The DRIVE Issue: Skating Polly

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY PAIGE KEARNEY, ART BY ERICA KALLAS

Skating Polly’s electrifying live shows and fierce tracks would never lead you to believe the sibling members are as soft-spoken as they are. The Oklahoma City-based group got its start in 2009, with nine-year-old Kelli Mayo and her fourteen-year-old step-sister Peyton Bighorse becoming instant stars. The two played with local bands they looked up to, even composing New Trick, a 2017 EP, with Nina Gordon and Louise Post of Veruca Salt fame. The two eventually roped in their brother, Kurtis Mayo, nearly eight years after their start, to round out the group, the sisters worried he would be “too cool” to join their band and decline the offer (spoiler alert: he didn’t). The duo became a trio and these incredibly talented and skilled, multi-instrumentalist siblings released their first album together in 2018. The Make It All Show was born, and marked the start of a new journey for the group.

Sitting on my dorm floor, I spoke with the two singer-songwriter sisters virtually, one on her couch surrounded by an impressive plant collection, and one in her dining room, her dog making an appearance at the tail end of the interview. They had barely returned from their European tour playing packed shows all over the continent. Their sixth studio album, Chaos County Line, complete with 18 tracks, came out last June, and they have been touring non-stop since the release.

“It all sounds like it always has to me. When we were kids, we wrote the same music we are now, except it was childish, maybe not intentionally childish, but you know, there was some childishness to it. It's like growing up,” Bighorse described. Chaos County Line shines a light on the most mature version of Skating Polly we have seen thus far - a direct result of the band’s actual maturation from spunky kids, to moody teenagers, and now to full-grown adults. “Kurtis said that a big difference on this record is the lyrics are a lot less abstract,” Mayo added, “I was always scared of being misinterpreted and scared that I'd be proven wrong about my own thoughts and feelings on things. I just needed to be more direct, I didn't have the time to be cryptic.”

“I think that's when all the fun choices kind of come in. Where you can play with duality or you can just really double down on something like, no, this is this heartbreaking chord structure I came up with. So I gotta stick my hand in my chest and pull out something gnarly,” Mayo commented, discussing the relationship between their lyricism and driving melodies.

With the album touching on themes of anger, relationships, sexuality and vulnerability, it puts into perspective what each member has gone through in the past five years since The Make It All Show.

Aside from the more intense topics Chaos County Line focuses on, their overall sound has evolved to a fuller, more sophisticated subset of what they define as “ugly pop.” Mayo coined the term in response to constantly being classified as Riot Grrrl. “Riot Grrrl is so misused. People use the word Riot Grrrl to mean any loud girl band or any girl band from the '90s,” Mayo explained. “We just kept getting called things. And it's frustrating… you're like, okay, well then I'm not being one of your boxes, I'll make my own dumb box.”

“Ugly pop” as a genre is simply the band taking the reins and hitching their trailer to the pop genre - as a band that “doesn’t know how to do pop”. Mayo sighed, “We’re just Skating Polly, I don’t care… Just check it out for yourself.”

Although their newest album is more mature than their previous work, the band has an incredible fondness for their experiences as young musicians. Bighorse rounded out a conversation about poor style choices, sloppy performances, and unsuccessful stage names by stating that she doesn’t get embarrassed by that kind of stuff anymore.
In terms of their newest release, the pair claimed “Tiger At The Drugstore,” “All The Choices” and “I’m Sorry for Always Apologizing” as some of their defining tracks - perfect introductions to the band’s unique sound and their incredible songwriting style. The two had a friendly compliment war while trying to choose their answers to the question - Mayo complimenting Bighorse’s songwriting and vocals, only for the same compliments to be reciprocated when discussing another song.

Through Mayo showing off her houseplants and bird whistle and Bighorse’s ability to “out-Elliott all the little stinky boys listening to their Elliott Smith,” the constant touring with their siblings doesn’t seem to change any sort of dynamic between them. It was heartwarming to sit back and listen to the sisters talk about different plants and apologize when they cut each other off. “Peyton and Kurtis are two of my best friends. And then they're also my siblings. And then they're also my bandmates,” Mayo explained. “Part of it's just like finding that flow of like: 'This is me time. This is us time.'” The teamwork and craftsmanship of these siblings are truly amplified by the undeniable love between them all - the unwavering support, the signature sound they developed together, and the deeper understanding of each other’s visions.

The most gratifying part of it all? “Seeing all these people that we have reached and that we have a connection with, even though it's not like a super like, close or personal connection, there's a connection there,” Bighorse claims, “It's just crazy to me that there can be such a reach with our music.”