Tagged by fans as “Hollywood’s hottest little big band,” Phat Cat Swinger will play its first local show at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons on Saturday night, Nov. 8.

Fronted by a pair of kinetic lead singers – founder/bandleader Marco Palos and “American Idol” Season 6 runner-up Blake Lewis – the 11-piece outfit plans to deliver the full-length, full-tilt show they’ve also staged at major venues and events in Southern California and beyond.

Over the years, Phat Cat Swinger has played multiple Disney parks and resorts, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., a festival in Serbia at t: he invitation of the U.S. Embassy there, and even country superstar Dolly Parton’s Dollywood theme park in Tennessee in a month-long residency last July.

Flashing back a bit, you may have caught Marco Palos leading earlier Phat Cat Swinger lineups in videos by the Jonas Brothers (“Lovebug,” 2009) and Christina Aguilera (“Candyman,” 2010).

After Santa Clarita and December dates in Arizona and Indiana, and a late January gig in Cerritos with comedy legend Jay Leon, the band is primed to make its Las Vegas showroom debut on January 30.

Backing Palos and Lewis are Phat Cat Swingers Carly Stock (alto sax), David Wise (tenor sax), Tanner Olivas (baritone sax), Abdullah Ibrahim (trombone), Ryan Buchanan (trumpet), Cole Supple (guitar), Hime Ikehara (keyboards), Hannah Rose Dexter (bass), and Matthew Elton Smith (drums). At the mixing board: Soundboy Mike (Miguel Carlos).

Phat Cat Swinger will jump into Santa Clarita Saturday night, November 8. Photo: Naesfotos.

The band’s repertoire is a mash-up of genres, from rock and pop to swing, jump, and jazz, with reimagined arrangements and a few originals in the mix. While their style is rooted in retro, half the musicians are still in their 20s, and onstage, they swing hard and tight, putting on a spectacle that’s exhilarating, almost exhausting, to witness. It’s not your granddad’s swing band.

The Performing Arts Center at College of the Canyons booked Phat Cat Swinger as part of the Valencia venue’s 2025 Spotlight Series of top performers.

“It’s the energy they bring,” said Will Murphy, the PAC’s manager of ticketing and patron services. “They’re unique in a lot of ways, just the way they have a stage presence about them. You can really tell they love what they’re doing, and they want you to love what you’re watching and hearing, too. I think that’s what really sets them apart from a lot of the other artists we’ve had here. They’re really engaging and exciting and fun.”

“Phat Cat Swinger becomes everybody’s favorite band right away – all you have to do is be in the room,” said Michael Licata, the ensemble’s Las Vegas-based manager, also a musician. “It’s a highly entertaining show for people of all ages. They get accolades every time they do a show and get booked back immediately right after it’s over. The testimonials we get from venues are over the top. This band just needs to be seen.”

Tickets are available via the PAC box office at (661) 362-5304 or online at the PAC website.

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Here’s a Santa Clarita preview clip Phat Cat Swinger posted on its social media last week:

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Phat Cat Swinger Santa Clarita Preview with Marco & Blake

Phat Cat Swinger leaders Marco Palos and Blake Lewis Zoomed with this reporter last week in an exclusive interview to provide further band background, a preview of the show at the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center, and a look ahead to the fast-rising group’s Las Vegas showroom debut.

Here’s a transcript of the interview (slightly edited for clarity and length):

Stephen K. Peeples: I’m with Marco Palos and Blake Lewis. They’re with the red-hot modern swing band Phat Cat Swinger, and they’re bringing their off-the-hook show to the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center on Saturday night, November 8. They’re here to give us a preview, so welcome, guys.

Blake Lewis: Thank you for having us.

Marco Palos: Thank you very much.

Stephen: Marco, how would you describe what you and your band do?

Marco: We just take a lot of songs we have grown up and loved so much and brought like a whole new live stage show to them with the band that is playing and very interactive. Usually when you see a traditional big band, everyone’s sitting down behind the bandstands, and with our band, everyone’s standing, everyone’s moving around, everyone’s having a great time drawing in the audience.

And there’s songs that you might recognize, but the way that we twist them around and take them and bring a whole new level of creativity and excitement to them, it just kind of makes you rethink songs that you’ve always loved anyway.

Stephen: Reinvention, if you will.

Marco: Yeah.

