From South Elm Street to Shakori Hills: what to know about Katie Blvd

Katie Hutchinson is Tigermoth’s talented designer, illustrator, and animator. She brings her playful and innovative designs and animations to life under the guidance of Creative Director Lyda Carpen. Katie joined Tigermoth as an intern in 2019 while she was still a student at North Carolina A&T University. 

When she’s not in the office, Katie is Katie Blvd, a sonic artist and founder of Greensboro hip-hop space Beats Batch. Now, representing the Greensboro music scene, Katie is taking her act to Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, the famed North Carolina music festival taking place October 3rd-6th. In the run-up to this event, I sat down with Katie to learn more about her music career and what we can expect to see from here at Shakori Hills (and beyond). 

So, I recently went back and read your very first interview with Tigermoth Creative, where you talked about how important music is to you, going all the way back to the fact that it influenced how you picked your university. Can you tell me about your relationship with music in childhood? How long has your heart been in it? Has it always been like this? Who introduced you? 

Yeah, I would say it’s always been a part of my life in some type of way. When I was young, I started playing piano when I was maybe four or five. Actually, my mom just told me a story about how she wanted me to start piano before my feet could touch the pedals on the floor! I guess I took to it when I was so young and she just wanted to get me started early in that process. 

So I feel like music was a part of my life even before I knew what life was supposed to be, you know? And then as I got older, it was a little different as I was trying to figure out how to find myself in it. Piano was how I started, with classical training and that world — it was a different space for me than creating music and the music I listened to. So I had to take the time to really discover and hunt for music to find new artists and energies. My mom was a big pusher for me when it came to introducing me to so much of the foundational music I like, then I learned to marry the skills I gained from training with the inspirations I gathered from those artists.

Does she just love that you’re a musician and that music is such a big part of your life now?

I think so! I mean, it was one of those things… My parents were a little nervous when they discovered I wanted to pursue art and music as a job. I think that was a little bit tough at first with us, but after she started to see that I could pursue it in a practical sense, then she was able to say, ‘Okay, I see what she’s trying to do here.’

Tell me more about that ‘practical sense.’ I mean, I know broadly about Beats Batch, but tell me more about it and how it came to be.

Yeah! So Beats Batch was like the second phase of an event series I was a part of back in college called MTROKNWN. It was essentially the same forum where we’d have a handful of beatmakers come together and play monthly shows at Common Grounds on Elam Ave. A few out of our group would perform, along with people we would bring in from outside of the GSO area. We tried to use our platform to grow other people’s platforms! 

We all went to North Carolina A&T together, and after all the members graduated from A&T and moved on with things in their lives, MTROKNWN kind of passed on too. There were other beat-making groups around NC that also existed in other cities, but a few of those groups passed on as well. So I felt a little bit of a duty to be like, ‘If nobody else is going to do it, then it might mean that I have to do it.’ Beats Batch is kind of my way of trying to keep the torch lit in the space of beat making and giving beat makers a shine, giving them the stage they deserve.

Yeah, I love that. I love that drive where it was like, ‘I need to do this. I need to carry this on.’ What do you hope to bring to Greensboro with your music and with Beats Batch?

I think the biggest thing I want to cultivate is more respect for hip-hop as beautiful music worth being invested in! I feel that there are a lot of spaces that highlight other genres, but there are very few spaces for hip-hop. There are some societal connotations that come over people when they hear “hip-hop”, and it seems their mind can go to a negative place. But, I think Beats Batch was my way of saying, ‘Hey, this is what it could look like. This is what it could feel like. It’s family, it’s love! It’s completely different than maybe what you’re picturing in your mind.’

Katie Blvd and Holdenxcess

So, would you identify yourself as a hip-hop artist first?

No, actually. I don’t think so. I can’t say it’s more one thing than the other, because I feel like I play guitar and sing and do the jazz-soul type thing, just as much as I do the rapping, hip-hop type thing. I wouldn’t want to put myself in one category alone. Though, when it comes to who I’m representing for Beats Batch and who I’m working for, then definitely I would say hip-hop is the driving force right now.

So, for 20 odd hours a week, you are ‘Katie working at Tigermoth,’ which is a position where you’re still very creative, obviously, but just in such a different way. Do you find that those two types of creativity influence one another? Do you find yourself drawing inspiration from your music in the way you design? You have such a specific style in the way you design, and then you also have that in your music. Do you find any sort of relationship between the two?

