A late-night summer breeze blows as junior Kristen Skordos and four others sit on a curb with Ted Drewes in hand. The ice cream freezes their palms as they chatter about the event from earlier that night: their first live performance as a band.

Okay Violet, Skordos’ band, consists of herself and three other members: PJ McCauley, Athena Miransky, Ava Harkey and previously, Carly Woodward. McCauley, who met Skordos through mutual friends, initially reached out to Skordos last winter, inviting her to join.

“[McCauley] and I just clicked, we were instant friends. We had talked about how cool it would be to be in a band for the longest time, and I knew they were interested in music as much as I was,” Skordos said. “For a while, [Okay Violet was] just existing; learning songs with not very efficient practices. But being in a new situation, you just have to handle it. You have to learn to balance things and be able to deal with it.”

Skordos was the lead vocalist for their first three performances, with McCauley on the drums, Miransky on the bass and Harkey on the guitar. Their first performance was July 13 at HWY 61 Roadhouse in Webster Groves.

“[Before our first performance], I had my phone in my face looking over lyrics. I was humming to myself to see if I could memorize it. I was thinking, ‘How can I be as entertaining as possible? Where can I put my hands?’ It’s just the matter of memorizing lyrics and thinking, ‘what am I going to do next?’ which is so stressful,” Skordos said.

Following their first performance, Okay Violet played at the Conservatory in Alton, Ill. and Ballwin Sno-Cone. Some of their most notable covers include “Blister in the Sun” by Violent Femmes, “My Kind of Woman” by Mac DeMarco and “Iris” by The Breeders.

“We’re shooting for indie rock or punk rock [music]. We don’t want to conform to anything, but it’s also important to have a brand, something people can recognize and enjoy, but we’d love to experiment with originals,” Skordos said. “I’m very big on not conforming to all the imaginary rules. What makes a band more interesting is that each person contributes something different. If I wrote a song and made my band just play it, all they’re really doing is sitting there and being forced to play it. The only thing you hear is their technique, not emotion.”

Recently, as school starts back, the bandmates have found it harder to schedule time for rehearsals.

“You have to communicate with your band members on your availability, but when [everyone’s schedules] are cramped, you have to work with what you’ve got,” Skordos said. “Even if you know all your material…putting your time into a song over and over again just makes it better. But [messing up is] bound to happen. You’d think it’s like, ‘oh, I failed, my bandmates are going to hate me,’ but it’s fine. It happens. Before a gig, we’ll run through the songs we aren’t 100% comfortable with, it’s like an exit slip.”

Skordos’ family and friends have attended all of her gigs so far.

“I’m glad that [they] appreciate anything I do. They will show up and love every second of it,” Skordos said. “There are times where I mess up lyrics. There’s a lot of quick thinking, and you have to try to look calm, but on the inside, you’re just melting. But then your friends in the audience will [tell you that] you did amazing. It’s rewarding.”

Though the band does not have their next gig planned yet, Okay Violet has been rehearsing to prepare for future performances.

“I saw a program called School of Rock perform, and it just looked like so much fun. They had a lot of energy and the crowd was really involved with them too, which is important. That’s a relationship that you want to have. I thought that [that venue] was the place to be,” Skordos said. “Fast forward a few months, and we performed there. We played a ton of songs for a lot of people. So many people have fun memories from that and so many people got involved. If I can get those rewarding little feelings again, then I don’t care [what else happens],” Skordos said.