Last year we sat down with Katherine Paul and Maya Stoner of Forest Park, a Portland rock band known for their long, winding compositions and massive-sounding live shows. We're reprinting it here for your reading pleasure, and make sure to listen to their self-titled EP.
She Shreds: Whats the story behind each of you becoming guitarists?
Katherine Paul: I started playing guitar when i was about 13 or so, because I’d played piano as a younger girl and wanted to learn more rock ‘n roll type music. I was also against taking lessons because I wanted to do it myself, so my parents got me a guitar and I learned to play songs by bands like Hole and Nirvana. I only played guitar for two or three years and then stopped because I wanted to go into drums, which was then my main instrument for a while. In the last two years or so, I started playing guitar again. Maya and I were in a band before Forest Park in which I played drums, but we wanted to go in a different direction and had similar styles of playing guitar, so we decided to see what would happen if we played guitar together, and it turned out well.
Maya Stoner: I can’t remember the exact age [when I started playing], but I didn’t start off playing guitar. I went to a really hippy dippy elementary school where everyone learned meme and African drums and bongos, so for Christmas I asked my dad for a drum and he misinterpreted it and bought me a whole drumkit–i think i was in the first grade–thats how supportive he was. Later on, my dad got me and my sister a guitar to share and it had these awful rainbow trees painted on it. After that, always having a guitar around my house made it so that despite not knowing how to play, I could still start bands. That’s how it’s been my whole life–I’ve just taught myself, except for two years at the Rock ‘n Roll Camp for Girls.
SS: What songs did you play when you were first learning guitar?
KP: The first song I learned was ‘Doll Heart’ by Hole.
MS: See, that’s the thing–I didn’t really practice. But, I have vague memories of playing a Sleater-Kinney song and a Shins song and a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch… which I’ve never seen.
SS: What’s it like being a female guitarist in Portland?
KP: I think it depends on what sort of scene you’re in, because we play a lot of house shows with hardcore noodle-y bands [meaning they play fast, intricate riffs] and there aren’t a lot of girls who play shows with those bands, so we’re some of the very few female musicians who end up playing those shows. I was intimidated at first, but now I don’t care.
MS: I dunno if I would still be playing music today if it didn’t start off in Portland, because everyone’s been so supportive. I remember playing at Lady Fest in 7th grade with my shitty band and it was really cool and made me wanna keep going.
SS: Do you ever hear douchey comments about being a female musician?
KP: Not anymore. I feel like when we were starting out, we did, stuff like “awesome, you’re such a good girl band, cool”–like tacking gender to our music.
MS: The douchiest thing that anyone’s ever done was when a couple guys asked me to be the “Asian girl bassist” their band because they “needed an Asian girl to be in it”–the guys weren’t even Asian. I remember explaining why I thought it was ignorant to ask me that, but they didn’t get it. They apologized and then asked me to be in their band again.
KP: They were like, “we really do need a girl in our band.”
SS: How would you describe your guitar style?
MS: Everyone who’s written about our guitar style uses the word ‘intertwined’ and I think that’s really it. My personal style has been affected a lot by noodle-y emo music, but we’ve both grown up with Northwest type music–Microphones, Mirah–so that’s had a big impact.
KP: I’m not really prone to writing noodle-y parts, and there was a time when I told everyone “I hate noodling, I think it’s stupid”… But, at the same time I think noodling is really impressive, so I’ve found my own way to fit it to how I like to play.
MS: I just want to say that it feels like such a blessing to have Katherine as a guitarist in my life, because there are times where i write just two power chords–something so simple but it sounds so good–and then you have someone like Katherine to bring it to and she always knows the perfect thing to play
KP: Awwww.
SS: What is your favorite song or riff the you’ve come up with?
KP: Wait, can we choose our favorite riff that the other person has written?
SS: Chyeah.
KP: My favorite riff Maya plays is in our song ‘Landscapes’. At the end of the song, there’s this part where I’m yelling really loud and after i finish, she starts going into this great part. It’s my favorite mostly because it’s such an emotional song that it ends in the perfect place at the perfect time with the perfect riff. My second favorite riff that she does is in an old song we don’t play anymore–but we may be trying to rework it–called ‘You Left Leaves at my House’. It’s the very first guitar line that is played––
MS: I was gonna say that that’s my favorite riff of yours! I love that part.
KP: They’re just interesting notes, and they match up with my guitar line–not perfectly, but they accent it in away that is really beautiful.
MS: It’s like you thought you knew what pie tasted like but you had never eaten the crust..
KP: It’s as if the part you had written was the perfect part, but when the other person comes in it’s even more perfect.
SS: If you could shred with any other guitarist on stage–dead or alive–who would it be?
MS: Dude. Me and J Mascis. I would be a J-ass-kiss. He’s from Dinosaur Jr. and he’s a wizard and he looks like a wizard and I saw him play a whole show with his eyes closed… Amazing.
KP: I have two. The first person is not your typical shredder… I don’t listen to a lot of shreddy music, but I do listen to a lot of Cat Power, so I think if I played with anyone on stage it’d be with Chan Marshall. Oh, and I’d wanna be in Kickball.
SS: Duuude.
MS: Duuuuuuuuude. If we’re talking about sister shredders: Sister Rosetta. She’s the original female shredder.
SS: Okay, sappy moment. Any words to girls or women who are interested in playing guitar but are intimidated?
KP: I would say that you have the ability to do it, and you have the ability to do it well. I always knew that I had the ability to play music, but i was never told that I could be really exceptional at it. No one ever told me “yeah, you’re gonna be awesome”– they just said i could do it.
MS: I would say that if you feel any inclination to pick up a guitar or drums or whatever, you should go with it and not be hesitant, because there can be times in life where playing music is one of the few things that make you genuinely happy.
