Secondhand Serenade
Secondhand Serenade is an acoustic rock group from Menlo Park, California. The band is made up of John Vesely, born on the 10th of November, 1982, who sings and plays guitar and piano. His music is characterized by multitrack recording so he can create the sound of a band by himself. He uses multitrack recording to create vocal harmonies, and a lead acoustic guitar over strummed chords. He has a wife named Candice and a son named Jake.
In 2004, Vesely quit the alternative rock group Sounds Like Life, which also featured Ronnie Day, to start his solo project. Vesely started writing and performing his songs under the name Secondhand Serenade. He rented a studio for 8 days and recorded his 10-track debut album “Awake.” Through self-promotion through MySpace and PureVolume, he began to build a loyal fanbase and sold his album via his MySpace profile. He quickly rose to the MySpace “Top Unsigned Artists” list, and even entered the iTunes Top 100, a feat for an unsigned act.
He has since signed a deal with new label Glassnote Records, founded by CEO Daniel Glass. In total, Secondhand Serenade has sold about 73,000 digital tracks and more than 10,000 copies of his album “Awake,” according to Nielsen SoundScan. After the album was released on Glassnote/ILG on Feb. 5, 2007, with two additional songs, it debuted on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart at # 16.
Vesely was featured on MTV’s “You Hear It First,” along with spots on AOL Music’s “Breakers” and on Yahoo! Music’s “Who’s Next?”.
Secondhand Serenade’s new album entitled “A Twist In My Story” is planned to be released on February 5th, 2008.