Earlier this week, I sat down with Alli and Char of NYC rock band SKORTS to talk about their origins as a band, the ethos they carry, and their shared love of Richmond. The conversation was in preparation for their upcoming show at Get Tight Lounge this Friday with Deathcat and Human Worm.
Alli Walls was serving in a multitude of roles on a cruise ship when a lucky karaoke night landed her a new position as the ship’s singer. As her time at sea came to an end, Walls began searching for a new city to call home. By chance, she landed in Richmond.
“I thought I was in love with a guy there,” she explained. “I decided to move there after knowing him for two weeks, and I moved in with him. Then I was not in love with him, but I did fall in love with Richmond.”
She began cutting her teeth with original songs and an acoustic guitar. “I was a sweet girl with an acoustic guitar and little bird songs about plants. It was very innocent and childlike, my writing. A lot of different experiences made me angry, and I was thinking I needed an electric guitar to express more.”
With the new instrument in hand, Walls moved out to Denver and began searching for the right environment to manifest these harder, more electric songs.
After a few years there, Walls hit her last line-in-the-sand moment. “The car was sold, the boyfriend was dumped. I got the U-Haul and my cat and we peaced out of Denver.”
She was on her way to the city of ambition “the place where you send it or you can’t pay rent.” It was a Hail Mary move to New York City, something straight out of a modern telling of On the Road by Kerouac. “It was a 36-hour drive and I didn’t sleep. Maybe I passed out in a gas station in Chicago. I got to Brooklyn at 3 a.m. in the middle of a block party, what is this place?”
Upon entering this new and fantastical city, she met future bandmate Char Smith.
His story starts in Southern California, where he first played drums for his cousin before moving on to work as a roadie for a successful rock band. “I was watching this great guitar player night after night… I became curious about the craft of electric guitars,” Smith explains.
When the lockdown hit, Smith hunkered down in his apartment and spent 8–10 hours a day teaching himself the routes around the fretboard. His years as a roadie had lit the fire to be better than average. “You see this world-class guitar player versus your average fucking Bushwick clanker,” he says with a laugh.
After meeting by chance in a guitar store, the two quickly began playing together and soon brought in Emma Welch on bass and Max Berdik on drums. With that, SKORTS was formed.
In the last few years, the band has gained considerable attention on the touring circuit. Their distinct look and refusal to be pinned down has given them an almost mythological edge. In the modern era, though, it’s no easy task to grow an audience while maintaining character.
“Today we have to battle so much more bullshit than we would have ever had thrown at us, even 20 years ago,” Walls explains. “We are really trying to break through and do it as genuinely as we can, with the least amount of algorithmic influence.”
The band has no shortage of influences to balance out the digital world. In a seamless way, they say, “this is what we’re inspired by,” and then create their own take on it. Walls gave a special shoutout to Art in the Age of Artifice by J.F. Martel, a book that explores the role of artists in an increasingly cruel and mechanical world.
Even in the way they dress, the band plants a flag of individuality. They carry an underlying respect for each other and for the craft, striving to embody that in every possible way, a spirit that has manifested in dramatic and exciting fashion. SKORTS is a band of flags and lines, marking their distinction from a world that demands uniformity. They refuse to be consumed by expectation and insist on being taken on their own terms.
Now, the group is back for another Richmond show. In July, they played with Shagg Carpet and Tentative Decisions, and this October they’ll share the stage with Deathcat and Human Worm. Whenever they’re in town, the band makes a point to stop by local landmarks like Bamboo Café, Hollywood Cemetery, and Maymont. “I really want to see the bears in Maymont this time,” Walls eagerly chimes in.
The band had nothing but praise for Shagg Carpet and Tentative Decisions, and they’re excited to team up with Deathcat and Human Worm this weekend. You can also catch them on WRIR the afternoon of the show (3–5 p.m.), DJing and giving an interview ahead of their set.
I wasn’t disappointed by the last SKORTS show, and I’m certain I won’t be this time either.
SKORTS plays Friday at Get Tight Lounge. Get you tickets HERE.
Photo by Nico Malvaldi
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