Wayne Sermon

Wayne Sermon
Background information
Birth name Daniel Wayne Sermon
Born (1984-06-15) June 15, 1984
Origin American Fork, Utah, United States
Genres
Occupation(s) Guitarist, musician
Instruments
Years active 2009–present
Labels
Associated acts Imagine Dragons
Website imaginedragonsmusic.com

Daniel Wayne "Wing" Sermon (born June 15, 1984) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist of the Las Vegas-based rock band, Imagine Dragons.

Early life

Sermon was born on June 15, 1984 in American Fork, Utah. He is one of five children and grew up a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

As a youth Sermon learned to play both cello and guitar. He was determined to be a guitarist even as a child. His dad had an audio-phile quality amplifier, a record player, and all of The Beatles albums on vinyl, which Sermon enjoyed listening to.[1] He also loved the sounds of Tom Scholz (of Boston) and his approach to solos.[1] He attended Berklee College of Music where he double majored in guitar performance and composition, graduating in 2008.[2] While at Berklee he was part of a five-guitar jazz fusion ensemble called The Eclectic Electrics.[3][4]

Career

Imagine Dragons

Wayne Sermon first met Dan Reynolds after hearing him perform at a club in Utah and approaching him afterwards about his musical interests.[3][4] Reynolds invited him to join his band and move to Las Vegas. Sermon then invited Ben McKee to join the band on bass, and drummer Daniel Platzman, also a friend of Wayne's from Berklee College of Music, became the last member to join the group at the invitation of McKee. In Las Vegas, the band performed and honed their craft nearly nightly as a lounge act.[5][6][7] Local accolades including "Best CD of 2011" (Vegas SEVEN),[8] "Best Local Indie Band 2010" (Las Vegas Weekly),[9] "Las Vegas' Newest Must See Live Act" (Las Vegas CityLife),[10] Vegas Music Summit Headliner 2010,[11] and more sent the band on a positive trajectory. In November 2011 they signed with Interscope Records and began working with producer Alex da Kid.[12]

In 2012 their debut album Night Visions brought the band mainstream success. It reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart and won the Billboard Music Award for Best Rock Album (2014). Single "It's Time" became the band's first single reaching #15 Billboard Hot 100 and certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Second single "Radioactive" reached #3 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the RIAA, becoming the best selling rock song in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. Third single "Demons" reached #6 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Their album made the highest debut for a new rock band in six years (since 2006) and single Radioactive set a record for longest time atop the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart with 23 consecutive weeks.[13] Tracks from the album topped the Billboard Rock Songs, Billboard Alternative Songs, and Billboard Pop Songs charts. Radioactive was also nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.[14]

In 2015, Imagine Dragons' second album Smoke + Mirrors reached #1 on the Billboard 200, UK Albums Chart, and Canadian Albums Chart.[15][16] Singles include "I Bet My Life" and "Shots".[17][18]

Sermon has chronic insomnia and will often record songs during the middle of the night, sleeping only a couple of hours a day.[19]

Equipment

Electric Guitars

Acoustic Guitars

Sound equipment

Playing style

Sermon has described his playing style as textual.[22]

Personal life

Sermon married Alexandra Hall, a ballerina and Brigham Young University graduate, in California on February 18, 2011. On July 26, 2014, Sermon and Hall welcomed their first child, River James Sermon. On January 21, 2016, they welcomed their second child, Wolfgang Alexander Sermon. Slightly unrelated but his grandmother is on a mission in Adams County, Ohio for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Discography

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Imagine Dragons Guitarist Wayne Sermon on New Album, Influences and His Favorite Gibsons". gibson.com.
  2. ↑ "Berklee College of Music". berklee.edu. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  3. 1 2 "Imagine Dragons Interview With Guitarist Wayne Sermon | Interview | Music News | JAM Magazine Online | David Dunn | Chris Eason". jammagazine.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  4. 1 2 "Imagine Dragons: "That arena sound excites us, we don't need to apologise for it"". fasterlouder.com.au. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  5. ↑ "Imagine Dragons Talk New Album and Growing Up in Las Vegas". vegasmagazine.com.
  6. ↑ Corlene Byrd (24 October 2013). "The Weekly chat: The Killers' Dave Keuning and Imagine Dragons' Wayne Sermon--together". LasVegasWeekly.com.
  7. ↑ "Holy roller: Dan Reynolds interview". Evening Standard.
  8. ↑ "Vegas Seven 07-28-2011". Digitaleditiononline.com. 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  9. ↑ "2010 Vegas' Best Arts & Entertainment winners". Las Vegas Weekly. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  10. ↑ "Las Vegas CityLife". Las Vegas CityLife. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2012-07-26.
  11. ↑
  12. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120425232339/http://blogs.lasvegascitylife.com/cityblog/2011/11/17/vegas-band-imagine-dragons-score-major-label-deal/. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. ↑ "Imagine Dragons Blaze Into #2 Spot On Billboard Chart - MTV". mtv.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  14. ↑ "Imagine Dragons pick up a pair of Grammy nominations - Las Vegas Weekly". lasvegasweekly.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  15. ↑ "Imagine Dragons Slay at No. 1 on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard.
  16. ↑ "Imagine Dragons claim first UK Number 1 album". officialcharts.com.
  17. ↑ "Imagine Dragons Release Bombastic New Song From Upcoming Album". Spin.
  18. ↑ Brian Mansfield, USA TODAY (27 October 2014). "Song of the Week: Imagine Dragons' 'I Bet My Life'". USA TODAY.
  19. ↑ "Imagine Dragons - Night Sessions, Insomnia and Nightmares". redbullusa.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  20. 1 2 "FOH mixer Scott Eisenberg and monitor engineer Jared Swetnam discuss the details regarding Imagine Dragons' live setup | Mix talks to FOH mixer Scott Eisenberg and monitor engineer Jared Swetnam about the details behind Imagine Dragons' live setup, in the May 2013 issue of Mix". mixonline.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.
  21. ↑ "Rig Rundown: Imagine Dragons". premierguitar.com.
  22. 1 2 "ELIXIR Strings Catches Up with Wayne Sermon of Imagine Dragons - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 2014-07-13.

External links

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