The Knewz is a

polka Polka is a dance and genre of dance music originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though associated with Czech culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the Americas. History Etymology The term ...

band based in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, which was started in 1990 by Mike Burka, Tom Picciano, and Tommy Wanderlich. The band plays many original songs, covers of country and rock songs, and also traditional Polish polkas, obereks, and

waltz The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wa ...

es. In 2008, The Knewz received two awards from the United States Polka Association: Favorite Recording of the Year, Headlinez, and Favorite Song of the Year, "When I Call Your Name", written by Tommy Wanderlich. Occasionally, fans of the band would bring cue cards with the words to songs on them as Wanderlich would often forget the lyrics. This is believed to have been started by Wisconsin native, Debbie Dunaj.

Recordings

Touring

Throughout their existence The Knewz has toured most of the northeast and midwestern states. They’ve developed followings in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin. They’re also a regular booking for most of the major polka festivals held in the U.S. They’ve also performed internationally as the band has participated in several polka cruises that have traveled to Mexico, several countries in Central America and the Caribbean.

Members

*Andy Bojczuk -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, vocals *John Fomenko -

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

*Tom Picciano -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

, vocals *Brian Urbanczyk -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Jimmy Weber -

, vocals *John Zelasko -

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

, vocals

Past members

*Mike Burka - trumpet, vocals *Tommy Wanderlich -

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, vocals

Discography

External links

The Knewz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Knewz American polka groups