They are a polka band first and foremost, “Dandy” Don Hedeker says. They just don’t use any typical polka instruments to achieve their sound.
Armed with a guitar, a bass and a drum set, the Chicago-based Polkaholics fuse rock ‘n’ roll with traditional polka rhythms to create a unique, catchy sound which has gained them both fans and enemies across the polka scene.
“A lot of people hate us,” says Hedeker, the band’s guitarist and lead singer. “Traditional polka fans think we are bastardizing polka music, that we are making fun of them because of the way we dress and because of the lack of traditional instruments.”
Hedeker assures that the band doesn’t get discouraged by those polka fans.
“That’s not our audience anyway,” he says. “We’re trying to turn new people to polka, to make converts.”
Ridiculing the polka genre, as many traditional polka enthusiasts may believe, is far from what the Polkaholics are all about. They take all polka-related things seriously, making sure that they sound – and look – the part for each show.
“Polyester is a great polka fabric,” Hedeker says. “Polka dots, plaids and checkers are big polka prints.”
For Hedeker, fashion plays an important role in the band. He and fellow band mates “Jolly” James Wallace on bass and “Action” Jackson Wilson on drums take a standard polka look to the extreme on the stage, donning matching vests decorated with purple sequins or gold sparkles, tuxedo pants and horn-rimmed glasses at each of their shows.
“You have to look the part,” Hedeker says. “The Ramones, the Beatles – they had a look, they looked like a unit. You couldn’t tell one Ramone from another.”
Formed in 1997 as a break from the “boring” rock scene in which Hedeker and fellow band mates were involved, the Polkaholics started to turn to polka records and noticed that “all the people were smiling” on the album covers, which was an apparent turn-on.
“The more I got into polka records, the more I liked the polka sound, until one day I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun to play this with a rock sound?'” Hedeker says.
Polka songs, which are defined by their two-four timing in comparison to rock’s four-four time, are structured differently than rock songs. But, for Hedeker, the trick to making a good polka-rock jam is “combining elements of rock that work well with the polka genre and giving it a new approach that sounds OK.”
Although the Chicago polka scene was at its climax in the 1940s, Hedeker says a polka community – albeit lesser-known – still exists in the city.
“As with most underground scenes in the U.S., the polka scene is not largely publicized,” he says. “It’s like a clique – you go to polka dances and the people there all know each other, so they look at you and ask, ‘Who the hell are you?'”
Despite its clandestine status, Hedeker assures that “Chicago is a big center for polka.” An AM radio station, WPNA 1490, was the first station to give the Polkaholics airtime, and each Saturday it holds polka radio shows from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Progressing from their early demo tapes, the Polkaholics are celebrating the release of their fourth album, Polka Uber Alles, a pun on the German national anthem, “Detuschland Aber Alles,” or “Germany Over Everything.” The band’s CD release show is Feb. 26 at Martyrs’, 3855 N. Lincoln St. Their latest album features several cover versions of traditional polka songs, such as “Stella at the Wheel Polka,” while at the same time paying homage to what Hedeker calls “the first and last time a polka band played the Metro,” with “Polka at the Metro.”
Medill sophomore Marcy Miranda is the PLAY calendar editor. She can be reached at [email protected].
