Skating Polly

The Oklahoma City-based duo Skating Polly was formed in 2009 by teenaged step-sisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse. The two young women played for the first time at their family's Halloween party, improvising simple songs with Bighorse on drums and Mayo playing the two-stringed basitar. Encouraged by the results, they began writing songs inspired by the '70s punk and early-'90s alt-rock they'd heard from their parents, with both of them switching off on instruments and lead vocals. Favoring a primitive, punk-influenced style that falls somewhere in between riot grrrl acts like Bikini Kill and Babes in Toyland and classic twee pop like Beat Happening and Kimya Dawson, the two recorded their debut album, Taking Over the World, for Norman, Oklahoma-based indie Nice People Records. After introducing themselves to X vocalist Exene Cervenka after one of her shows, Mayo and Bighorse convinced Cervenka to produce their second album, Lost Wonderfuls, in 2011. The album was mixed by Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock, and its success led the group to open tours for prominent indie acts like Deerhoof, Band of Horses, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart, and the Flaming Lips. For their third album, they worked with another influential figure, K Records guru and Beat Happening frontman Calvin Johnson. The record, titled Fuzz Steilacoom, was released in March 2014.