Tin Bees Tapping On The Roof Top

During their performance at 2010′s Campus A Low Hum festival they dished out free tubs of ice-cream for the crowd to devour in the hot afternoon sun. Afterwards I had a brief but intimate chat with all three members of Polka Dot Dot Dot; three of the kindest people I have ever met.

“I’m mostly a vagabond, travelling around doing the things I want to do.” That’s how Polka Dot Dot Dot’s Colleen Johnston (aka Twig Palace) describes her life right now. Along with band mates Jordan O’Jordan and Onyx of Olympia, they form what could be described as a travelling band, linking arms at random moments to play music together and performing solo when apart.

The trio, originally from America’s Pacific North-West, formed the band on a whim during a trip to New Zealand in 2007. At the time Jordan’s solo music was being played on 95bFM and his free spirit told him it would be a grand idea to visit. Jordan remembers, “I was kind of chicken to do it on my own so I asked Onyx and then Onyx asked Colleen and we all met up here.”

On arriving in New Zealand they were invited to open for Steve Abel, but only one slot was available. The idea was motioned and they decided to form a band, combining all their solo songs. Following that and still nameless, they were then asked to play at the inaugural Camp A Low Hum festival. “We were sitting in an internet café in Taupo trying to figure out what we were going to call ourselves because we were still just getting to know each other,” recalls Colleen.

And the trio’s relationship remains one of infrequent, whimsical desire. Over the past two years they have rarely seen one another, now all living in different cities across the US. When they are together it is always on a musical adventure, three times they have visited New Zealand and recently during the US winter they went on their first tour.

“To me it’s really special that way because it’s always like being on a honeymoon with you two,” laughs Jordan. “I really like the times that we have to hang out, but I also really love the constant adventure.”

“It’s funny because I always feel like being in a band with Colleen and Onyx is like being in a band with your two soul mates”

As very open minded individuals they have become best friends and have no problem making sacrifices for one another. Onyx recalls a time on their first New Zealand tour when Jordan slept on gravel to allow Colleen and herself to sleep in the tiny car they had hired.

“Jordan was the hardest and he wrapped himself like a burrito in a tarp and lay down on the ground, on the gravel in Queenstown.”

Those days of hardship are now behind them, thanks to their bubbly, always charming personalities they have made plenty of friends throughout New Zealand and now have two albums to sell on the road. Their most recent album titled Syzygy, was released in the US just months ago and it represents something quite different from their last, titled Love Letter To New Zealand.

Colleen discovered the word Syzygy one day when she was reading a science-fiction novel, and not knowing the meaning they looked it up on Onyx’s i-phone. “I was reading a Philip K Dick novel and that word came up. When we looked it up I realized how appropriate that word was for us because it means the alignment of three celestial bodies and like a conjunction in space. It’s kind of a good word for our relationship, how we just coalesce at different moments.”

The word also has strong connotations towards some of the songs on the album. Onyx says, “there are a lot of songs that are about romances that are brief yet powerful.” The majority of the songs were written when the trio was apart and both Colleen and Jordan remember it as being a particularly dark time.

Jordan remembers his feelings after they parted ways. “Right after the first album was recorded I went to grad school in Pennsylvania, so I went from the West Coast to the East Coast and had a really personally dark time. It wasn’t super great and I wrote a lot of songs that were processing a lot of weird emotions… I think it comes together a bit on this album.”

With the songs on Syzygy relaying darker emotions than their last album, it’s not the only change. Onyx has been learning to play harp and her skills can be heard on the new record.

After playing at the 2010 Campus A Low Hum festival and a brief tour throughout New Zealand, the band has again parted ways. Onyx has already returned to the USA and Colleen will soon follow her. Jordan is staying in New Zealand for six months and will be travelling around the country spreading his love and promoting his joyous new solo album titled Carbon Cycles. 

You can purchase Syzygy from the Bicycle Records online store and from The High Seas in Auckland.

Polka Dot Dot Dot- Nijewel: MP3

Polka Dot Dot Dot- Up All Night: MP3

Polka Dot Dot Dot- Myspace

Posted by Nick Fulton under Olympia, U.S.A, Washington
1 Comment