culture

The Sonic Judo Of Black Belt Eagle Scout

By Nadya Klimenko (OPB)
Portland, Ore. April 19, 2018 3:22 a.m.
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Courtesy of Black Belt Eagle Scout

Katherine Paul’s musical journey has taken her from powwows to grunge-drenched rock clubs, but it was on her own that she truly found her voice. Last year, she released her solo debut as Black Belt Eagle Scout, “Mother of My Children,” which blends ethereal vocals and yearning melodies with stories of loss, and recently won second place in Willamette Week's Best of Portland.

Born into a traditional family on the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community reservation near Anacortes, Washington, Paul, who goes by 'KP' for short, grew to love the power of community and music by participating in the Native powwows that her grandfather started decades before. Her parents supported her rocking out on her bedroom drum kit at home, but many of her reservation peers, who did not share her obsession with Nirvana, stayed far away.

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Paul fronted her own grunge-rock band as a teenager, garnering creative admiration at concerts from women twice her age.

Genvieve Castrée, a Quebecois rocker, was one of them. “After one of my concerts, she came up in the hallway and told me I inspired her — that I should keep going with my music,” Paul said. “It was one of the moments that solidified music in my life. That was it.”

Since moving to Portland in 2007 to attend Lewis and Clark College, Paul has played in a number of beloved local bands, including Genders and Forest Park. Then the desire to go her own way struck last winter.

"I was not really feeling creatively fulfilled in the groups that I was playing in," Paul said. "I wanted to feel creative again; I wanted to feel fulfilled and to flourish in music. So I decided to start just taking more leadership in my own music and having it be more of a serious project."

But it was the loss of both Castrée and a relationship that sparked Paul to return to the Swinomish Reservation and record "Mother of My Children" and the nearby Anacortes Unknown studio. Playing all the instruments herself, she delves into the importance of community, what it means to lose those very people and how to make music out of the experiences that have meant the most to her.

Black Belt Eagle Scout will perform live on April 21 at the Seaside Music Festival and April 24 at Mississippi Studios in Portland.

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