Kirk Scully: Afraid to Shine Release Party (MUSIC VIDEO & LIVE PERFORMANCE)

Kirk Scully: Afraid to Shine Release Party (MUSIC VIDEO & LIVE PERFORMANCE) is finally here! Join us at Spirit Sister Denver for an unforgettable night filled with music and excitement. Get ready to witness the debut of Kirk Scully's latest music video and experience a live performance like no other. Don't miss out on this exclusive event - mark your calendars and come celebrate with us!

The abive copy was so generously provided to us by Artifical Intelligence. Below are some words from Kirk Scully on why this night means so much to him.

Almost one year ago, I released a Tiny Desk Contest Submission of an original song of mine called “Come Home”. This was a catalyst in bringing to the forefront in my life a crazy dream of mine. I have learned a lot about patience in the last year since that video went live. I have a tendency to always want to be ten steps ahead of where I actually am. On April 14th, 2024, on my 28th birthday, I reached another big milestone and released the live recording from my Tiny Desk Contest Submission “Come Home” on all streaming platforms.

This whole year has been a whole lot of small steps forward. I have learned so much, and am finally finding that I am getting into some sort of momentum with being able to see a world where I can actually have a music career. To be at a point now, where on December 6th I am finally releasing what feels like my first real single “Afraid to Shine” makes me pretty emotional. This song feels like an actual hard launch to my music career.I began writing this song a little over three years ago, and it ended up getting shelved for quite some time. Things tend to finish themselves when the time is right, and after a year and a half I had a realization during a breathwork class around the question of “why am I afraid to shine”. I left the class and was frantically writing thoughts down in my notes app on my phone at dinner with some friends that night. It was the inspiration I needed to finish this song. A few days later, I had the bones finished and then I had to hit the ground running with trying to arrange the song itself from more than just an acoustic guitar part and vocal melody. I am so lucky to have had so many incredible musicians and brains help me bring the recording to life and I can’t wait for it to release into the world for everyone to hear.

Since 2019, I have shot and directed over 10 different music videos. None of these music videos have been projects where we have had big budgets at all, and have been really fun, DIY collaborations with the artists and bands I had the pleasure of working with. We had gotten resourceful and tried to make as much out of the little that we had. I am super proud of all of those I have gotten to work on, and incredibly grateful for everything I learned. When it came to shooting a music video for my own music, it seemed fitting to stay in that same vein. I was lucky to be able to have a good friend of mine from college, Jon DuVarney, step in and help direct and shoot a video with me.

Jon and my friendship began while we were both at the University of Denver, and our friendship blossomed over a shared passion for filmmaking. It wasn’t necessarily big Hollywood filmmaking, rather a new wave of DIY Youtube personalities with NYC based Casey Neistat being at the forefront of those inspirations. Jon proposed the idea of flying to NYC to go shoot the music video. We could go walk the streets, ride the subway everywhere and see what inspirations struck. At first the idea seemed random, and my real appeal was it being Jon’s engagement with helping me shoot a Music Video (something I cannot do daily alone). The more I thought about it however I began to realize how on brand the idea was to the song itself. I have always dreamed of busking in the NYC subway. During the early years of my professional life with my video career, I was spending a lot of time in NYC and the energy the city possesses is contagious. In a lot of ways, the city itself is a heartbeat for the rest of the world; a stage to go put yourself on display. The story of the song “Afraid to Shine” to me has a lot to do with the fear of our power, and the actual light which we do have. It is a story of depression and struggle, and stepping outside of our comfort zone and into our power. After a few days from the initial conversation, and two days before the planned trip we booked flights and were lucky enough to have some friend put us up at their apartment and we went for it.

The two day 48 hour Marathon of a shoot was full of a lot of truly special moments, but it wasn’t until we went and put ourselves out there on display in Times Square when it all truly made sense. This wasn’t just a music video shoot. It was much deeper than that. It was a real life experience of me putting myself out there on display in front of the world. It was me truly living the message of the song and stepping into my power and light, an experience I would have never done without Jon and an experience which truly changed me. I put myself way outside my comfort zone. I am a different man because of it now and I cannot wait to show you all the Music Video we have come up with.

Since I started attending University of Denver in 2015, I discovered a newfound love for playing the piano. There was a piano right in the lobby of my freshman dorm which I would play every time I walked by. My dad, always had a piano growing up and when I went home during breaks from school playing the piano at home took on a whole new meaning. Throughout the years after I graduated college, whether it was an injury, a global pandemic, or just a need for a reset I found myself back at my parent’s house more than I had anticipated. I have been quite open with the mental health journey I have been on, and my struggles with depression, but being back at my parents house during battles with depression, and having the ability to sit down and play the piano has truly had such an impact on me to this day. I have found playing a real piano, with all of its. Energy and power, to be an unmatched therapeutic outlet for me. I have written a lot of music sitting behind my dad’s piano. It has also always been a dream of mine to have my own piano, and also be able to play a full live set on a real piano.

At the end of last spring, I met an organization called the Piano People in Denver. They restored old piano’s and turned them around for sale in order to raise funds to stop child human trafficking. It was a crazy story, which I found incredibly powerful. I proposed to them, that I filmed a video for them telling their story in exchange for a Piano. I had fallen in love with a beautiful 1903 Emerson upright grand they had in their warehouse, and they believed in me and took a risk to move forward. I spent months working on an a video for them which I am super proud of, and they are in the final stages of finishing up a lot of hard work to get my piano, which is over a century old up to their incredibly high standards. The timing of everything just so happened to work out perfectly, and I will be debuting that piano at this show, and playing an entire hour long set on it, accompanied by Grayson Dayne on the electric guitar.

Needless to say, I am excited to screen my FIRST EVER MUSIC VIDEO for my own music, celebrate the release of my first studio single “Afraid to Shine” and get to bring a long awaited dream of mine to life of getting to play an intimate set on a real piano to life. I promise it will be a night to remember, and the official launch to a journey which I am truly excited to lean into fully.

Host or Publisher Kirk Scully