Those Darn Accordions are an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

 band from San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

, originally formed in 1989. Their original songs cover a variety of musical genre

Music genre

A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...

s -- from rock

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

  and funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 to polka

Polka

The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...

 and even swing

Swing (genre)

Swing music, also known as swing jazz or simply swing, is a form of jazz music that developed in the early 1930s and became a distinctive style by 1935 in the United States...

. Their repertoire also includes occasional cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s of popular songs. The band continues to tour across the United States.

The lineup has varied over the years. At present the members are accordionists Paul Rogers (frontman), Susie Davis, Carri Abrahms, and Suzanne Garramone, and Michael "the monster" Messer on drums

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 and Lewis Wallace on bass guitar

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

. Former members include Patty Brady, Bill Schwartz, Clyde Forsman (whose tattoo

Tattoo

A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...

s grace the covers of TDA's first two CDs), Big Lou (who founded the band in 1989, intending it as a one-night-only squeezebox stunt), Tom Torriglia, Art Peterson, Ron "The Filipino Elvis" Muriera, Ron "Riff" Borelli, and Chris Howard.

TDA discography

• Vongole Fisarmonica (1992) Globe Records, GLO-009
• Squeeze This! (1994) Flying Fish Records, FF 70627
• No Strings Attached (1996) Globe Records, GLO-017
• Clownhead (1999) Globe Records, GLO-022
• Amped (2001) Globe Records, GLO-803
• Lawnball (2004) Globe Records, GLO-031
• Squeeze Machine (2007) Globe Records, GLO-036

TDA'S live TV appearances

• "Donny & Marie," 2000
• ABC "Good Morning America," news feature segments, 1999 & 1990
• FX "Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular," 1999
• KRON-TV "Bay Area Backroads," 1999
• KPIX-TV "Evening Magazine," 1999
• ABC "American Music Awards," 1998 - Performed on stage with Drew Carey
  Drew Carey
  Drew Allison Carey is an American actor, singer, comedian, photographer, sports executive, and game show host. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and making a name for himself in stand-up comedy, Carey eventually gained popularity starring on his own sitcom, The Drew Carey Show, and serving as...
  
   & "Weird Al" Yankovic
  "Weird Al" Yankovic
  Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
  
  
• "The Jerry Lewis MD Telethon," 1998
• ABC "World News Now," live performances, 1997 & 1990
• MTV "Oddville," 1997
• WTTW-TV "Wild Chicago," 1997
• WDJT-TV news feature segment, Milwaukee, 1997
• "The Jim J & Tammy Faye Show," 1996
• MTV "6th Annual Rock n' Jock Softball Challenge," 1995
• KXAN-TV news feature segment, Austin, Texas, 1994
• KRON-TV "Sports Final," San Francisco, 1992

Notable gigs

• "The Drew Carey Show" and Walt Disney's "Geppetto" wrap parties, Hollywood, 1999, 1998
• "Required Listening" at the Bottom Line, NYC (live broadcast WFUV-FM), 1995
• South by Southwest Music Conference, Austin, Texas 1994
• "West Coast Live," 1996 and "West Coast Weekend," 1993, 1991
• Candlestick Park, San Francisco; 1989, 1990, 1993
• Wrigley Field, Chicago, 1993
• International Accordion Festival, Vilnius, Lithuania, 1992
• International Accordion Festival, Castelfidardo, Italy, 1990