"How Four Misfits From Oklahoma Cheated Death, Conquered the Road, and Left a Trail of Broken Stages, Bruised Egos, and Pure Adrenaline Across America..."
From the Desk of: KIRRA
Hey You,
Yeah, you... the one staring at this screen, dealing with all the times life tried to knock you flat.
You ever had the world spit in your face and dare you to keep going? We have too.
This isn’t some Hollywood comeback story. This is real. Gritty. Messy. And you’re about to find out why...
"Do Y'all Just Want To
Jam Something?..."
Not many people know that we wrote an original song together at our very FIRST rehearsal...
Not many musicians can do that on their first time meeting each other, but we knew from the first time we pulled the song (now titled) "Drown" out of thin air...
That this was going to be a special band, but let's back up...
Dax (our guitar player) and Zach (our drummer) met each other through mutual friends of their parents...
Typical friend-of-a-friend type stuff...
Ryne (our bass player) and Jesse (our original singer) knew each other after meeting in college together...
Best part about Ryne & Jesse?
☝️Click To Watch Us Writing "Drown" in 2013 ☝️
They Bonded Over NICKELBACK!
HA! How's THAT Make You Feel?!?
(Just playin') 😉
So how did these separate duos who were in different circles and cliques finally meet?
Dax and Zach were going through ALL the different find-a-musicians sites like:
In a last-ditch effort to try and find some people to jam with, we decided to go to the ONE site left where you could search for other musicians.
And thats when...
BandMix...
ReverbNation...
Facebook...
Family & Friends...
Craigslist Brought 4 Dudes Together (But NOT Like That...)
( Just so you know...that's not our private plane, lol! )
We happened to know someone who was about to take off in one and we ran over and grabbed a quick photo shoot...
Why? Because rock 'n' roll right..? WE WANTED TO FEEL LIKE LED ZEPPELIN OKAY!?! *clears throat* anyway...
We didn't know what we were doing, but we knew this was what we wanted to do!
Some Of Us Were Literally Kids...
We came from nowhere. Three misfits from Oklahoma and an outcast from a small town in Kansas, scraping out songs no one had heard yet.
Songs that bled. Songs that hurt. Songs that told the truth of what we were living through.
Zach was only 15 years old when he met Dax, and Ryne and Jesse were only 23 years old...
And as you know, we had our first rehearsal from there that was very fruitful...
So from there we knew it was time to real dig in and commit!
From that day we met every week possible (and have for 10+ years now)...
And we literally wrote a song-a-week for 8 straight weeks...
Week one was song 1, then week two was song 1 & song 2, and so on and so on...
"The Songwriting Machine Had Been Cranked Up To 11..."
And before you knew it, we had compiled enough for a demo here...and EP there...
But after about 6 months, we had written all the material that would be featured on our first album "Run Away"!
We recorded this record in the middle of Crossroads Mall in South Oklahoma City...
Click Play on These As They Appear! ☝️
Which used to be a thriving spot of our childhoods, but is now an abandoned mall (and it was pretty close to that when we recorded 'Run Away' in 2014)...
Which was pretty reflective of the themes of the record...
Childhoods that were repressed...
Losing of yourself to your relationship trauma...
But despite it all, striving for the stars!!
And putting this album together and gigging locally in preparation made us have an epiphany...
"We Knew It Was Time To Tour..."
We spent 2014 playing ANY gig we could find in ANY state that would have us...
We played lots of these shows for FREE (dumb we know...)
Just to get our name out there and let people know KIRRA was here and we were NOT going to be ignored!
This was a very grueling and tough part of our journey that we are certainly glad is behind us...
But these tours got us thinking about how much we wanted this, and despite the challenges would figure out how to do this forever!
We played places like The Whisky A Go Go in LA, but we also played places that don't exist anymore like Ned's Bar & Grill in Albuquerque or Red Blood Club in Dallas...
These Were Fun Times :)
Then we hit the road like we owned it.
Sleeping in seedy motels, our van, and literally on couches at venues...
Playing for five or ten people like it was Madison Square Garden!
And we did this on our own for quite a long time...until...
