Polka Freak Out: Bubba Hernandez with Alex Meixner
When Bubba Hernandez (of Grammy winning Brave Combo) first heard Alex Meixner he wondered: "what would this guy sound like on a tex mex tuned accordion (Gabinelli/Horner) with some Tejano players?" .....
The two first tested collaboration at Alex’s home in Allentown, PA. This diverse jam mixing, Germanic, Mexican, Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, gave Bubba and Alex a good wink at what was possible on all cultural fronts. And so, Polka Freak Out: Bubba Hernandez with Alex Meixner was born. Although, Polka Freak Out is the title of the album by Bubba Hernandez featuring Alex Meixner, it is also now the name catching on for the band. The album started out as Bubba invited Alex to San Antonio, TX to record on some tracks that were already in progress at that time: "Baby" by I See Hawks in LA and "River of Pain" by Alex Meixner. Both songs were considered album fillers by both artists. Hernandez saw otherwise by combining Alex an Austrian/Slovenian/Eastern European master accordionist over a Tex-Mex rhythm section and Bubba's latin/tejano and pop/rock aesthetic. This truly was a Polka Freak Out. As San Antonio’s finest Tejano players merged with PA’s wunderkind and all in agreed that this was something similar but different: like two old cousins meeting for the first time and the glorious party that ensued. Due to the studio “polka freakist’s†heavy schedules with their main bands like, Latin Breed, Texmaniacs, Los Super Seven, Texas Tornados, Las Campanas De America, etc., Bubba and Alex’s live crew will be in the very capable hands of a variety of other professional guests from each region and even other cultures and styles.
Nowadays, the live show is well on the way to filling the calendar with dates and has already performed at Milestones in Rochester, Johnny D's in Somerville (Boston) and Barbes in NYC (Brooklyn) and even marched along with the Munroe Dairy Band at the Bristol Parade (RI) the oldest 4th of July parade in the nation. While in Texas PFO performed at other alternative venues in Denton, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and with great success at Wurstfest in New Braunfels and has even included some private parties in their touring schedule to boot! All of this in just it’s first year! Upcoming performances include the National Polka Festival at Ennis, Tx as well as performances in California and back to Texas for its performing debut at Westfest.
Polka Freak Out: Bubba Hernandez and Alex Meixner are having a blast with this busy scheduling. Although the long distance relationship makes performing and completing the project a bit challenging, the geographic polarity definitely adds to the diversity. While performing festivals, PFO will be eyeballing the audience and playing to it as well as stretching its ear. Bubba and Alex will be mixing in original arrangements of some old school favorites as well as their originals that they hope will become classics and hits themselves. At all shows Polka Freak Out will also drop in some Latin music. Bubba loves to rock the cumbia and Alex is a whiz at all kinds of jazzy stuff too!
Read, hear and see Bubba and Alex's stuff collaboratively and individually at the following websites: www.polkafreakout.com, www.myspace.com/polkafreakout, www.bubbahernandez.com, www.alexmeixner.com, www.myspace.com/bubbahernandez, www.myspace.com/alexmeixner.
There is also some rough video at www.youtube.com.
