For four Flint natives who have all been a part of the city’s music scene for more than a decade, the members of Nosey Parker are excited by the resurgence in live music here in recent years. It has created a small problem, though: everyone wants to book them.
“We practice once a week and then we actually try to only book one show per month, but this is like our fourth or fifth show in two weeks,” said Kayla McAuley, lead vocalist, prior to a performance at Pierce Park in August. “So August got a little out of hand. Sometimes it’s just hard to say no because we love to play music so much.”
The band, which formed in 2018, has performed all over Michigan, but they’ve become a favorite at local venues in the city as the number of bars, restaurants, and other places that book live music has increased. That’s reminiscent of an era they’re all familiar with when live music wasn’t hard to find in Flint, before going through a dry spell a decade or so ago.
“It feels amazing that it’s starting to come back again, because there was a while when it felt like you couldn’t get in anywhere,” Kayla McAuley said. “Nobody wanted to hire bands, and I remember there would be nights we’d want to go have a date night and see live music and you couldn’t find it anywhere. And now, you can go out pretty much any night of the week and find it.”
Nosey Parker members Michelle McAuley and Tammy Pendleton, who were previously in other popular local bands, built a following when it was difficult even for groups with solid followings to find venues in Flint, are happy to see that changing.
“Tammy and I were in All Day Monday and played with Katie Stanley Band, so it’s cool because we were all part of that era when there was music all the time downtown, and then it just kind of went away,” said Michelle McAuley, the drummer in Nosey Parker. “And so now to be a part of it again when it’s kind of coming back, it’s so cool.”
Kayla McAuley’s background as a vocalist started in church, and she was later a member of another local band, The Tom Toms. As the band writes together, she said they try to combine music and lyrics that just make people feel different human emotions.
“None of us really were planning on playing shows,” Kayla McAuley said, noting that the band started mostly as close friends getting together and just playing music for fun. “And then we thought … We kind of sound good. Then we decided to start writing and it spiraled from there. I think honestly we try to really engage with the crowd and write music that they’re going to relate to. We’ve all been through tough times, whether it’s heartache or family issues, anything like that. But we’ve also had those happy moments. And so I try to express that in my musical writing so somebody in the crowd will walk away feeling some sort of way.”
Pendleton is the band’s bassist and Chris Kirk is the lead guitarist. Nosey Parker’s music is highly interactive for audiences. That ability to connect with a crowd in any space is part of the reason for their popularity. Their sound incorporates elements of rock, pop, and soul music that is a mix of their original songs as well as some of their unique takes on well-known hits.
Along with their energetic music, their ability to connect with a crowd comes from simple place: they’re authentic.
“I honestly would say that it is just because we’re so comfortable with each other,” Kayla McAuley said. “I can walk up to Chris and like dance and make him feel uncomfortable in the moment, but it’s just like a silly kind of banter. It just comes natural when I’m with them. I feel comfortable enough on stage to be myself with them, then I just wanna be myself in front of everybody. Sometimes they’re like, stop doing that. You’re embarrassing us. I just get lost in the music, man.”
The band released its first EP called Chatter in 2019 and they’re currently working on their first full-length album, which they’re hoping to release in the winter of 2025. They’ve had several memorable performances on stages all over Michigan, including Arts, Beats & Eats, the Ferndale Pride Festival, and Short’s Brewery. They also love performing at local spots, like Churchill’s. But one experience, as Flint natives, will be hard for the band to top: they were able to perform at the Capitol Theatre in August as part of the Flint Under the Stars series.
“The Capitol Theater, like that’s a moment I think that we’re not getting over that anytime soon,” Kayla McAuley said.
The band has upcoming performances in Flint, Grand Blanc, and Fenton listed online, and they are active on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Wherever they are performing, the band’s goal is simple: to inspire people to have fun.
“They (her bandmates) make it so comfortable that I just bebop and dance around on my drums and just have a good time,” Michelle McAuley said. “That’s really what we want everybody to do. So if we look like we’re having a good time, then it makes people watching us want to have a good time too.”
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