(KIRRA's "Run Away" 2015 Release Show @ The Farmer's Market in OKC)
🔥 Things Started To Get Cooking 🔥
2015
Shows: 50 Shows Booked Alone Or w/ Regional Promoters
Released: "Run Away"
First Single: "Fly"
2016
Shows: 170 Shows
Toured With: Saving Abel, Smile Empty Soul & The Veer Union
48 States: In Just 2 Tours
2017
Shows: 100 Shows
Toured With: Soil, Saving Abel, and Tantric
In Studio For: "Fight or Flight" EP
??? 2018 ???
We Were Going On Tour With...
Right After Their 3x Grammy Nomination
This Tour Had TONS Of SOLD OUT Shows!
And for a while, it felt like we couldn’t lose...
Then the road hit back. Hard.
Just like that.
You see...only a few people know that Jesse was struggling with addiction...
Jesse was somewhat public with it on his facebook, but no one really knew the extent of it like we did...
Jesse decided to move to Ohio after a relapse to stay away from drugs for GOOD!
He had a girlfriend out there who really cared for him and was a great environment to be around...
Unfortunately, Jesse got in a fatal car crash...
We were devastated...this is someone we had seen every week (and every day for us on the road)...
This was someone who was turning his life around, it wasn't supposed to be like this...
Ryne had known Jesse since college and Dax and Zach had known Jesse for the last 7 years...
He was like a brother to ALL of us...
At the funeral, we even saw fans that attended, which made the day even heavier since we had just lost our friend but still got to see his impact from people around the country...
What Fans Wrote At His Funeral:
Judy Johnson (Gueydan, LA) "Praying for Your Family, Friends & Loved Ones, I was Blessed to have met You & watch You follow & chase Your dream! I'll never forget You, You will forever live on through My Pictures & videos of You & Your band Kirra!!!! R.I.P. My sweet friend, until We meet again!"
Holly Shaffer (Bristol, TN) "I was definitely blessed to have met Jesse. He was truly a good soul with an amazing voice. He will surely be missed. Prayers for all his family and friends. Jesse, you've got them wings now so fly high!!"
Janie & Mixon Blackwell (New Orleans, LA) "Beyond the music, we became friends between facebook and music venues. We traveled three hours away to see them and had so much fun teaching them to eat shrimp and crawfish. Jesse had a gift and we were luck enough to have him in our lives for such a short time. Prayers to the family, band members, friends, and fans. #foreverkirrafans"
Stacy Medina (Medford, OR) "Kirra played twice here in Oregon. I was able to attend both concerts. The last show they played in Ashland, I was able to hangout with the guys after the show. I must say Jesse was so down to earth. So funny and just so real. He was so talented along with the rest of the band. I am so sorry for the loss your friend your son your band mate your grandson, your companion. Sending many prayers. May you rest in peace Jesse."
We Didn't Know What To Do...
We had an EP we had just recorded with Jesse's voice, a MASSIVE tour on the books to push it, and an opportunity like we'd never experienced before...
Most bands fold. We almost did.
But Jesse bled for this band. And if we quit, it would all mean nothing. It would all be over.
So we fought. We fought harder.
We decided after the funeral at a seedy Econolodge in Wichita, KS together...wiping tears away to put another ad out on Craigslist to find someone to fill in for this Nothing More tour and keep Kirra alive!
Vincent took the challenge of learning our songs head on and in rehearsals was killing it!
However, after we left rehearsals things only seemed to go downhill...
Maybe it was the pressure, maybe it was nerves, or perhaps even some self-doubt...
But once we started performing Vincent forgot lyrics on stage...
Started singing off time with the music, almost causing us to have to stop a song in a sold out gig in Minneapolis.
So by the end of the tour, we were in such a yin-yang sort of state because...
🫲 On One Hand:
Nothing More, the other bands, the crew, and every venue staff on this tour was incredible!
Especially our tour package, it felt like a big family where there were no rockstar egos and just good vibes celebrating Nothing More's official arrival as headliner status in 1,000-2,000 cap rooms like when the family member gets the big promotion they've always wanted...
🫱 On The Other Hand:
We were performing at 50% (maybe less) of our potential...
