Father's Day Holds Unique Distinction for Fords-based Band

Many teenage boys wouldn’t be caught dead spending time with their father.  For Matt Check, hanging out with dad is a major part of his life – Matt and his father John comprise half of the Fords-based rock band The Knight Owls.

The band – rounded out by bassist Manny Pena, 48, and drummer Ron Wagenhoffer, 43 – put out their debut CD Who Gives a Hoot in November, and will play Crossroads in Garwood on Thursday.

“I was always involved in music with him since the beginning,” said Matt of his father.  “Even from the beginning of (John’s cover band, The Holy Smokes), I was involved with them.  That’s how I started.”

The father/son combination of John and Matt Check is, remarkably, not the first such relationship in the band’s short history.  The younger Check would jam with a friend from school, Sean Pena, with Pena’s father Manny occasionally joining in on bass, leading to the initial Knight Owls lineup. 

“After a while, I thought ‘this is sounding really cool, we need a singer,’” said Matt.  “I instantly thought of my dad, who was playing with the Holy Smokes.”  After the elder Check joined and the younger Pena left the band, the Knight Owls lineup was mostly set, save for one position.

“I would book shows, and I would have to call up people, begging them to help us out with drums,” said Matt of the position that had been vacated by Sean’s departure and was being filled on a temporary basis since.  “We had gone through a number of drummers, and we were looking for a new one.”

“I was going through my list of drummers that I had played with, and Ronnie popped up,” added John, who had played in a band with Wagenhoffer more than a decade prior.

“That was the best phone call I ever got in my life,” Wagenhoffer noted.  “I hadn’t played for five years before (John) called.”

“He’s the nicest guy in the world, and a great drummer, too,” said Pena.

With the lineup solidified, the band entered Studio 522 in Fords to write and record their debut album.  “It’s is just a cool place that no one really knows about it, but everyone knows about it,” said Matt of the studio.

“The quality was unbelievable,” added John.  “And the coffee was free.”

After a year of writing, practicing, and recording, the Knight Owls emerged from the studio with Who Gives a Hoot, a blues-influenced rock record - an album that will feel familiar to fans of classic rock music.  Opening track “Aquarius” (written by Matt) contains a riff that sounds like it could have been a lost Led Zeppelin demo, while “Hit the Bricks” (written by John) has a Bob Dylan-meets-Neil Young quality.

The unique dynamic of a band featuring one teenager and three musicians more than twice his age is not an issue within the band, they say.  “We don’t even know the difference.  He’s a musician,” says Pena.  “Matt kind of takes control, he takes command down here,” adds Wagenhoffer.

“I’m used to taking command, and that’s why we sometimes butt heads,” says John.  “We do fight naturally like father and son would, but we get along great,” says Matt. 

“We fight all night, and then I give him a kiss goodnight,” adds dad.

In addition to this week’s show at Crossroads, the band has a slate of concerts line up for the summer, including a benefit show at Rugs & Riffys on Rahway Ave in Woodbridge.  The concert benefits Nikolai Ruck, a friend of the Check’s who was involved in a serious car accident and remains hospitalized.  Other concert dates, music, and more information can be found at the band’s Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/theknightowlsmusic.