I guess a lot of the meat of this discussion depends on what you consider garage and what you don't.
In my humble opinion, there is more to garage than just influences and all garage did not descend from the 60s British Invasion (which I think (Rock History Blasphemy Warning) we could have lived without in America) as many would have us believe. Buddy Holly was recording his songs (played in a garage) in the fifties using Lo-fi equipment and his drummer thumping a cardboard box on Not Fade Away.
For my part, if it's too clean,polished and processed, it ain't garage.
I call my music "Garage" cause that's where I write it, play it and often record it. I realize too, that the conventional definition of the "G" word probably means something different to most people.