INTERVIEW – SECONDHAND SERENADE

John Vesley, otherwise known as Secondhand Serenade, has spent the last two years quietly amassing a sizeable army of fans and admirers. In fact, his rise to prominence has been so quiet you’d be forgiven if you haven’t heard of Secondhand Serenade or any of the music that he has so far released. Unless you utilise Myspace as not just a social tool, but a means to investigate and discover the myriad of new and exciting music that floats majestically inside its borders, then you may well have stumbled across John Vesley. His Secondhand Serenade alter-ego experienced a long reign as Myspace’s number one unsigned artist.

After releasing his first album ‘Awake’ independently, internet exposure and a healthy dose of self-promotion led to some A&R door-knocking that resulted in the astonishing ‘A Twist In My Story’. Released in 2008 with the support of a newly instated backing band that took selected tracks from the entirely solo ‘Awake’ to glorious new levels, Secondhand Serenade are ready to stake their claim to the world.

AGENT2 recently caught up with John Vesley on a fleeting visit to our hallowed shores and engaged him in a thoroughly enjoyable chat.

Hi John, how are you today? How important was Myspace and YouTube to your success?

Good, good thanks.

It was paramount, I would never have been able to get my music off of the ground without Myspace, would never have been signed, and could not have sustained any success without it; it was the first thing that was able to get my music to potential fans, thankfully they responded.

There are countless artists and bands swarming Myspace currently, how did it feel to be voted the #1 unsigned artist?

It was pretty weird at the time, everything was so very new to me then, so it was quite strange indeed.

Is it fair to say that in the current climate, major record labels no longer hold the power to make or break an act? It almost seems that for new and unsigned acts, the possibilities are endless.

Yes, that is true to an extent, major labels have the power to break acts; they do it all the time, just not with a very high percentage of success. There is more opportunity now for independent label to shine, my label for instance, Glassnote Music, is a perfect example of that.

Awake was very much a solo record but Twist in My Story saw the introduction of a backing-band, was that something you felt the music needed?

It was needed for me to grow; there is only so much you can get across with an acoustic guitar.

Is the live experienced enhanced by having a group behind you or does playing solo still hold something special for you?

Playing solo is still fantastic, but the full band show is just so much more fun for me and for the fans. In my full band shows I still do a handful of songs solo acoustic.

You work is particularly lyrically rich, do the words give birth to the music or are they something that you consider once the music is conceived?

Usually the words and melody come relatively at the same time, but sometimes one is first and sometimes the other.

You’ve been in the UK recently, how did you find our fair land?

I loved London! I really hope to be back there in October for a short tour of the UK.

Does a UK audience differ much from an American one? My feeling is that we tend to be more reserved in our admiration, would you agree?

I would say the opposite from my experience; two years ago I was in the same place in the states that I am now in the UK, and although the size of my shows were the same, the people that came to my UK show were much louder and knew every lyric to every song – it was fantastic!

The Emo tag seems to follow you around, I and many others are still not quite sure what Emo actually is. Can you finally clear that up for us?

I wish I knew, ha ha.

What music are you currently listening to? Are there any new and exciting artists that Agent2 and its readers should be looking out for?

I am currently listening to Muse a lot, Flight of the Concords, Jason Mraz, Landon Pigg and lots and lots of other good stuff.

Twist In My Story Out Now

MYSPACE.COM/SECONDHANDSERENADE

Words Colin French