win with Willard.' We have a terrible name. We only have four people in our band. We made a terrific record. We think you'll like it," he said.

Win With Willard

Who: Evan Hock (vocals, guitar), Eric Carter (keys, organ, backing vocals), Adam Geisen (bass, backing vocals), Mike Buratto (drums).

Hear them: myspace.com/winwithwillard

Influences: Nirvana, Neutral Milk Hotel, Radiohead, Pedro the Lion. Photo provided by Peter Gaunt