Stephen: Blake, what would fans in Santa Clarita expect to see and hear when they come to see the show Saturday night?

Blake: I always like to say expect the unexpected with Phat Cat Swinger. We are super high-energy, a lot of fun, a lot of dancing, a lot of movement on stage, and lots of fun rhythms. Think of big bands from the past, amp that up 10 times, and you get Phat Cat Swinger. We got classic jazz, we got contemporary songs that you love and enjoy from today’s song catalog, and high energy and fun is what we bring.

Blake Lewis and Marco Palos of Phat Cat Swinger light up a room. Photo: Naesfotos.

Stephen: I understand you’re also working on some new original material, right?

Blake: We are. We have a few originals that we’ll be playing in Santa Clarita we’re very excited about to share with everybody.

Stephen: Excellent. Now, Marco, you and I met about 15 years ago when you were working with Louis Prima Jr. and you were kind of the featured maniac in the band.

Marco: [laughter] Yes, sir.

Stephen: Can you kind of briefly recap the Phat Cat story up until the present?

Marco: Up until the present, since the Prima days?

Stephen: Yeah.

Marco: Well, I had already had Phat Cat for eight years by the time I met Louis. And so, then I had spent a good 12 years with Louis. And in those years, guys with Phat Cat, they had always been performing at Disney parks, and we got into a rotation there doing a lot of their festivals, their food and wine festival, festival of holidays. And in that time, we started developing more of a show, more music. We added, because of the events we were playing, we added a lot of Disney music. We added a lot of classic swing and modern songs.

I think during that time, actually, we started thinking, “Let’s reimagine these songs instead of just covering them like they are on the record.” Anybody can turn on a record player. But when you turn on a Phat Cat Swinger show, you’re going to show up and you’re going to see that everything we like, we want to just bring a new twist to it.

And then there are some songs that we’re just going to leave alone because we’re just like, oh, I just don’t know if I could ever top that arrangement. So, we’re not even trying to top it. We just want to pay tribute to it and give it a wonderful little show.

Over the years, we’ve put out five albums, I think now. Most of them are found online. A couple of them you could only get at the show. And they’re mostly cover songs. Two original albums, three cover albums. One of those is also our holiday album, which was basically our Christmas show put into album.

And the concept, that’s actually where we started working with Blake many years ago because it was 2018, we were recording our Christmas album, and I said, “What can we do that would be fun and different with this album?” And I decided we would feature one different singer on every track. So, you got the same band behind it, but every song features someone different from people that we know and love in L.A.

It reminded me of those Christmas albums that you would see when you would have Louis Armstrong, and Frank Sinatra, and Cab Calloway, and Ella Fitzgerald. Everybody would be on the same album. That was my vision when we did that Christmas album, and that is essentially what I think started the Blake and Phat Cat movement.

There came an opportunity where I said [to Blake], “Hey, what are you up to this year? You interested in coming along for a little journey?” So we’re evolving into another chapter for the band with Blake on board. Ever since – he’s been with us a little over a year – we are continuing to evolve the sound even more, which I love.

I always foreshadowed that we would be evolving because our second album is called “Swing and Evolution.” … I said we’re not always going to be the same swing band you hear, and it will always evolve. And that happens to be one of my favorite albums, and we still play songs from that album.

But now that we’ve got Blake in there, we even throw elements of beatbox into the show because that’s his specialty and beyond. And I love the contrast of our voices as well. Really adds a whole fun element I’ve really enjoyed that’s being developed for the band.

Also, over the last couple years, we connected with Michael Licata as our manager, and he’s been opening doors left and right, bringing us awesome opportunities. So, we’re excited to see where that takes us in ’26.

Stephen: Now, Blake, you’re an “American Idol” finalist, right?

Blake: I am, yeah, Season 6.

Stephen: Tell me how that led you and Phat Cat Swinger to connect.

Blake: Well, my stint on “American Idol” was in 2007. Season 6 runner-up. Yay! Had a lot of fun with that. I was the first person to get his own arrangements okayed, and I looked at that as a remix competition for me. It was a challenge every week to change songs and rearrange them how I saw fit.

I grew up in the hip hop and electronic world. I was a rave kid, in an a cappella band doing jazz, crooning. That’s where I come from. On the Seattle scene, I had my own show, a one-man show with loop pedals and beatbox and keyboard and guitar. I’ve been doing that for 25 years.

