Skating Polly's Fall Europe tour kick off next week

Over the past decade, few artists have embodied the unbridled freedom of punk like Skating Polly. Formed when stepsisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse were just nine and 13, the Oklahoma-bred band have channeled their chameleonic musicality into a sound they call “ugly-pop,” unruly and subversive and wildly melodic. With Kelli’s brother Kurtis Mayo joining on drums in 2017, they’ve also built a close-knit community of fans while earning the admiration of their musical forebears, a feat that’s found them collaborating with icons like X’s Exene Cervenka and Beat Happening’s Calvin Johnson, touring with Babes In Toyland, and starring as the subject of a feature-length documentary. On their double album Chaos County Line, Skating Polly reach a whole new level of self-possession, ultimately sharing their most expansive and emotionally powerful work to date.

Over the course of its 18 kaleidoscopic tracks, Chaos County Line embraces the kind of combustible emotionality that comes from fully uncompromised self-expression. “I think on this record Kelli and Peyton were really confident in being more honest and more experimental at the same time, whereas in the past they might’ve made the lyrics more poetic in order to cloak that honesty a bit,” Kurtis points out. And as their songs shift from devastating to exhilarating to gloriously cathartic, Skating Polly hope to provide the same sense of solace and release they found in creating the album. “I love all kinds of art, but music always goes deeper; it hits you right in the gut and lets you know you’re not alone in whatever you’re feeling,” says Peyton. “I’ve had people tell me we’ve helped them get through a breakup or an abusive relationship or the death of someone they loved, and all these other heavy obstacles everyone goes through,” Kelli adds. “I feel like I’m not necessarily the best person to draw a map on how to live the happiest life, but I like the idea that our songs can make other people’s lives better in some way. I want our music to be like armor.”

Skating Polly are back in Europe for a tour this month:

10/10: Cologne, DE - Blue Shell
11/10: Bielefeld, DE - Forum
12/10: Tergnier, FR - Elles Rock Festival
13/10: Brighton, UK - Green Door Store
15/10: Newcastle, UK - The Cluny 2
16/10: Glasgow, UK - The Hug & Pint
18/10: Liverpool, UK - The Zanzibar
19/10: London, UK - Oslo
20/10: Southampton, UK - Joiners
23/10: Dresden, DE - Ostpol
24/10: Hannover, DE - Kulturzentrum Faust
25/10: Antwerp, BE - Djingel Djangel
26/10: Utrecht, NL - dBs