Over the last few years, the music industry has evolved in a way which allows the common man with extraordinary talents, to rise above the sea of similarity, and stand on his own as the voice of a generation. A generation that is fueled by heart, emotion, passion and determination.
And that man has come to surface as
Secondhand Serenade...
Born into a family of musicians,
John Vesely has taken the gift he was instilled with, and shaped it into his own. With the help of his father, a professional jazz musician for over 20 years in the Czech Republic, he started getting into music around the age of 12. Playing bass for 8 years, he was a member of numerous Bay area bands ranging in style from ska and hardcore to rock and pop. But it wasn't until he picked up the acoustic guitar that he finally found his true calling. "I switched to guitar when I met my wife. She wanted me to play her a song, but I didn't have a band at the time and serenading her with a bass guitar was out of the question" Vesely said.
Once he began writing his own material, John scraped up the money for 8 days of studio time and went in to record the 10-track album, known as Awake in the summer of 2005. Armed with a superior vocal range, a mind blowing sense of harmony and heart wrenching lyrics, he was able to walk away with an acoustic album that would prove to be the groundwork for the start of his career. When it came time to chose a name, he decided to go with Secondhand Serenade in an attempt to stay away from the typical singer/songwriter image. "It's everything I would want in a band name and more. It basically sums up what I do. I write my songs about events and feelings that occur in my life, and I sing the songs to my wife. Everyone else gets the Secondhand Serenade."
While some artists may fear the rawness of playing with just an acoustic guitar, John welcomes the honesty it comes along with. He claims "In some ways a band is more powerful, but in other ways 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." It only seems right that an artist with this mentality begins to spread his wings.
With his eyes set on conquering a fan base, John put together a MySpace page and started playing out in his area. As the number of listeners at his shows began to grow, so did his on-line fan base... in a BIG way. In just a few months time, Secondhand Serenade would shoot to the #1 position of all unsigned bands on the widely popular site. Simultaneously, he would become the only unsigned act to have a CD in the top 100 alternative albums on itunes. While that seemed exciting enough, he also released a few demos on Yahoo! Launch, which would soon claim the #1 position as well, on the Adult Alternative station. This time, he was not beating out other unsigned acts, he was competing with the cream of the crop, and winning. Months would go by as Secondhand Serenade claimed the top of the chart over such names as John Mayer, Nickelback and Evanescence. Not used to seeing this kind of reaction, industry insiders began to wonder... was it actually possible for an unsigned, one man act, with nothing more than a self-produced acoustic album, and the help of no one but fans, to post numbers that were superior to artists on major labels? Artists with millions of dollars spent on promotions? For Secondhand Serenade, it was not only possible... it was reality.
As 2006 began to wind down, John's career was in full swing as he stepped to the next level. Having made the rounds to major labels in New York and Los Angeles, a deal was eventually signed with Glassnote Records, a brand new label started by respected industry veteran, Daniel Glass. As Glassnote's first official artist, the team immediately went to work mapping out the next year for Secondhand Serenade, along with the help of Warner/Independent Label Group.
2007 now looks to be an eventful year as well. With 2 new songs added to Awake, Glassnote/ILG released the album to retail on February 6th. In addition, a video was shot with Frank Borin (director for Simple Plan, Good Charlotte, Eminem) for the song "Vulnerable," a fan favorite. This year will also provide Secondhand Serenade an opportunity to see his fans from all over the country. With shows already scheduled for SXSW and numerous other tours taking shape, John anticipates giving his audience from coast to coast, a firsthand experience. He will also see the studio again soon as another release is being planned for later in the year. Stay tuned... Secondhand Serenade is invading the hearts, minds and airwaves of the world.
AlbumsAwake re-release (2007-2008)
In early 2007, Awake was reissued by Glassnote Records with an additional two songs. It was released on January 31 and gave Vesely his first chartings, debuting at #16 on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart. Added success lead to it peaking at #164 on the Billboard 200, #3 on the Top Heatseekers and #19 on the Independent Albums chart.
