Just by looking at the cover of The Why Store’s major-label debut CD, one can tell the group of guys from Indiana does not have a rock star complex.

Of course, the art department at MCA designed it, so they aren’t exactly your average run-of-the-mill starving artists.

The barren, vintage gas station which adorns the self-titled disc seems to pay homage to the quintet’s humble beginnings in Muncie, Ind. The band’s roots can be traced to the campus of Ball State University.

Lead singer/guitarist Chris Shaffer, bassist Greg Gardner and lead guitarist Michael David Smith all started playing in neophyte cover bands.

The music scene was so small that they knew each other and inevitably hooked up in early 1991. The three then started writing and performing their own material.

“We got together and started playing for about a year then we got Charlie [Bushor, drums] and things started to hop,” Smith said. Keyboardist Jeff Pederson was added, solidifying the act.

In the past five years, though, little else has changed. That is, if you don’t count the first single off The Why Store disc, “Lack of Water,” which reached No. 5 on “Billboard’s” singles chart.

“This band has never faked it,” Smith explained. “A lot of bands will adapt and change… I won’t name any names. That’s not the way to go. I believe in staying true.”

Expanding its loyal fan base beyond the sometimes restricting walls of the Midwest, The Why Store has been hauling ass, playing coast to coast for the last year.

Recently, it signed on to open for fellow Hoosier John Mellencamp for the last leg of his current tour.

But, as the band discovered, all roads lead home.

“We didn’t know if anybody would know who we were,” Smith said of the group’s first big tour with The Samples. “But we played a lot of colleges. And, well, those people graduate and they move and they bring their friends to the show. So, it starts as a grassroots thing.”

When it came time to pick a suitor, or rather, one of the many record labels that courted the guys, the choice came down to compatibility. Way Cool Music, a division of MCA, provided the best “vibe.”

“To be honest, we didn’t think of [money,]” Smith said. “[The people at Way Cool] don’t have the mentality most labels have.”

Instead, life at Way Cool is, well, way cool. “Water’s” follow-up single, “Father,” featured a video co-starring Beverly D’Angelo and was directed by filmmaker John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy, Marathon Man).

“We’re trying to build things slowly,” Smith said. “We didn’t make a video to ‘Water’ because we didn’t want that to be our defining song. We don’t want to known as the ‘Water’ band.

“Our show is very different,” he added. “It’s not like [fans] come to hear ‘Lack of Water’ and then leave.”

The Why Store will flood People’s Bar and Grill this Saturday. Opening bands The Grapes and The Borrowers kick things off at 9 p.m. Tickets for the show sold out within three hours of going on sale.

Water may run dry but the bar never does, so come prepared with that ID.