Black Belt Eagle Scout
photo by Jason Quigley

Black Belt Eagle Scout shares song, touring with Saintseneca

Black Belt Eagle Scout, the solo moniker of Portland indie rock musician Katherine Paul, is gearing up to give her debut album Mother of My Children a wide release on September 14 via Saddle Creek (it originally came out in 2017 on Good Cheer Records but was since pulled from the internet). After sharing “Soft Stud,” she’s now streaming a second track from the album, “Just Lie Down.” This one’s got even more of KP’s grunge influences in the dirty-sounding guitars than “Soft Stud” has, but like that song, the grit is balanced out by KP’s more delicate, crystal-clear singing style. That balance is a very appealing one, and KP is a natural at pulling it off. Here’s what she says about the song:

I started working on the guitar line for this song at the end of a five year stay at a big duplex I was renting in Portland. This had been the longest period of time I had ever lived anywhere that wasn’t my parents’ home. I was being kicked out of the place because the landlord wanted to renovate and hike up the rent. This was the case for a lot of Portlanders at that time (and still is) as the city was on a steep course of gentrification.

My life shifted and I ended up moving in with people I had never met to a smaller, but comfy situation in a different part of town. There was a Corgi named Dayton involved. The room in this house is where I worked on the majority of the songs for Mother of My Children, staying up late and turning up my guitar amp volume when I could. I was in a new place and the feeling of ‘home’ was never really present when I lived there. It was a really disconnected time in my life thus warranting the initial bits and pieces of ‘Just Lie Down.’

So many things didn’t feel foundational and at times I felt like I was losing it. I remember thinking, ‘You aren’t yourself right now. What is wrong with you? Why are you acting like this? What even is this?’ and that’s where most of the questioning lyrics in the song came from. I like to find some sort of resolution in my songs be it a feeling I get from playing it, a certain part of the song that has lyrics that reflect it, something. My resolution in this song is when I sing the lyrics, ‘Just lie down, head on the ground, sky looks blue, just like you.’ To me, it was a simple poem you could say to yourself that means even though you are sad, even though there seems like there is no hope, look up and see what is above you. The sky is still blue and beautiful. Hopefully you will see that beauty and move forward.

Black Belt Eagle Scout has also been announced as the opener for several dates on Saintseneca‘s tour, which is a great pairing. That includes the NYC show happening 9/6 at Bowery Ballroom (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Speaking of, Saintseneca just released the new song “Beast in the Garden” from their forthcoming Pillar of Na this week, and you can hear that below too.

Black Belt Eagle Scout — 2018 Tour Dates
Fri. Aug. 31 – Columbus, OH @ Wexner Arts Center #
Sat. Sep. 1 – Detroit, MI @ Deluxx Fluxx *
Sun. Sep. 2 – Chicago, IL @ Beat Kitchen ^
Tue. Sep. 4 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Lodge #
Wed. Sep. 5 – Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall #
Thu. Sep. 6 – New York City, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
Fri. Sep. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ PhilaMOCA #
Sat. Sep. 8 – Richmond, VA @ The Camel #
Sun. Sep. 9 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat (Backstage) #
Tue. Sep. 11 – Durham, NC @ The Pinhook #
Wed. Sep. 12 – Atlanta, GA @ Drunken Unicorn #
Thu. Sep. 13 – Tampa, FL @ Crowbar #
Fri. Sep. 14 – Tallahassee, FL @ The Wilbury #
Sat. Sep. 15 – New Orleans, LA @ Gasa Gasa #
Mon. Sep. 17 – Austin, TX @ Barracuda #
Tue. Sep. 18 – Ft. Worth, TX @ Main at South Side #
Wed. Sep. 19 – Norman, OK @ Opolis #
Thu. Sep. 20 – Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck #
Fri. Sep. 21 – St. Louis, MO @ Off-Broadway #
Sat. Sep. 22 – Davenport, IA @ Village Theater #
Mon. Sep. 24 – Lexington, KY @ The Burl #
Wed. Sep. 26 – Omaha, NE @ Reverb $
Fri. Sep. 28 – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive $
Sat. Sep. 29 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Diabolical Records $
Sun. Sep. 30 – Boise, ID @ Funky Taco $
Wed. Oct. 3 – Spokane, WA @ The Bartlett $

* = with Varsity
^ = with Shortly
# = with Saintseneca
$ = with Guerrilla Toss