“Our live show is always very happy, even if it is a bit rowdy. My anger that I express is cathartic, I don’t ever point it at the audience… It’s a place to let out the anger,” says Kelli Mayo, co-founder and co-frontwoman of self-professed “ugly pop” (their own personal brand of punk rock) trio Skating Polly, co-founded and co-fronted by Mayo’s step-sister, Peyton Bighorse, and rounded out by literal brother Kurtis Mayo, who officially joined the band in 2017. We – and the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection in general — first saw Skating Polly when they opened Union Transfer for Kate Nash in November of 2013. Since then, they’ve played Kung Fu Necktie countless times, provided support for X and Together Pangea (respectively) at Underground Arts, and hit up PhilaMOCA just last May. We’ve personally known the group since 2016, and I last checked in with them when I spoke to Peyton in June of 2023, upon the release of Chaos County Line, Skating Polly’s first double album (and sixth overall), which Kerrang characterized as a collection of, “Irresistible pop-grunge anthems… The whole thing’s an absolute blast.”
Kelli, Peyton, and Kurtis have been touring Chaos County Line on and off ever since, including back-to-back sell-outs in Paris and London in January of 2024, which Kelli tells me during our recent phone chat were two of the best shows the trio’s ever played. Although she says it’s not just the huge shows that can be a blast. “I think people are so sincerely stoked to see this band all the way from America come to play, whether it’s a packed show in Paris or a small show in a small English town with 20 people,” Mayo explains of the experience of getting to play overseas. But she also admits that it doesn’t take trips to such far off places to excite the group: “The weird thing to me is that there’s so much similarity with people all over, and we always just love going places we’ve never played. Like, even though we’ve toured America so much, we’re going to Athens, which we’ve never played, and which has such a great music history… I just love travelling, I love being on the road.”
Last Wednesday, the night prior to Kelli and I’s chat, Skating Polly kicked off their current headlining run, which will have them at our very own Nikki Lopez (formerly J.C. Dobbs) this Saturday, August 2nd. Kelli tells me that the band will be playing a handful of older tracks, a lot of Chaos County Line, and even three brand-new songs, which she says have a bit of a different vibe from the double album: “I think it has a darkness to it, melodically, but light and playful subject matter, as opposed to Chaos County Line, which was often really heavy subject matter.” Although she clarifies that each of the new songs embodies something unique to itself, as well: “I like things to stretch and go to new places, always… I think I go through phases, if I want to write really literally or really metaphorically or let stream of consciousness take over and figure out what it means later. With Chaos County Line, I had clear intentions for what every song’s about.”
“I feel like every time I sit down to write a new body of songs, I’m like, ‘What if I don’t know how to do this anymore?’” Mayo confesses of approaching new material, before clarifying that she’s ultimately most afraid of not changing, pointing out that even 2010 debut LP Taking Over the World included an abundance of sounds. “We have become better musicians… It’s like, ‘Cool! I can do this now!’ Every album was clearly better musically, and fans can hear us maturing, too,” Mayo tells me of Skating Polly’s evolution, going on to say, “It might not be the musicianship that’s getting better at this point, but I’m gonna have to find other ways to adjust the formula.” She characterizes the group’s three newest songs as, “lo-fi, strange, and crunchy,” but admits that Skating Polly’s sonic progression won’t always be exactly linear. She even confesses to embracing one aspect of being a professional musician that she long resisted: “I’ve gotten to know my voice a lot better. I used to believe in not taking vocal lessons because I didn’t want to sing how someone tells you you’re supposed to, but then I screwed up my voice and I’m like, ‘I need to learn to better take care of my voice, my instrument.’”