Maybe not in a direct way. I feel like the energy of both things lend to each other, and I think if you listen to my music and you look at my art, they kind of make sense together energetically. Some of my hand-drawn texts have had a really big graffiti influence. A super heavy hip-hop, organically imperfect type of influence. I also create all the graphics and promotional pieces for Beats Batch and myself, so they’re directly connected.

Where else have you been finding inspiration lately?

Movies and films! I am always super deep in the music, tv and film world. And honestly, I’ve been really deep in the Alien movie series. I just watched Alien: Romulus, and as dark as it is, it still has some really interesting visual elements that I can pick up on. I like the way that the movie takes its inspirations. I’ll do some historical research, especially if I get into something like a series as deep as Alien — I’m going to go back and try to discover where the ideas came from, and the people involved. 

So through that, I learned about H.R. Giger, the guy who designed the Xenomorph and all of his art styles. His work is this hauntingly beautiful, biomedical technical design style. It’s heavily detailed while it’s still very soft and intricate. I find it really inspiring to learn about the process of the early designs of the Xenomorph, into the iconic movie character we know it as today.

I feel like I do the same thing in my art, where I would mentally look out at all of my inspirational elements and pull the pieces together to create my final image. The project I’m working on right now with Cone Health Alight Integrative Care is really intentionally multicultural. I’m hoping to bring the representation of different types of people there, and in the process I’m reaching back into my mind on people I’ve seen. People I believe are typically underrepresented in media like this. 

Now, let’s talk about Shakori. Is this your first time attending?

No, actually! This is my second year attending and performing. Last year was my first time going and my first time playing, and I played with a group called OnlyUS Media. Tigermoth did a UNCG Transform magazine a couple of years ago covering Blackspace with Joshua Rowsey and Donovan Livingston. OnlyUS media was Joshua Rowsey’s group! I met him through that story and social media, and we started working together. He brought me on to perform with him a few times, and he brought me on to be a part of that group with Shakori. I played two songs in a compilation performance with four or five other artists. This year, I have my own set, and I’ll be playing for an hour!

How did it feel seeing your name, just your name, on the lineup?

Very exciting! I mean… It’s interesting. I now understand what it feels like to really be a professional artist, because all the exciting things are like the cherry on top. There’s a lot in that cake before you get that cherry! So it’s almost like when you get it, it’s like, ‘Yay!’ But the work’s not over. So it’s been super, super exciting but also really nerve-wracking. This is one of the biggest shows I’ve ever gotten, so I’ve been working really hard to prepare for it.

Yeah. That’s awesome. So where can we find you, and where can we find your music?

You can find me on Instagram at @katie.blvd or @beats.batch. Those are my social platforms. I also have my website, which is katieblvd.com. You can find my music mostly on SoundCloud, but also on BandCamp. I have one song on Apple Music, which is cool. You can check me out there, but if you really want to get to the bulk of most of my stuff, I would say SoundCloud!

Are you working on anything new that we should keep an eye out for?

Yeah. Plenty of shows, and I’m working on two releases. I am completing the second half of a beat tape, Blvd Bumps Vol 3: For You & Yours. The first half of that tape is already released. Next I’m going to complete a full-length album! I’m working to have the beat tape out by the end of the fall and the album out maybe early next year.

Wow. Is there anything you can tell us about either of those things, or is it all top secret?

Well, most of the songs have been performed, so you can catch them live. The beat tape is a B-side, so the A-side is already out, and it’s all love-themed; it’s relationship-themed. So the A-side is all the ‘up,’ all the high energy stuff, and the B-side is a little bit more downtempo with a slower vibe. That’s coming out soon!

Very exciting. I’ll keep an eye out for that. Are there any other upcoming shows we should look out for?

Yeah! I’ll be playing Double Oaks BnB on the Thursday night before Shakori and Tate Street Fest on the Saturday night after! There are a few more performances on my list for October, but definitely save the date for Beats Batch’s Halloween costume party on the 24th at D.O.S.E Art Collective, as well as FemFest at the Ramkat on the 26th. That’s an all-female-led festival in Winston-Salem! 

Very cool. Exciting stuff. And finally, I only have one more question for you. Are you nervous?

Am I nervous? Oh, yeah. Oh yes. Shaking in my boots! But they’ll be cute boots, and I’m gonna play through it and have a fun festival!