We were known for being a KILLER live band and now our shows had been reduced to mediocre opening act at best...
So After That Tour, We Were
Back To The Drawing Board
We were right back where we started before the tour!
And we thought we'd have Vincent for a gig with Puddle of Mudd, but we had no singer...
As you have probably figured out, we don't like canceling gigs so we thought:
"How could we play this gig?"
Dax and Ryne both learned to sing Jesse's parts in different combinations and built a 30 minute set we could get through decently...
And luckily, it worked out alright! Dax and Ryne held it down and got through the gig with some pretty good appraise!
But then the question that had plagued us since January had come right back to the surface...
What's The Next Move?
Surely Craigslist Can Save Us ONE More Time! 🤞
And it didn't fail:
Introducing...🥁🥁🥁
Gabriel Parson
From literally day 1, Gabe showed up and learned ALL the lyrics, sang them HOW they were written, and even showed vocal capabilities Jesse was envious to learn...
We had a moment after Gabe left where we looked at each other like:
"This is the guy."
We shortly after invited him over for some BBQ (as we do in the South) and congratulated him on becoming our new lead singer!
A New Era Had Begun...
We could now book shows, festivals, and anything we wanted.
The world was our oyster as they say!
And the first songs we wrote were of a different caliber than they had been...
One of those songs was a hypnotically melodic song about a dream of an apocalypse called, "Sixteen Suns"
We Felt Like A Fresh New Band
We tried things we had never dreamed of before, like when we got two drums for Dax & Gabe to play to kick the show off...
(Literally ever member of the band can play drums proficiently) 😜
After such a successful tour with Gabriel, we knew it was time to really start to get things back in gear...
2019 Comes, We Got The Call...
We're Going Back On The Road!
This was like a redemption from our blundering Nothing More tour, this was us firing on ALL cylinders!
People were saying that we should have been right before Tremonti (implying we're part of the 'main' bill)...
Getting compared to one of the best live bands in rock & metal was an honor to say the least!
"WE'RE BACK, BABY!"
We got to hang around Mark Tremonti and Eric Friedman (Creed) for a little bit as well!
We even made friends with the members of Lullwater, and are still some of our favorite human beings we've met on the road...
Which was great because we found ourselves out on the road with them in October as well as MORE people who we have grown to love...Blacktop Mojo!
We Had The MOST
Fun On THIS Tour!
Anyway, watch this real quick! If you like the movie "Anchorman", we have a feeling you're really going to enjoy this 😄
Alright, did you watch it?
Then you see EXACTLY what we mean Now 😂
We Had LOTS of Fun!
"But Guys...What's The Game?"
Back in 2016 with Saving Abel & Smile Empty Soul we created this game where you would "tag" fans with a clothes-pin without them knowing...
Then a member from another band had to go find it without alerting the fan to the clothes-pin...
Well on this tour it went from tagging fans, to tagging BANDS!
We were literally running around the Machine Shop like little kids clipping each other with clothes-pins with ninja-like stealth and accuracy...
The current World Record is 8 tags on 1 person (which was John Strickland from Lullwater) 👉
He was tagged by a member of every band!
Out here on the road, we got to see how the songs were going over with the crowds, and need less to say...
The crowds went WILD over this new music!
We knew that we had something exciting, something that was a complete new expression of our sound...
"REDEFINING" Our Sound
This album came to called "Redefine" because we really took every idea as far as we could without concern of genre categories...
The had songs that were:
Introspective...
Bluesy...
Metal...
& Downright Whacky!
The first single "Caving In" became our first single to cross 100,000 streams on Spotify!
Our single "Free" had a music video that reached almost 100,000 on YouTube!
Things Were Going Great...
Until The World Came To A Screeching Halt In 2020 🌏
COVID Put A Wrench In All Our Plans For The Year!
Venues were closing...
Tours were canceled...
People were turning on each other...
It was an absolutely MAD time to be alive!
While most artists were throwing their hands up or shaking their fists at the sky...
We decided, there had to be a way to take advantage of being stuck indoors...
We created a live stream series showcasing EVERY song from our new album "Redefine"!
