Meet The Kin: Park City teens form high-energy rock band

The Kin, a newly formed teen rock band made up of Park City High School and Winter Sports School students, gathers for a rehearsal portrait ahead of their debut showcase at Park City Community Church on Sunday at 6 p.m. Photo: The Kin

PARK CITY, Utah — A group of Park City teens has built a rock band with the kind of chemistry most musicians spend years trying to find — and they’ve done it in a matter of months.

The six-member group, called The Kin, will take the stage for their first public showcase Sunday at 6 p.m. at Park City Community Church. The performance is free and open to the public.

An Unlikely Beginning

The band formed shortly after the Nolan family moved from Nashville this summer. Danny Nolan, 15, had been part of a strong music scene there and worried he wouldn’t find musicians in Utah.

“Leaving Nashville, he was scared he wasn’t going to be able to find any musicians,” said his mother, Julia Nolan. “But it all just organically and beautifully came together.”

Danny had already been performing solo around town — including gigs at Park Silly — and had begun connecting with Mountain Town Music’s Brian Richards, who helped him book local shows. As he met more students who played instruments, a band began to take shape.

“One guy said, ‘I play guitar,’ another said, ‘I play drums,’ and it just kept going,” Nolan said. “All these boys were desperate to get a band going. They’d tried with other people, but it never worked out. This time it did.”

More Than Music

The boys didn’t meet through music alone. Several were introduced through Park City High School’s football team, where Danny — new to the sport — joined to meet classmates before school began.

“The bass player is the corner, the keyboard player is the quarterback, and Danny is the guitar player who’s a linebacker,” Nolan said. “I think it’s so fun that they all met through football.”

Others bonded through the Winter Sports School’s snowboarding and soccer communities. The mix has created what parents say is a tight-knit, hardworking group that clicked quickly.

The band pulls talent from both Park City High School and the Winter Sports School, blending freshmen through juniors who balance academics, sports, and an ambitious musical life. The lineup includes Danny Nolan on lead vocals and guitar, Steele Stark on lead guitar (16, junior at Winter Sports School), Kaden Gourley on drums, his brother Kellan Gourley on rhythm guitar (both 15-year-old sophomores at Winter Sports School), John Santarosa on bass, and Augie DePaul on keyboard (both freshmen at PCHS).

Finding Their Sound

The Kin has been practicing weekly at Park City Community Church, which offered them space and support. Parents set up sound equipment, then step back and let the teenagers work.

“There’s never a lull in practice,” Nolan said. “They’re so focused and so driven. They’ve put the entire band together themselves — the name, the songs, the sound.”

Their current set leans heavily into grunge and punk rock, covering artists like Foo Fighters, Blink-182 and Sum 41. The band is also beginning to write original music, partly inspired by a local battle of the bands competition that requires original material.

Their debut showcase aims to give the public a glimpse of what they’ve built.

“Practicing is great, but they need a show,” Nolan said. “We wanted to give them a real stage where their friends, family and anyone who wants to support them can come out and see what they’ve created.”

If You Go

The Kin performs Sunday, Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. at Park City Community Church. Admission is free.