The Machine’s Pump Volume 28 – #5 – May 2025

WHY POLKA?
Brave Combo just performed at the National Polka Festival in Ennis, Texas, over the Memorial Day Weekend. We’ve played this event every year for around four decades and have watched many of the attendees grow up. Ennis is a small-to-medium-sized town about 45 minutes southeast of Dallas and is full of Czech culture because many of the residents are descendants of Czech immigrants. There are Texas/Czech hotspots all over the state, and Ennis is one of the hottest; a vacation destination for some travelers, especially during the Polkafest weekend. It’s also one of the best places to see bluebonnets in Texas! Viva Ladybird! Anyway, halfway through our show on Sunday night, several of the Polkafest dignitaries climbed up on the stage and, out of the blue, presented us with an award for being ourselves and supporting the festival, and polka music. I was surprised, honored, and embarrassed, all at the same time. It was a very real moment! We know a lot of these folks really well and definitely feel like we’re around family when we’re there. Also, I know how much they all care about the music (many are musicians) and are motivated to get creative with it and not let it just be about the past.

And this is where Brave Combo comes in. My interest in polka music has always been solely about the music. I did not grow up with it, aside from being with my friend, Cliff, while he was driving his dad’s car, and we would listen to 8-track tapes of Lawrence Welk (with Myron Floren) and Bob Ralston, Lawrence Welk’s organist. That was it! Until I eventually stumbled upon a whole lot of cutout polka LPS at a Woolworth store and bought a bunch of them, adding a whole new category to my already huge LP collection. I really liked more than half of my purchase, and started to wonder why so many people were conditioned to make fun of polka music. So, I became very curious about two things. (1) Why is the mainstream prejudiced against an entire genre of music? And (2) what would happen if a rock band, who didn’t know much about the music, decided to play polkas and take them seriously and not be outsiders, making predictable novelty fluff. Although I realized, right away, many polka musicians bake a heavy dose of humor into their music to begin with. Maybe that’s because the basic elements come off as primarily fun-driven. And, indeed, the prominent tension and release which is exploited all over the polka spectrum, plays into the perception that the music is mainly just party music. But, of course, that’s not the case and never was. For Brave Combo, polka was just a beat or a style, with interesting melodic passages and cool harmonies, often played with an abundance of passion. All the cultural stuff, the clothes, the food, etc., didn’t matter much to us. We just dug the music and enjoyed messing with it and, ultimately, our audiences. To some people, we were disrespectful punks, to some, students and teachers of tradition, to others, we were just all-over-the-place crazy. So, it’s now 2025 and I find myself, no surprise, quite comfortably, but deeply, entrenched in a huge subculture, which is still an underground scene; a place where anything goes. And, by the way, the answer to my first question was because of the same ol’ anti-immigrant stuff we hear now, but aimed at Eastern Europeans (ever heard of Polish jokes?), and polka music suffered.

No matter what, the polka music world is an exciting place to be, and Brave Combo has learned how to navigate around the current landscape pretty well. By now, we know a whole lot of polka movers and shakers, in every style, and our radar is always on the hunt for cool sounds. And, for what it’s worth, the polka attitude, itself, is not a bad thing to embrace, as our country continues to slide deeper into the bowels of insanity. I mentioned that to Jesus once, and he said, “Hell, yeah, brother, I get it!” and I said, “I knew you would.” And I could tell he was at peace with my point of view, which made me think I might be on to something.

So, this is just the tip of the polka iceberg, but understand that whatever tribe created whatever style, it doesn’t matter to me. Ain’t choosing sides. I am only interested in what cool things, whoever might bring to the organized sound known as music.

Speaking of modern polka music, the NYC band (via Vancouver, British Columbia), The Dreadnoughts, just released a new song called “Polka Pit,” and they give Brave Combo (and our buddies, Polkacide) a nice shoutout in the song’s second verse. Big surprise to us! Check it out. This is an amazing band with their heads on right! They deserve stardom and just might be the polka band to crack the code and hit the top ten. But I’m pretty sure they know it’s all about the process, no matter what happens. Polka conditions you to that.

Sad News. My friend and brilliant musician/artist, Guy Klucevsek, just passed away, and I had no idea the end was near for him. We recorded a damn beautiful album (THE MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES TOUR) with Guy about ten years ago. Here’s a track, called “Pink Elephants” from that album along with a video of myself and Guy performing a song I wrote for him, called “Prairie Dogs Polka.” I don’t think his passing has registered with me, yet. I was sure we would do something together again. He had an incredible career, made wonderfully unique music, and was a fine human being. Time passing is a bitch!

If you want to see Brave Combo live, we are playing gigs here and there, and they will all be fantastic. Please check our itinerary once you get everything else wrapped up. Pleasant dreams!