piano, vocals

Joined Bond Street about 1995

Previous Bands Include:
The Crackpots
Star Garage (in Britain)
Mas Y Mas

Other Bands Include:
Los Comatosos

Host of Public Access Television Show, "Valdemar's Velvet Vault"

EMAIL SCHECKIE

Everybody Goes When the Wagons Come is a sad fact, but a great song on
Chickenshack Boogie Nights.

Mike "Scheckie" Metzner left Bond Street in about 2004.

Scheckie was born into a musical Portland family. Influenced by his older brother Jeff Metzner, a Portland jazz pianist, one of Scheckie's first musical forays was in the experimental band, Smegma. His musical tastes and experiences covering miles of ground, with stints with bands such as The Crackpots and the Latin band, Los Comatosos, Scheckie's musical travels also extend to England, Ireland and Spain.

Originally tapped to sub on keyboards for Spud Siegel (on hiatus in the Carribean for six months) at Bond Street’s house band gig at Astoria’s Hong Kong, Scheckie was asked to stay on after Spud's return. Spud started playing more trumpet, along with Johnny Ward on tenor sax and Calen on baritone sax, and thus the Bond Street horn section was reborn.

The two keyboard-player system also allowed Sheckie to travel and do other projects while Spud held down the position with Bond Street. Sheckie’s first band in England was Star Garage -- an Anglo-American lineup doing soul groove original rock music, and based in Nottingham Midlands. England gave the band a great base from which to operate.

As a sideline, Sheckie got work playing latin music in a night club, and was asked to bring in a couple musicians to make a trio. Inviting fellow Star Garage bandmate Wayne Evens to play bass, along with percussionist Russell Jaland, the band played Latin music every week in Nottingham. When Sheckie returned to Astoria he left singer/guitarist Rikki Martinez to keep the trio going. When Sheckie returned a year later, Rikki was still playing with Wayne and Russell. They'd renamed the band Mas Y Mas. So when Sheckie returned to Nottingham, Mas Y Mas became a quartet. They later went on to much acclaim, playing in all the top clubs in Dublin, Cork and all over Ireland.

Back in the Northwest, Sheckie continued to book his latin-folk band, Los Comatosos, with Bond Street bandmates Spud Siegel and Bill Uhlig. They produced a well-received CD. A few of those songs are still perfomed by Spud and Bill and their new band, Floating Glass Balls.

As with other former members of the band, Scheckie is welcomed to the stage anytime he's in the immediate vicinity. Look for him in Astoria and Portland, often appearing with the immensely-talented pianist, Steve Cleveland.