Joining the sibling trio for much of their current run, starting with this Saturday’s show at Nikki Lopez, are Minneapolis-based indie rockers bugsy, who provided direct support for Skating Polly’s July 2023 stop at Kung Fu Necktie and who Kelli tells me her own band have become friends and big fans of over the years: “We love bugsy! We’ve done a few tours with them. We first met Emily from bugsy when they were with their previous band, Bruise Violet, who were named after a Babes In Toyland song, and I remember when Lori Barbero — the drummer in Babes In Toyland, who we know — was like, ‘You’ll really like them!’” Kelli also says that Skating Polly fans should definitely show up early for bugsy’s set, which they’re sure to dig: “They’re super catchy, super infectious energy, great lyrics. I’m yet to see an audience that they haven’t won over. We played a show in March of this year, and the local support covered a bugsy song, and we thought it was so cool, and we were like ‘We know bugsy!’ and they were like, ‘bugsy are our favorite band!’”
“Make friends with the bands you meet on the road and try not to be in competition, but don’t endorse dickhead musicians,” Kelli playfully proclaims of the importance of surrounding yourselves with likeminded and supportive musicians. And she says that, if you’re a band hoping to have any kind of longevity, it’s probably important to not trust people who aren’t creative or artistic: “I’m so over outsiders coming in and trying to change people’s voices or artistic output… Don’t trust the suits, it’s really not a good call. I don’t even trust managers for the most part, I think they’re full of shit.” She also warns of getting too comfortable with social media: “Social media is already so disgusting… to me, it’s like playing slots, pretty much. I wanna write and make cool art, and if you like social media, then have fun with it, but I think it’s a trap and I think people should avoid it. Just make music with people you love.”
Skating Polly’s currently announced dates have the band touring the US, Europe, and the UK through mid-October (Their North American shows wrap in late September, before they head overseas.), which includes a September 28th performance at Eddie Vedder’s Ohana Festival, where they’ll be playing alongside Green Day, Wet Leg, and James. When discussing highlights of the Chaos County Line touring cycle, Kelli mentions both getting offered the festival gig, in addition to meeting the Pearl Jam frontman, who saw Skating Polly opening for longtime official/unofficial mentors X, whose frontwoman, Exene Cervenka, befriended Kelli and Peyton in 2010, produced 2013 sophomore LP Lost Wonderfuls, and took the grrrls out for a number of jaunts supporting her own legendary punk band.
In addition to officially releasing the new Skating Polly songs (“We started recording these three songs; we just need to get them mixed and put them out.”) and getting to work on even newer Skating Polly material (“I have a concept for another thing. I don’t know whether it’ll be an EP or an LP, but I’m starting with the lyrics, which is my approach this time.”), Mayo and Cervenka also have a project of their own set to drop in the very near future: “Me and Exene finally got around to recording four songs together, that should probably be out next month. We’re just waiting for the vinyl to be pressed, and then we’ll put them out digitally, as well.” And, apparently, the tail end of 2025 will see Skating Polly hit the road with another yet-to-be-named legendary artist: “We have another tour in December with one of our favorite artists, which I can’t talk about yet, but it’s one of these bands that I never thought I’d even get to see live, and now they wanna play shows with us!”
Those who tuned into the July edition of Philthy Radio, my monthly show for Y-Not Radio, heard “This Vacation,” a Skating Polly deep cut off of 2018 fifth LP The Make It All Show (whose “Queen for a Day” features Cervenka). The track appeared during a block of “summertime jams” (or, in this case, anti-summertime jams) from artists playing the 215 this sunny season. However, Kelli tells me that the literal inspiration behind the track was an ex-boyfriend who didn’t want her to have her own life (or band), instead expecting her to dedicate all of her time to hanging out on an extended “vacation” with him. And she admits, while the track has made very few live appearances in Skating Polly sets, she is actually a big fan.
“First of all, I really like that song. It’s one of the only ones on the album that we didn’t make a video for, when we were making a video for like every song. But it’s one of the first Skating Polly songs where I played guitar, that and ‘Camelot.’ I think we only played it one time; I think we really only played it at the record release show. I really wanted it to have a Queens of the Stone Age sound, because I really loved Queens of the Stone Age… I still love Queens of the Stone Age, that heavy, jagged drive they have… I also like my vocals on it… I purposefully left this voice crack on it that I really love!”
*Get your tickets here.
