In 2003, 16-year old Jake Kouwe was told there was no place for an accordion in his local high school’s marching band. In response, Jake recruited a group of five mismatched teenagers to form a genuine oom-pah style polka band. This group, known as “The Chardon High School Polka Band”, was a rather motley assembly of teenage musicians that included an accordion, tuba, clarinet, saxophone, electric guitar, and trumpet.
The group quickly found a following in the most unlikely of places- local nursing homes. Despite their ripped jeans, high school lingo, long (and even pink) hair, piercings and tattoos, senior citizens and nursing home residents turned a blind eye to their looks and fell in love with the polka-playing teens. However, the phenomena weren’t lost on their own generation. Soon, “Support Your Local Polka Band” t-shirts were being worn in the halls of Chardon High by fellow classmates and fans.
Now, over five years later, the band continues and its fan base grows. In the small town of Chardon, Ohio, long haired Jake Kouwe and his oom-pah gang are nearly celebrities. The band no longer calls itself “The Chardon High School Polka Band”, since the original group has all graduated from high school (barely), and instead is now simply “The Chardon Polka Band”. Though the band’s membership of sometimes eccentric and always unique individuals has changed over the years, the current roster includes the enthusiastic and energetic Jake Kouwe, Alex Previty, Paul Magooch, Josh Burk, Mike Phann, and Lee Stevenson.
Despite the band’s gruff appearance, these delightfully eccentric guys are both friendly and outgoing. They are still among the area’s most recognizable performers at local parks, festivals, parades, parties and fund-raisers, and perform regularly at local nursing homes. The polka band now has a faithful fan base, ranging from senior citizens to small children, teens, and twenty-somethings.
The band’s range of style is as equally eccentric as its’ members. The Chardon Polka Band plays traditional polkas reminiscent of “The Lawrence Welk Show”, a style that has endeared them to traditional polka fans, but sometimes morphs into punk-rock renditions of the same songs, modified to bring in a younger audience. They throw in comedic renditions of oddball favorites, bizarre audience participation songs, and even a punk-rock polka cover of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”!