So, when I moved to L.A., I had a stint with Postmodern Jukebox. I toured the world with them, had fun with those guys. And then I met Marco. I think we were at a show at a place called Swingtronic.

Marco: [laughter] [nodding yes]

Blake: And it was a swing night, and we just vibed. A few years later, we got together on the [Phat Cat] Christmas album. After COVID happened, the other singer was leaving Phat Cat, and Marco and I kept running into each other. He asked me to guest, and maybe four months after that, he asked me to be in the band. I gave it a lot of thought, and I was like, “You guys are super fun. Let’s do this! Let’s have some fun on stage all throughout the country.”

Stephen: Now, Marco, the band’s played some pretty major venues. Can you rattle off some of the great places that you’ve played? You and the band have played? I mean, aside from the Disneyland parks…

Marco: Aside from Disney parks, which for me has always been a childhood goal. I’ve always wanted to be a part of the Disney performers because they had some of the greats like Louis Armstrong and Sinatra, and everybody who performed here hung out.

But beyond that, we got invited to play at the Kennedy Center. They have this stage there on the side where there was a Thanksgiving special we did over there at the Kennedy Center. We’ve also played the Playboy Mansion. We got invited there to support an event for the Wounded Warriors project. We got invited by the U.S. Embassy in Serbia to perform at a festival out there. Those are the few that come to mind immediately.

But, honestly, some of my favorite venues in addition to those have also been some of the small towns we’ve played. A few years ago, we did a 22-24-city tour all across the Midwest. What I really loved about it was that every city we played, we had the most supportive audience of people who were just there strictly for the music. Not to film it, not to do anything, but just be there and enjoy the music. That’s been one of my favorite things.

I look forward to the next time we can tour the Midwest and have that experience again because it’s just a really heartfelt connection with everybody in the audience. That’s one of my favorite things when we just explore new towns. Whether they’re big cities or small cities, everybody, the music lovers who come out, God, those are my favorite stages, honestly.

Stephen: Small towns like those that are off the beaten track for most performers don’t get a lot of entertainment, and certainly quality entertainment. So, when a band like yours comes through, it really brings everybody out of the woodwork.

Marco: That’s what they mentioned to us. They said, “We really don’t get a lot of bands. Thank you guys for coming out of your way to perform at our town.” And we’re just like, “Hey, thank you guys for making it possible for us to be here. It’s your support that makes these shows possible.”

Stephen: After Santa Clarita, what’s coming up? You got a few gigs between now and the end of the year, and then a big event coming up in early 2026 with your Las Vegas debut. Is that right?

Marco: Yeah, yeah. We’re going to be going to Arizona [in early December] – Scottsdale, for Arizona Music Fest. Where else, Blake, are we heading on on that weekend?

Blake: We’re heading to Indiana. We’re coming back and playing Cerritos in California with a comedy legend [in January].

Marco: That’s right, Jay Leno.

Blake: And then we have a big Vegas residency that’s about to pop off at the end of January that we’re about to announce real soon.

Stephen: Very good. Well, we get kind of a sneak preview of that, but we won’t divulge all of the details just yet.

Marco: [laughter] Thanks!

Stephen: Where do fans find out more about Phat Cat Swinger?

Marco: The best place is going to be on our Instagram and also Facebook, but we do have our website as well. Just look up P-H-A-T-C-A-T-S-W-I-N-G-E-R, phatcatswinger.com or Phat Cat Swinger on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok – all of the above. We are there and post about our upcoming shows.

What I love about our Instagram and Facebook communities – we love to get in there in the comments and just get the conversation going. So, if you happen to be watching [or reading] this and you want to be a part of it, come on, follow us there. We’d love to see you in the comments and then at a show.

Stephen: Yeah, great. Well, we’ll see you Saturday night!

Blake: Looking forward to it.

Marco: Thank you, Stephen. Thank you very much.

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Upcoming Phat Cat Swinger Dates

Dec. 5: Scottsdale, AZ Arizona Music Festival

Dec. 6: Martinsville, IN Entertainment Center

Dec. 31: Last Vegas, NV Virgin Casino (private event)

Jan. 26: Cerritos, CA Center for the Arts (with Jay Leno)

Jan. 30-Feb. 01: New Las Vegas Residency (Venue TBA)

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Stephen K. Peeples is an award-winning Santa Clarita journalist, Grammy-nominated producer, and former SCVNews.com news editor.