In support of his first label release, Vesely was featured on MTV's You Hear It First, AOL Music's Breakers Yahoo! Music's Who's Next? and appeared on talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He also played numerous shows, including tours with the likes of Hawthorne Heights and The All-American Rejects and at music festivals South By Southwest and along side My Chemical Romance and Linkin Park at Bamboozle.
Secondhand Serenade released only one song as a single from the debut album, "Vulnerable". The song spawned a music video, which was created by Frank Borin who was responsible for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for hit single "Dani California". "Vulnerable" peaked at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100, #64 on the Pop 100 and #56 on the Hot Digital Songs charts.
A Twist in My Story (2008-2009)
A Twist in My Story was released on February 19, 2008 and features songs from Awake such as "Maybe" and "Your Call," but reproduced with a full band. The bulk of the album however is a list of new songs written by John Vesely and recorded with a full band. Two tracks on A Twist In My Story were produced by famed producer Butch Walker, while the others were produced by former Nine Inch Nails member Danny Lohner. The first single, "Fall for You," was released January 21, 2008. The album was leaked, and was made available for download one month before its official release. On January 28, 2008 the music video for the first single from the album "Fall for You" premiered on the MTV show TRL. In support of the release, Secondhand Serenade spent most of March and April touring with American bands Making April, Automatic Loveletter, and The White Tie Affair. Members of his touring band include Steve Shebby on bass guitar, Lukas Vesely (Vesely's brother) on keys/vox, Ryan Cook(former bassist of the White Tie Affair) on lead guitar/vox, and Tom Breyfogle on drums.
The title A Twist in My Story is a reference to Vesely's 2008 divorce with his former wife Candice, with whom he has two young sons.
In November 2008, the album's first single "Fall for You", was certified Platinum by the RIAA. As of December 5, 2008 "Fall For You" was still #13 on the American Top 40 songs in the country.
The "Your Call" video premiered on FNMTV on December 5. It can be viewed on the FNMTV website.
He released a video for the song "Maybe" on his Myspace page on May 4, 2009. Its a video about his concerts and trips around the world and was shot and directed by his tour manager Preston Jones and his drummer Tom Breyfogle.
A Twist in My Story (Deluxe Edition) was released on February 3, 2009. It contains 5 bonus tracks including "Your Call" (Radio Version), "Fall for You" (Acoustic Version), "Like A Knife" (Acoustic Version), his single "Last Time", and the Coldplay cover "Fix You".
Hear Me Now (2010-Present)
Secondhand Serenade's third studio album is entitled Hear Me Now, and was released on August 3, 2010. The album's track listing has also been announced. In a recent interview, Vesely stated that the new record will be more upbeat than his last album, which focused on relationships.[18]
“ Secondhand Serenade - singer/songwriter John Vesely - returns with his third album, Hear Me Now, out August 3rd on ILG/Glassnote Records. Eight of the eleven songs on the album were produced by Aaron Johnson (The Fray) at Swing House studios in Los Angeles. The other three, including the first single, "Something More", were produced by John Vesely himself along with Secondhand drummer Tom Breyfogle at Vesely's home studio and mixed by Mark Endert (Train, Maroon 5). "Something More" will debut at 7:40AM on May 17th on Kid Kraddick's nationally syndicated radio show and will be available at iTunes on June 1st.[17] ”
On June 1, "Something More" was released onto iTunes as a deluxe single with a bonus track "You Are A Drug", a video showing the making of "Something More", and a digital booklet to the new single.
On July 21, while on tour in Dallas, Vesely announced that a downloadable track pack for Rock Band would be made available soon, featuring multiple Secondhand Serenade hits including "Fall For You".
On July 27, Vesely added the eleven tracks off of the new album to his Myspace and made them available for streaming for fans. Many of these songs have also leaked onto sites such as Youtube.
Vesely plans to release an EP following his current tour featuring all new acoustic songs.
