SKATING POLLY SCORCHED MERCURY LOUNGE

The sibling power-trio from Oklahoma City known as Skating Polly blew through NYC like a wildfire headlining an early show at Mercury Lounge, which bookended a short headlining East Coast mini-tour opening for the classic punk band X. This is looking to be a big year for this sensationally skyrocketing band, as they have already been on the road with other killer up-and-coming artists like Potty Mouth and Charly Bliss, on top of recently releasing impressive new material, as well as appearing at number of big U.S. Summer festivals before a European tour opening for Bristol’s She Makes War.

The Brooklyn band QWAM opened the show with a crush-rockin’ power that gives all of the crunchy and catchy qualities of classic NYC female-fronted punk acts like Patti Smith, Blondie, and The Plasmatics, paired with other post-punk party qualities of The B-52s, L7, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Frontwoman Felicia Lobo is a firebrand singer who excels at whipping the audience into a tizzy. They just dropped their intoxicating self-titled full-length, and they are really burning up my eardrums as of late.

QWAM

Skating Polly are a little bit country and a whole lot of kick-ass rock n’ roll. The band formed a decade ago in 2009, when sisters Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse were only 9 and 14 respectively, and more recently their brother Kurtis Mayo joined in on the family biz. All three are known for switching up instruments on stage, as well as in the studio, although Kelli generally slays the bass, Peyton grinds on the guitar, and Kurtis pounds the drums. The sisters also share the singing duties, a vocal blend of harmonic reverberation that often brings on reverberations of other classic female-helmed acts like The Ronettes, Heart, The Breeders, and even Veruca Salt- a 90’s alt-rock powerhouse band that recently took this young act under their wing and even guested in on an EP together called New Trick in 2017. That mixture of hypnotizing harmonies and crushing swerves provide a blend of diversities that transcends the potent blend of different genres that live within their skin; from the roar of 90’s riot grrrl, 80’s new wave rock catchiness, 70’s classic rock, the sway of the 60’s girl groups, and to even a touch of classic country and bluegrass. Still, they come out the other side with a highly powerful and very original sound delivered on stage with lots of high kicks and head banging. The new songs may be some of my favorite from them yet, and yet it feels like the sky is the limit for these shooting stars.