What's more important: What you like or what you are like? Aren't core values more important than skin-deep incidentals? Isn't it your beliefs and morals that define you instead of your clothes, your favorite movies or what you do with your weekends?

Strip away all the silly haircuts, the even sillier choice of trendy clothing and the vastly different musical outlook that defines the punk and indie scenes, and both worlds' core values are, essentially aligned like the two worlds are soul-mates. At least at both scenes' most ideological levels, the smartest indie kids and the smartest punks both want the same thing: independence and freedom. Whether that comes roaring out of a Marshall half-stack at a DIY basement show at ear-splitting volumes or from a home-recorded bedroom pop number making the rounds on the MP3 blogs, both artists just want to craft a place for themselves where they don't have to worry about every boring Joe Sixpack breathing down his or her neck.

Don't believe it? Check out Glasgow's Hermit Crabs. Led by singer/guitarist Melanie Whittle, the four-piece crafts the sort of low-key pop numbers you'd cherish on a drizzly day: With folkish simplicity and softness, the band's debut Saw You Dancing -- out now on Matinee Records -- breezes through light indie pop that's stuck somewhere in the middle of twee and bedroom pop opuses. With Whittle's bubbling vocals as the foundation, the band cross-references everything from jangly American indie rock a la Shins and Death Cab to bedroom-pop masterpieces from everyone from The Field Mice to The Lucksmiths. If it sounds complicated, it isn't: Old-fashioned simplicity sits at the heart of Saw You Dancing as the Hermit Crabs waltz through a pure pop album so easily you may forget how slick it really is. Don't underestimate it: "Secrets and Lies" is nothing but uncut folk-pop, with an acoustic guitar and violin propping up Whittle's plaintive vocals. "Feel Good Factor," which is recycled from the band's debut of the same name, is a dose of Californian sunshine filtered through Scottish bedroom-pop sensibilities and the melodies in "Tonight" are giddy enough to chase away the blues that might settle on such a coy number.

The Hermit Crabs are a welcome addition to the Scottish-indie canon, but don't let the band's output obscure its pedigree. Whittle joined forces with bassist Des McKenna in early 2003, when their previous outfit, California Snow Story, a true-blue punk outfit, came apart at the seams. The transition from punker to indie rocker couldn't have come more naturally: The pair (who, after too many lineup changes to keep up with settled with John Ferguson on guitar and drummer Tony McDonald) simply put their do-it-yourself attitude and independent spirit to work in a slightly different direction.

Of course, there was a little bit of friction when locals, familiar with Whittle and McKenna's background as high-energy punk rockers changed their tune and took their music in a new direction. Those were the ones more concerned with scene politics and maintaining a stylish status quo than holding onto the fundamental values of independence at the heart of both styles of music.

"I guess within any scene, there is some snobbery," Whittle says. "I've seen it in the punk scene. I've seen it in the indie scene. I guess that's the whole reason there is a scene. You're in a group and you don't want anybody else to be in your group. I don't think they really do see the similarities, but they are very similar, I think."

Whittle isn't just paying lip service to the similarities between the punk and indie worlds. She lives them. The Hermit Crabs' debut is a do-it-yourself affair that even all the young punks could appreciate. Recorded over a stretch of four years on home-recording gear, it's about as independently produced as you can get, and, although a label now backs the band, The Hermit Crabs allegiance with tiny Matinee Records keeps its music on a cottage-industry level: The tunes, borne out of a do-it-yourself spirit, cheaply recorded at home are issued from a personable one-man institution that's been a staple of independent pop for a decade now. It's a match made in heaven.

Actually, it's a match made on the Internet. After lurking on the local scene for years, the Crabs finally got with the digital age and posted their music to a MySpace page. To say the digitization resulted in an avalanche of attention is certainly an exaggeration, but suddenly, the act was catapulted from a relatively insular Glasgow scene to a worldwide indie-pop scene. As the band's songs gained traction on both sides of the Atlantic, Matinee Records stumbled upon the online sampler, and the rest, as they say, was history.

"I must admit, I'm quite a technophobe," Whittle confesses. "When our guitarist, John, set up the MySpace account and put up songs on the account, I was like 'Oh God! What are you doing?' Then I saw the response. It's great because your tunes are there 24/7. People can just come in and listen. Now, I see it as a really positive thing. It has helped enormously, especially online reviews and whatnot. It just gets your music out there and circulated a lot quicker. It's been instrumental for us. I think it would have taken us a lot longer to get known if the Internet wasn't there."

Really, The Hermit Crabs' story is hardly unique. In an era when the most passionate and active music fans patrol the online world in pursuit of new discoveries, the MySpace factor is almost a standard part of any startup rock band. And, with a variety of software suites ready to let the budding outfit record for a pittance in the comfort of their own garage rather than spending a heap to nervously budget minutes in a rented studio, home-recorded albums are destined to become the norm, not the exception, at least in the low-budget underground.

And punk and indie bands, armed with generations' reinforcement of the D.I.Y. ethic are set to reap the benefits of the digital revolution. And while big-money record companies fortunes are figuratively and literally crumbling a little more with every new high-speed hookup, Whittle's convinced that the demise of the major-label system we're so familiar with won't strand musicians -- only empower them.

"That's the beauty of it. Anyone can really (release music)," Whittle gushes. "Home recording is so sophisticated these days, you can just record something at home and upload it on the Internet. Small bands, it's easier for them to get recognition. They don't need big record labels to market them or promote them. It's a good thing.

"I think the way the market is, with so much technology and the Internet, we're at a very exciting and interesting time, music-wise. I think a lot of big record companies are losing money and big record stores are losing money. It's going to be really interesting to see what's going to happen. They really need to get with it and maybe lower the price of what they're selling. I don't know, not just sign up the same old bands.

"I'm from a sort of punk, D.I.Y. scene, so it's great to feel that now I'm in an indie band that that's going on as well. I'm all for small bands, small labels, try to bring down the big companies."

That sort of attitude probably won't endear The Hermit Crabs to David Geffen or Rick Rubin, but that's not really the point of Saw You Dancing. The outfit's pure pop is reason enough to love the Crabs, but coupled with its do-it-yourself approach, it's not just inspiring. It's empowering. It's a symbol that, despite lacking all the resources at the disposal of a major-label band, the underground can not just produce quality music, but produce music that competes with the mainstream's deep pockets.

In a perfect world, those values would be enough to erase the difference between the punk and indie cliques. After all, both sides of the fence are working in the same direction, even if they're wearing different clothes. Shouldn't that be enough to spark some affinity between the two? Increasingly, it is, as more and more punk-rock types like Whittle and McKenna grow up, open their eyes and realize that it's only the superficial differences between the two scenes.

"I have a few friends who have done that. I think I've definitely, the indie scene has definitely opened up my eyes. Maybe I came into it with my own kind of snobbery. I've kind of realized that it's similar to the punk scene and is welcoming to a new band. There really are quite a few of us that have that punk, D.I.Y. ethic that have gravitated toward the indie scene."