The Chardon Polka Band

The Chardon Polka Band is an American, Ohio-based, Cleveland-Style polka band.It was started by Jake Kouwe in 2003 when he recruited four other teenagers to form a polka band at Chardon High School, and the group was originally called "The Chardon High School Polka Band" and included an accordion, trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, electric guitar, and tuba.The group got their start in the school's music room and played at local senior centers and nursing homes in the Chardon area.Kouwe cites Weird Al Yankovic as his inspiration for playing the accordion as he started lessons on the accordion after seeing Yankovic in a VH1 special.The popular satirist remains a role model for The Chardon Polka Band.The band had slowly gained notoriety among Polka fans and in the Cleveland music scene in general, but got mainstream attention when they were featured in a reality show named Polka Kings on Reelz in 2015, even though the show was quickly cancelled.The band currently plays over 200 shows a year and has grown to be one of the Cleveland music scene's most recognizable performers playing at a mixture of festivals, schools, nursing homes, and bars, but also tours nationally and headlines many of the nation's top folk festival and Oktoberfest celebrations, playing a mixture of original music, classic polkas, and covers of pop songs.The band has released seven full-length albums, all independently, three of which were nominated for a Polka Hall of Fame award for either the album or one or more songs.