Words and pictures by Spring Wise.
There was a lovely long queue of goth and goth-adjacent punters snaking by the Joiners, Southampton, on Sunday, which always warms my heart and hints at a good night about to be had.
Opening the evening was local band, Riteoff, who had a very enthusiastic core fan group in the crowd. 90s altrock with a nice bit of distortion and very tight skilled musicianship, I was personally enamoured with the bass finger-picking. I’m definitely looking forward to catching them again sometime.
Ugly Ozo were a slow burn for me, I have to admit. I wasn’t excited by the first song, I didn’t feel much energy, but halfway through the next one I felt a shift and, well, “got it”.
A great combination of dreamy shoegaze, doom guitar and a proper jangle of punk as seasoning, I closed my eyes and let the layers of sound entrance me, and I bloody loved it. My favourite performance of the night was probably their cover of M.I.A’s Paper Planes because if there’s one thing about me it’s that I’m a slut for an innovative and unexpected cover.
There’s very little available from them online so far, but I recommend hitting “follow” so you won’t miss the chance to catch them live, or when they’ll hopefully have a few more songs to stream. Impeccable aesthetic too, chef’s kiss.
Then, the main event! Because apparently I live under a rock, I’d never heard of Skating Polly until a couple of months ago when one of my partners very strongly advised that I grab some review tickets for their Southampton show. He never steers me wrong, so I knew they’d be good, but I didn’t know exactly WHAT they were gonna be.
I took advantage of that, and indulged in the treat of going in cold with no preconceptions at all. Well, apart from the fact that so many of the people I mentioned them to asked me how I’d never heard of them before, so I figured they must be kinda famous.
Well. What a journey I had in store. I’d had a nudge in the ribs and “that’s the lead singer from Skating Polly” during Ugly Ozo, and took in a vision of skintight red, a fluorescent orange bra, and the most divine platform shoes, right in the middle of the crowd. OK, she’s incredibly cool.
Initially I thought we had a fairly standard band formation of lead guitar/vocals, bass and drums, but it turns out they’re all multi-instrumentalist and I’m not sure we could really call Kelli the lead singer. I think front person works better.
And what a glorious noise! A dynamic and honestly enchanting performance from the first moment. We were basking in the flow of three extremely talented and skilled musicians who were masters of their craft, while also exuding raw creative energy and a delicious-expect the-unexpected vibe.
It’s hard to choose a favourite moment, but it’s somewhere between Kelli playing guitar while in a deep backbend towards the audience, Kurtis delivering bluesy slide guitar with a drumstick, or me with tears running down my face during a hauntingly beautiful performance of A Little Late.
After the show, Kelli complimented me on my cardigan and I did an approximate impression of a normal human person capable of conversation. I think the results were mid at best, but I got to hear all her about that song.
Turns out it’s from a critically acclaimed movie written and directed by bloody ARAGORN from Lord Of The Rings. What?! Like I said, I live under a rock, but I’ve got a new favourite band to listen to while I seep into the moss.
Go see them, buy their new double album, follow them on Spotify. In my opinion they don’t neatly fit into any particular genre or demographic: I think if you like music, you’ll find something to fall in love with from Skating Polly.
Last time they played Southampton, at The Engine Rooms, Kelli and Peyton were literally children (they’re all siblings!) nine years ago, but they promise not to make us wait so long next time. I’ll see you there, yeah?
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