Spring Break at SXSW is all work and all play for Skating Polly
Peyton Bighorse, Lori Barbero of Babes In Toyland and Kelli Mayo at SXSW.
AUSTIN, Texas — Many Oklahoma artists played multiple sets at the South By Southwest Music Festival, either hopping from stage to stage or sticking around to play backup — Chase Kerby of Defining Times backed up friends Daniel Walcher and Beau Jennings before playing his own set Wednesday night at the Buffalo Lounge, Oklahoma’s music, film and multimedia showcase.
But Skating Polly might set a record for Oklahoma bands at SXSW 2013. Before the event closes out this weekend, 12-year-old Kelli Mayo and 17-year-old Peyton Bighorse will have played seven different shows, including a private industry show for Virgin Mobile on Thursday. For the Norman/Oklahoma City punk duo, the goal this year is to have their music heard by as many fans and industry people as possible, and to absorb plenty of other bands’ music.
“I just hope that we’ll get new fans, that people will see us and hear our music,” Bighorse said.
“We want to meet as many people as we can,” Mayo said. “We’ve been walking around, seeing and hearing some bands. Yesterday, we met Lori Barbero, the drummer from Babes In Toyland, which was, like, a dream come true for me.”
Barbero, who moved to Austin five years ago, played in the Minneapolis-based alternative rock band Babes In Toyland from 1987 to 2001, and Mayo said she considers the band one of her biggest influences. Barbero said she sees a lot of Babes In Toyland in Skating Polly.
