Pinch of ‘SALT’
Skating Polly returns to Oklahoma in support of new EP, collaboration
Veruca Salt’s Nina Gordon was mouthing the rhythm she could hear in her head, but no one could quite decipher it. “I didn’t ever quite get exactly the drumbeat that was in her head,” recalled Kelli Mayo, of youthful rockers Skating Polly. “But because of that, because of working with her, it made my brain think in different ways about drumbeats. And I came up with this drumbeat that I never would have come up with on my own. It was very strange, and it sounds good.”
For Skating Polly, a healthy pinch of Salt adds intriguing flavor to its punk-rock sound, while more Mayo makes creating the music even sweeter.
The Oklahoma expatriate band is touring in support of its new release, “New Trick,” a small-but-mighty three-song collaboration with Louise Post and Gordon, co-lead singers and guitarists of the esteemed alt-rock band Veruca Salt.
“Working with Nina and Louise was a really good experience for us I think because … they gave us lots of things we just didn’t know, lots of little tricks,” said Peyton Bighorse, Kelli Mayo’s stepsister and fellow self-taught singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.
“They just put lots of new ideas in our heads that I think we’re going to be using a lot on our songs from now on, because they’re really great ideas that we’d never thought of before.”
Touring in support of the EP will bring Bighorse, 21, Kelli Mayo, 17, back to their native state for a show Friday at Norman’s Opolis. They will be accompanied by their brother, Kurtis Mayo, 20, who has officially joined Skating Polly full-time on drums.
“I would go on tours with them before and just
sell T-shirts or whatever. Now, since we moved up to Washington, I’ve been in the position where I can actually add something to the band,” Kurtis said in a phone interview in which he occasionally chimed in with his sisters. “Everybody loves it. I love having them around; I love being around the music and helping in any way I can.”
“Even before Kurtis was in the band … he was always contributing ideas,” Kelli added. “He’s like an encyclopedia of music knowledge. His opinion is a good one, so it’s definitely for the best that he’s joined forces with us.”
Punk-rock reunion
Skating Polly’s willingness to join forces with fellow musicians has created instrumental opportunities. The band recently reunited with X on the seminal punk band’s 40th anniversary tour, seven years after the sisters met frontwoman Exene Cervenka after an Oklahoma City show. Cervenka produced the group’s sophomore album, 2013’s “Lost Wonderfuls.”
“Exene gives the best advice. We’ll call each other just randomly out of the blue … and she’s always making me feel more secure and comfortable with my decisions, just having someone who’s been doing it so long — who’s been mastering it so long — in my corner,” Kelli said from the road in North Carolina.
“I never get sick of watching X. They have a way of changing their show every single night: They’ll swap out songs, they make everything different, they do different solos every night. Exene changes her cadence, and she’ll change her lyrics."
Opening for X brought the band back to Oklahoma City earlier this month for a show at the Diamond Ballroom, the rockers’ first home-state performance in about two years.
“I was insane. I was so nervous. All my friends were there, and my family was there. And I was being a total weirdo, and I was wanting to talk to everybody, but at the same time, I didn’t want to talk to anybody because I was scared of getting distracted and like missing our set time,” Kelli said. “And then we actually played the show, and it was probably my favorite show of the tour.”
Originally from Edmond, the siblings moved a few years ago to Tacoma, Washington, where they’ve befriended engineer and musician Jack Endino, who recorded Nirvana’s “Bleach,” and found inspiration in graphic novels from the comic bookstore down the street from their house.
“It’s a lot different than Oklahoma, in almost every way I can think. Obviously, the politics are different. The weather is always different,” Bighorse said. “Being up there has really helped us out a lot, not necessarily because of the music but just because it somehow made us more focused and more driven than we already were. We’re always working on our music and writing songs and doing all sorts of art.”
Influential collaborators
After last year’s release of Skating Polly’s acclaimed album "The Big Fit," the Veruca Salt co-frontwomen reached out with an invitation to collaborate.
“That was a great experience. We had no idea what was expected or what we were gonna actually do going into it. We met for the first time, I don’t know, like over a year ago at the Hobby Shop (Recording Studios in Highland Park, California) and we just had like three days in the studio, and they were recording while we were writing. Then, we just kept in touch, and we were like, ‘What if we actually did something with this?’ ... Those two are incredibly smart, we share so many of the same favorite bands, and they were even telling me about more bands,” Kelli said.
Like X, Veruca Salt is another of Skating Polly’s sonic and stylistic influences who have made an effort to assist the up-and-comers.
“I think it’s incredibly cool that these female legends can be so supportive of us,” Kelli said. “Women are kind of trained to think, like, everyone’s a competitor and you should compare yourself to them. Your insecurities tend to shine through and all this stuff. But I’ve learned from Exene and Kat (Bjelland) and Lori (Barbero) from Babes in Toyland and Nina and Louise and countless other people that you don’t have to be like that. … We all should be supporting each other so that we can make the best art that the world can have.”
Homecoming show
Before embarking to Europe and the United Kingdom on tour in support of Kate Nash, Skating Polly will return to Oklahoma in support of its new EP. Not only will the band get to show off its “New Trick” — which boasts an off-kilter epic in “Black Sky,” a broody rocker in “Hail Mary” and a zippy pop tune in “Louder in Outer Space” — but the group also will get to continue its evolution as a sibling trio.
“I think me and Kelli and Peyton really build off each other on stage, and we’re a lot more dynamic,” Kurtis said. “Whenever it gets loud, it gets really loud; whenever it gets quiet, we all can drop out. It’s a really cool setup. I’m really glad to be involved, just so proud to be involved.”
“We’re pretty excited ’cause we played our first show ever at the Opolis, so also that’s just a cool little piece of nostalgia that’s gonna be there,” Kelli added. “I’m definitely gonna be incredibly nervous when we actually get there, but for right now, I’m just really, really excited.”