Skating Polly are back in Europe/UK in October

Skating Polly are coming back to Europe! October dates announced now:

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

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.

The follow-up to 2018’s The Make It All Show, Chaos County Line finds Skating Polly working again with Brad Wood, the acclaimed producer behind indie-rock classics like Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville. As their songs journey from art-punk to noise-rock to piano-driven power-pop, the band matches that musical complexity with a sharply honed narrative voice that manifests in countless forms (ultravivid poetry, diary-like confession, fearlessly detailed storytelling, etc.). Not only the outcome of their constant growth as songwriters, Chaos County Line’s scope and depth has much to do with Skating Polly’s newly heightened clarity of vision. “All these songs are the most special to me of anything I’ve ever written, and I think Kelli feels the same,” says Peyton. “In the past I didn’t always write with a clear purpose, but this time I knew exactly what I wanted to say. We both ended up writing about the most difficult emotional experiences we’ve ever been through, and instead of being terrified of saying exactly what I was feeling it just all came out so naturally.”

Chaos County Line embraces the kind of combustible emotionality that comes from fully uncompromised self-expression. 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.”