• News

• All

Feb 03, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Sarah Cass Black Belt Eagle Scout

Black Belt Eagle Scout (aka Katherine Paul) released a new album, At the Party With My Brown Friends, last August via Saddle Creek. Now she has shared a video for “I Said I Wouldn’t Write This Song” and announced some new tour dates. Chantal Jung directed the animated video. Watch it below, followed by Black Belt Eagle Scout’s upcoming tour dates.

In a press release Paul says the song “is about an initial thought that you don’t think will come to fruition, but for whatever circumstances, does. It’s about that kind of craving emotion within oneself that just turns up and has to come out of you no matter what.”

Jung had this to say about the video: “The video features Northern imagery that shows aspects of Inuit life, including cloudberry picking, animal relatives and Arctic landscapes. People often forget that our livelihoods are extremely connected to the environment, including the animals and plants that live among us. This video is meant to bring awareness of the land, the animals and the people who protect the land.”

Read our recent My Favorite Album interview with Black Belt Eagle Scout about Cat Power’s “Moon Pix.”

Read our review of At the Party With My Brown Friends here.

Paul is an indigenous queer musician who grew up in a small Indian reservation, the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, and is based in Portland. Previously Paul shared At the Party With My Brown Friends’ first single, album opener “At the Party” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Then she shared the album’s second single, “My Heart Dreams,” via a video for the track (it was also one of our Songs of the Week). Then she shared the album’s third and final pre-release single, “Run It to Ya,” via a video for the track (it was also one of our Songs of the Week).

Black Belt Eagle Scout’s debut album, Mother of My Children, came out last September via Saddle Creek, so this is a quick turnaround for a sophomore album. Back in April she shared a video for a new song, “Loss & Relax,” that was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Alas that song is not on the new album.

A previous press release described the new album as such: “At the Party With My Brown Friends is a profound and understated forward-step. The squalling guitar anthems that shaped its predecessor are replaced by delicate vocals and soft keys, sentiments spoken and unspoken, presenting something shadowy and unsettling; a stirring of the waters. Paul recalls specific memories - an impromptu beach trip with her friend Haley Heynderickx, her eternal love for her mother, and leaving one love and desperately wanting to find another. The end result presents a captivating about-face that redefines Paul’s singular artistic vision.”

“At the Party” was written in Paul’s bedroom and the press release said it “is a reflection on self-navigation and the comfort that comes from a close-knit group of friends.”

Paul had this to say about “At the Party” in the press release: “Within my conscious self, there is always a sense of questioning the legitimacy of the world when you grow up on an Indian reservation. We are all at the party (the world), trying to navigate ourselves within a good or bad situation. I happen to be at the party with my brown friends- Indigenous, Black, POC who always have my back while we walk throughout this event called life.”

Read our interview with Black Belt Eagle Scout on Mother of My Children.

Read our 2018 politically themed interview with Black Belt Eagle Scout.

Read our review of Mother of My Children.

Black Belt Eagle Scout Tour Dates:

Sat. Feb. 22 - Austin, TX @ OUTsider @ The Vortex
Tue. Feb. 25 - Seattle, WA @ The Showbox (w/ Death Cab for Cutie)
Wed. Feb. 26 - Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown
Thu. Feb. 27 - Anacortes, WA @ The Business
Fri. Feb. 28 - Vancouver, BC @ Fortune Sound Club
Sat. Feb. 29 - Victoria, BC @ Lucky Bar
Thu. March 26 - Calgary, AB @ The Palomino Smokehouse and Social Club
Fri. March 27 - Edmonton, AB @ The Rec Room
Sat. March 28 - Saskatoon, SK @ Amigos Cantina
Tue. March 31 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Wed. April 1 - Iowa City, IA @ Mission Creek Festival @ The Mill
Fri. April 3 - Cudahy, WI @ X-Ray Arcade
Sat. April 4 - Bloomington, IN @ The Bishop
Sun. April 5 - Tallahassee, FL @ Word of South Festival (solo)
Tue. April 7 - Lakewood, OH @ Mahall’s
Wed. April 8 - Toronto, ON @ The Monarch
Thu. April 9 - Ottawa, ON @ Club SAW
Fri. April 10 - Montreal, QB @ L’esco
Sat. April 11 - Portsmouth, NH @ 3S Artspace
Sun. April 12 - Allston, MA @ Great Scott
Mon. April 13 - Philadelphia, PA @ Boot & Saddle
Tue. April 14 - Washington, DC @ DC9
Thu. April 16 - Brooklyn, NY @ BRIC House
Fri. April 17 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Roboto Project
Sat. April 18 - Cincinnati, OH @ Northside Yacht Club
Sun. April 19 - Columbia, MO @ Café Berlin
Tue. April 21 - Denver, CO @ Lost Lake
Wed. April 22 - Colorado Springs, CO @ Colorado College
Fri. April 24 - Albuquerque, NM @ Sister Bar
Mon. May 18 - Berlin, DE @ Burg Schnabel
Tue. May 19 - Hamburg, DE @ Uebel & Gefährlich
Thu. May 21 - Utrecht, NL @ Brewpub De Kromme Haring
Fri. May 22 - Paris, FR @ Supersonic
Sat. May 23 - Brighton, UK @ Patterns
Sun. May 24 - Leeds, UK @ Hyde Park Book Club
Mon. May 25 - Glasgow, UK @ Broadcast
Tue. May 26 - Manchester, UK @ The Deaf Institute
Wed. May 27 - London, UK @ Colours
Fri. May 29 - Heidelberg, DE @ Queerfestival @ Karlstorbahnof
Sat. May 30 - Brussels, BE @ Witloof Bar

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.