Po’ Boy Swing

Lite and Sweet (Royalty)
by Joe Hacking

Long Island’s Po’ Boy Swing are graduates with honors of the same musical school as Faith No More, Scatterbrain, Sweaty Nipples, the Beasties and other bands of the funk/rap/metal genre. Is this good? Yes. Po’ Boy Swing expand on what all of the above mentioned bands have done, adding an extra helping of the disco thang to their sound.

Lite and Sweet (Royalty Records) showcases a pleasant, hard-edged hybrid of sounds. Vocalist Mark DiCarlo is a dead ringer for Mike Patton, and the guitar wall of Rob Manaseri has Scatterbrain all over it. Drummer Paul DiCarlo and bassist Joel Cataldo keep it tight on the low end. The title track, “Lite and Sweet,” begins the disc on a comic note with a Vegas-style jazz number. From there it gets heavy. Tunes like “Swing Your Thing” and “Green” confuse your mind; should you bang your head, start illin’ or do the Hustle? “Why Bother” and “Not Fade Away” bring to mind early FNM. “She’s Mine” would please Bowser from Sha Na Na with its doo-wopping. “Just Breathing” achieves the perfect balance; it’s bright, quick and ballsy.

PBS sound as if they’ve got a long way to go before they run out of steam, and as they recently made it to number 54 on the High Times Hemp 100, their future looks bright.