This was a world-wide events that some bands were not making it out of...
We fought like hell through until 2021 when we got invited back on tour with Sevendust, this time with country rocker Austin Meade!
This was a lot of fans FIRST concert experience and for others was their first concert in over a year, people were ready to rock!!
This Was In Moline, IL!!
2021
Toured With: Sevendust & Austin Meade
Released: "Crutch"
Created: KIRRA Fan Club
2022
Released: "Flesh Gives Way"
Created: VIP Show Experience
Recorded: 3 Songs At Sweetwater Studios
2023
Released: "From the Garden"
Hired & Fired: A Booking Agency
In Home Studio: Writing New Music That Is Came Out In 2025!
2024 Was A Turning Point...
So after a fallout with our booking agency, we retreated into the night...
We felt like we had lost a lot of momentum because frankly...
The recording of "From the Garden" didn't turn out how we wanted...
The other songs we had recorded didn't fair too well either...
And so we were in the hole for 3 songs and only confident enough to release 1...
New music was brewing though...
And without even realizing it...
History Was Made...
On a beach in Gulf Shores, we decided to finish a song Jesse had started...
We had a really interesting idea...
Have Jesse sing the first verse & chorus...
Have Gabe sing the second verse & chorus...
And then have a nice instrumental tribute for the rest of the song!
Little did we know, no rock band has ever had their original singer posthumously sing on a track duetting with his successor in a completely new, original piece.
Jesse had always wanted a place in rock 'n' roll history, and now he did.
One Final Mark...
The last song KIRRA put out was a song called "Guilt"
This was a song that came out of the writing sessions of 2020-2021.
It didn't have the same historic significance as "Believe", but it showed KIRRA's ability to write a heavy, banger of a rock song.
Showing off more of the colors KIRRA had to offer.
It wasn't planned to be KIRRA's final track, but life seldomly goes how we plan it...
The Next Chapter...
So why did KIRRA have to come to an end?
The reality of being in a traditional band in 2025 is not a glamorous one...
This life isn't for everyone.
And after a lot of contemplation, certain members felt like this life wasn't what they wanted and that the only right thing to do for them was to step away from KIRRA.
And knowing what KIRRA is as a brand, an identity, a community and a family...
Losing more of the core members of the band and trying to continue on as KIRRA didn't feel right.
We survived one singer change, and that was one of the hardest holes we've ever dug ourselves out of.
But this last blow was not one that the KIRRA brand could survive...
So, it was with tears in our eyes, pain in our heart, that we had to officially put KIRRA on indefinite hiatus.
While the chapter of KIRRA is coming to a close, there are still more chapters to come in the book of our lives.
Some will go back to working a 9-5 and focusing on family, some will continue to do music in other projects, but if you want to see that next chapter, you'll have to come with us for the next ride.
Until we see you again in the next chapter, we want you to know that being in this band has been one of the most rewarding, fulfilling, and emotionally powerful things we have ever been apart of.
The memories with you the fans, the bands, the industry professionals, and with each other in that van traveling 200,000 miles together will never be forgotten.
12 years of our lives filled with one of the greatest adventures life could have put in front of us.
It wasn't always pretty, but man, it was worth every bit of pain or suffering for the joy we got to see on your faces when our music resonated it you.
The people we met, the songs that became the soundtrack to this decade... we are so grateful for every second of this journey.
Whether you see some of us out there making the dream happen or maybe on a different dream, this story will remain one of the most potent experiences of our lives.
We just hope we were able to help some people, spread some joy, and connect deeper with our humanity through the greatest art form in the world, music.
Sincerely,
P.S. We are doing an EMG (everything must go) sale on all the inventory of merch we still have left.
If you want to get your KIRRA merch (this will be your LAST chance to get it) and help support KIRRA one last time, head over to this link and pick up some merchandise today.
We'll be having this sale for a limited time until we just throw the rest in storage, but we'd rather get it into your hands!
So we'll drop a button below you can click now and take this last opportunity to get your KIRRA merch.
All these funds will help KIRRA's member's families and financial situation as we transition into this new chapter of our lives.
Any support helps, thank you!