"Secret Po-Po" is not the name of undercover police but rather of a four-man band that loves music. It's not very often you find a combination of two completely different genres of music, but the music produced by "Secret Po-Po" is a mixture of reggae and rock music.

Three of the four, Matthew Witkowski, Michael Mello and Matthew Ross, still attend Saltus Grammar School but are in their last year. The fourth, Harry Dunkley, is attending The Dwight School in New York, but will be back for the summer and in time for tonight's performance at Harbour Nights.

Matthew Witkowski is the leader of the band and lead vocalist and the guitarist. The bass guitar and background vocals are done by Michael Mello. The trumpet and keyboards are played by Matthew Ross, who also assists with the background vocals. Harry Dunkley is the group's drummer.

A converted horse stable is now the band's meeting place to practice. Matthew Witkowski noted, "Harry's father had a stable but he doesn't have horses anymore so he very kindly turned it into a practice room for us".

The group practiced every weekend prior to Harry's moving to New York. "We would practice for hours and hours, so we can get it right so we would be able to go out and play gigs", said the lead vocalist.

It was Michael Witkowski's idea to start the group. He explained, "When I was about thirteen I was in a band with some older guys and I really enjoyed it, but then those guys just left so I said, 'Well why don't I just be in a band with my friends?' because we all played instruments." Michael went on to say, "Oh and the name came about when we were all in history class one day, and we were all there kind of bored and we were learning about Russia and secret police and one of the kids in the class jumped up and shouted out 'secret po po!!' and we were kind of stumped for a name for the band so we said we would use that name."

The band started in October of 2005 with just Michael and Matthew Witkowski. Harry joined in about a month after that, and within six months Matthew Ross was added to the trio.

Since October of 2005 the band has progressed because the lead vocalist noted, "When we started we came in just to play music together and just have fun in our drummer's bedroom at the time, but we started to get more gigs and it just took off from there." When they started, Michael was not the singer but in their quest to find the right person, he decided to take that role.

The band is inspired by two California based groups called 'Sublime' and 'Slightly Stoopid'. They always try to sound as original as possible. The band does not see their life in the music industry as a future career but as a back up. As they will be graduating Saltus, they would like to have the band as a summer activity because it will be hard for them to maintain it, especially because they are still in school and will be spread out in college soon.

The most memorable moment for the band was at the music festival in October of last year. The leading vocalist chuckled and said, "We jumped on the stage at the Music Festival and the heavens opened. It was like torrential rain the moment we walked on and it kept pouring down on our entire set and we kept banging out the tunes trying to ignore the puddle of water floating across the stage and trying not to get electrocuted. It was so cool looking out at hundreds of people with umbrellas just standing there watching you. It was nice because we were just playing through the weather you know, it was epic!"

The group is enthusiastically supported by friends and family. They really thanked Steven Dunkley, the drummer's father, for being their manager and driving them around to their performances in his milk truck. They said he is there every single time to help them set up for a show. Michael said, "He is like our biggest supporter"

Each had a chance to use one word to describe the group. Matthew Witkowski said, "Dynamic- because we are just four guys going out there making our own music not caring what anybody else thinks just doing what we want to do".

"Bud-because we are just BUD!" said a continuously laughing Michael Mello.

And a puzzled Michael Ross said "Epic- because I just really like the word epic".

If they had any advice to give to upcoming bands or artist it would be "Just always work hard and set your sights high but don't expect to reach that height immediately. Always keep reaching for the top but don't come into the game thinking that you are going to get there immediately because it's a lot of work and otherwise you will get discouraged"

You can see the "Secret Po-Po" in live and direct tonight June 11, at the Tall Ships Harbour Nights on Front Street.