Katherine Paul (born 1989) is a

Swinomish The Swinomish are an historically Lushootseed-speaking Native American people in western Washington state in the United States. The Tribe lives in the southeastern part of Fidalgo Island in northern Puget Sound, near the San Juan Islands, in ...

/ Iñupiaq singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Oregon. Her music is influenced by

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

, and Native American traditional music. She has released an EP and two albums under the moniker Black Belt Eagle Scout. Her self-titled EP as Black Belt Eagle Scout was released in June 2014.Bemrose, Bekki
"Black Belt Eagle Scout , Artist Biography"
''AllMusic''. Retrieved 2019-04-17. Her debut studio album, '' Mother of My Children'', was first released by Portland tape label Good Cheer Records in 2017, then re-released in September 2018 by

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

.Rietmulder, Michael (October 31, 2018)
"Black Belt Eagle Scout pushes for representation with intrinsically Northwest indie rock"
Seattle Times. Retrieved 2019-04-17. On April 26, 2019, Saddle Creek released a Black Belt Eagle Scout single titled "Loss & Relax" on a seven-inch vinyl backed with the B-side "Half Colored Hair".

Early life

Paul was born in

Anacortes, Washington Anacortes ( ) is a city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. The name "Anacortes" is an adaptation of the name of Anne Curtis Bowman, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman. to Kevin Paul, a

/ Colville father, and Patricia Aqiimuk Paul, an Iñupiaq mother and enrolled member of the Native Village of

Kotzebue Kotzebue ( ) or Qikiqtaġruk ( , ) is a city in the Northwest Arctic Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the County seat, borough's seat, by far its largest community and the economic and transportation hub of the subregion of Alaska en ...

in Alaska. Paul grew up in the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community on the Puget Sound in Washington. Her earliest musical experiences included listening to and singing indigenous music of the Coast Salish.Lange, Maggie (September 17, 2018)
"Black Belt Eagle Scout ''Mother of My Children''"
Pitchfork. Retrieved 2019-04-17. She was a jingle dress dancer at regional

pow wow A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations communities. Powwows today allow Indigenous people to socialize, dance, sing, and honor their cultures. Powwows may be private or pu ...

s with her family's drum group, the Skagit Valley Singers. At a young age, Paul began learning to play the piano and played the flute in her school band.Kershner, Lauren (March 13, 2018)
"Black Belt Eagle Scout Combines Grunge and Dream-Pop to Heal Wounds Both Personal and Ancestral"
Willamette Week. Retrieved 2019-04-17. Her interest in the guitar and drums began when she came into the possession of some bootleg VHS tapes of

Hole A hole is an opening in or through a particular medium, usually a solid body. Holes occur through natural and artificial processes, and may be useful for various purposes, or may represent a problem needing to be addressed in many fields of en ...

and

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

, from which she taught herself to play those two instruments by pausing the tapes and studying the musicians’ fingerings and techniques.Jacobson, Rebecca (August 29, 2018)
"Meet queer Indigenous musician Black Belt Eagle Scout"
Travel Portland. Retrieved 2019-04-17. During high school Paul became involved in the small DIY music scene in Anacortes, Washington near the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, driving her parents' car to attend shows at the Department of Safety venue. The venue, located in an old firehouse, is where she met Canadian artist and musician

Geneviève Castrée Geneviève Elverum ( Gosselin; April 9, 1981 – July 9, 2016), also known as Geneviève Castrée, was a Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and musician from Quebec. An early admirer of comics, she began creating them at a young age. L'Oie de Cra ...

who became a mentor to Paul. An inspiration of Paul's, Castrée would attend her early performances, encouraging her and praising her for her playing. In 2007, Paul moved from Washington to Portland, Oregon to attend college at

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a private liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocated to Portland in 1938 and in 1942 adopted the name Lewis & Cl ...

. While in Portland she became involved with the

Rock and Roll Camp for Girls The Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls is both the original Rock n Roll Camp for Girls non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States, and the common name associated with the Girls Rock Camp movement of youth organizations for girls i ...

, and later contributed guitar, drums, and vocals for Portland-based bands Forest Park and Genders.

Career

''Mother of My Children'' (2017)

Paul's first release as Black Belt Eagle Scout was an eight-song self-titled EP in 2014. Her next release was 2017's '' Mother of My Children'', Black Belt Eagle Scout's debut album. Paul played all the instruments on the album including bass, keyboard, percussion, organ, vibraphone, and piano, in addition to guitar, drums, and vocals. The album was recorded at the Unknown recording studio, a converted church in Anacortes. During the recording session, Paul stayed on the reservation with her parents. The first two tracks are accompanied by music videos by

Diné The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

filmmakers Demian DinéYazhi' ("Soft Stud") and Evan James Wood ("Indians Never Die"). Songs on the album deal with topics such as loss, grief, heartbreak, and Paul's identity as an indigenous queer woman. In 2016, her mentor Geneviève Castrée died of pancreatic cancer. Paul says music is what helped her process her grief during this time. This Paul accredits to her Native upbringing and the healing, spiritual roles that singing and drumming played for her during her upbringing. The album's second track "Indians Never Die" is a response to both the

Dakota Access Pipeline protests The Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, also called by the hashtag #NoDAPL, began in April 2016 as a grassroots opposition to the construction of Energy Transfer Partners' Dakota Access Pipeline in the northern United States and ended on Febru ...

Standing Rock The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North Dakota, North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa Lakota, Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate a ...

and to

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

occurring in Portland. Paul is open and vocal about her identity as a "radical indigenous queer feminist".

Critical reception

Black Belt Eagle Scout has been compared to other West Coast bands such as

Mazzy Star Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy Star ...

and

. ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington (s ...

'' refers to Black Belt Eagle Scout's sound as "intrinsically Northwest", because of Paul's blending of Pacific Northwest rock and

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coas ...

traditional music. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' calls ''Mother of My Children'' "a collection of pensive rock songs saturated with an oceanic mood". John Amen of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

'' gave '' The Land, the Water, the Sky'' a score of 9/10, noting, "Black Belt Eagle Scout teaches us, guides, and inspires us, all the while dazzling us with lush atmospheres, seismic rhythms, and a voice that unfurls from another and perhaps a better world."

Discography

Studio albums * '' Mother of My Children'' (2017) * '' At the Party with My Brown Friends'' (2019) * '' The Land, the Water, the Sky'' (2023) Extended plays * ''Black Belt Eagle Scout'' (2014) Singles * "Loss & Relax" (2019) * "Half Colored Hair" (2019) * "My Heart Dreams" (July 24, 2019) * "Run It to Ya" (August 27, 2019) * "Don't Give Up" (2022) * "My Blood Runs Through This Land" (2022) * "Nobody" (2023) * "Spaces" (2023)

References

External links

Official website
* *
"Indians Never Die" music video

"Soft Stud" music video
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Katherine 1989 births 21st-century American LGBT people 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American women musicians 21st-century American women singers 21st-century multi-instrumentalists 21st-century Native American women 21st-century Native Americans American LGBT musicians American LGBT singers American LGBT songwriters American multi-instrumentalists American women singer-songwriters Coast Salish people Inuit musicians American Inuit women Inupiat people Lewis & Clark College alumni LGBT Native Americans LGBT people from Oregon LGBT people from Washington (state) Living people Musicians from Portland, Oregon Singers from Portland, Oregon Musicians from Washington (state) Native American musicians Native American singers Queer singer-songwriters Queer women Saddle Creek Records artists Singer-songwriters from Oregon Singer-songwriters from Washington (state)