By snoadmin
Is it possible for an unsigned one-man act with a self-produced acoustic album to receive the same attention as mainstream artists on major labels? John Vesely of Secondhand Serenade is living proof that this can happen.
Secondhand Serenade is an acoustic rock band with only one member. Vesely’s music is filled with heart-wrenching and honest lyrics that can touch the soul of every single listener with only an acoustic guitar as backup. Vesely claimed “there are things you can do with one voice and one acoustic guitar that you couldn’t do with an army of musicians behind you.”
Vesely hails from Menlo Park, Calif., and comes from a family of musicians. He originally started out in an indie rock band where he was limited creatively and not doing any of the writing for the band. Vesely and another member of this band, Ronnie Day, “conspired in a back alley one day” and formed the band Sounds Like Life. The band was together for about a year before deciding to split, and Vesely became Secondhand Serenade.
In the summer of 2005, Vesely, who credits Jimmy Eat World as a musical influence, went into the studio and in eight days recorded his first album, “Awake.” After finishing the album, which he said was a “solid recording,” he set up a MySpace account for his music.
Vesely said “a big jump happened when MySpace allowed you to add a song to your profile. Once that happened, it was a huge way of networking.”
“I have like 200,000 fans on MySpace, and if a quarter of them have my song on their profile, that’s 50,000 pages that my song is on,” he said. “Everybody that visits those 50,000 pages hears my song the second they click on the page.”
Secondhand Serenade sold over 15,000 copies of “Awake” on Vesely’s own PayPal account and was the only unsigned act to have a CD in the top 100 alternative albums on iTunes. After Secondhand Serenade signed with Glassnote Records under Warner Bros. Records, “Awake” was re-released on Feb. 6, 2007 with two new tracks, “It’s Not Over” and “Take Me With You.”
“Awake” features a variety of emotionally raw tracks that are very personal and intimate. The lyrics from Secondhand Serenade’s first single “Vulnerable,” as well as the lyrics from some of the other tracks such as “Broken,” “Maybe,” and “Your Call,” express feelings that every listener can relate to.
Vesely said the last track on the album, “End,” is the one that “tugs on his heart strings the most,” with lyrics stating: “So what happens once you lose control/When the future has to start/What happens when you’re still in love/but time rips you apart.”
“It just sums up the album in a good way I think and it leaves an opening for the next album,” Vesely said.
Secondhand Serenade has already gone back into the studio to record his next album, which is scheduled to be released sometime this year, and is working with Butch Walker and Danny Lohner. Vesely plans to expand his music and sound for his next album, with some of the tracks including a full band, some with piano, and others like his original songs with only an acoustic guitar.
“Think Snow Patrol with really ballsy vocals but with a little bit more of a rock twist, and that’s kind of what I’m going for with the electric stuff,” he said about his next album. “With the acoustic stuff you know exactly what to expect.”
Whether you’re a fan of hardcore punk or more mellow acoustic songs, Secondhand Serenade is an artist everyone will enjoy listening to. Vesely’s voice has an amazing vocal range, and you will find yourself wanting to listen to his songs over and over.
Secondhand Serenade is currently on a small tour with Monty Are I, and if you catch one of his intimate shows, you will be blown away by his impressive talent and music.
