Tacoma-based band Skating Polly have been rolling down the right path for years now. Formed in Oklahoma City in 2009 by step-siblings Kelli Mayo (then 9-years-old) and Peyton Bighorse (then 14-years-old), they kicked off their career playing the family Halloween party. Ten years later, they've opened for Babes in Toyland, recorded with Louise Post and Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt, and have been mentored by Exene Cervenka of X, a Fairy Godmother of Punk, who also produced their sophomore full-length Lost Wonderfuls.
Now, in the wake of their fifth LP, the trio (having recruited their brother Kurtis Mayo on drums in 2017) share the new single "Play House," a song they say is about "how fun it is to act like a child." Mayo specifically cites an evening watching the movie Dirty Dancing as inspiration, telling BTRToday, "I can’t at all do the Dirty Dancing jump [because] I don’t have that upper body strength to actually do the move, but I could run and jump and that was really really fun." (Hence the shout-out to Patrick Swayze in the lyrics.) She added, "I kind of made a deal with myself on this song that I just wanted to write something that was just fun and happy and okay with being that and that’s colorful, weird and abstract."
Skating Polly are playing a sold out Record Store Crawl across Seattle on June 22nd and then heading out on a European tour in October.
Finding good new music can be a full time job, so let KEXP help! In Our Headphones brings you five song recommendations every Monday, straight from KEXP’s DJs and Music Directors. Join hosts Janice Headley and Isabel Khalili on this never-ending journey of music discovery.
Host Emily Fox and KEXP’s editorial team talk with artists about the stories behind their songs and the experiences that inform their work. Through each conversation, we uncover the humanity behind the music, allowing us to hear it in a whole new way.