Secondhand Serenade

Secondhand Serenade - 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. But it wasn't until he picked up the acoustic guitar that he finally found his true calling. 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. 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. 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. MTV quickly jumped on board and filmed a 3 minute news package on him called "You Hear It First." In addition, a video was shot with Frank Borin (director for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Good Charlotte, Eminem) for the song "Vulnerable," a fan favorite. It was quickly added to MTV's "Big 10" and "Discover & Download" series. This year will also provide Secondhand Serenade an opportunity to see his fans from all over the country. Having recently played SXSW, and a co-headlining tour with Monty Are I, numerous other tours are currently taking shape, including a support slot on Hawthorne Heights run of the U.S. 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.

DeVotchKa

DeVotchKa is a four-piece multi-instrumental and vocal ensemble.

Delilah Bon (All Ages)

Redd Kross

“Redd Kross have put out some great records and perfected their own sound, a glammy, punk-infused, pop-culture-obsessed form of power pop. This year, for the band’s 45th anniversary, they’re going big, with a memoir, a documentary, and a new self-titled double album…First single ‘Candy Coloured Catastrophe’ is a huge hip-shaker with rumbling riffs and sha-la-la harmonies.” - Stereogum “Speaking of eternal youth, has another band personified the teenage dream of rock n’ roll as well and for as long as Redd Kross? Jeff and Steven McDonald were actual teenagers when they started the band in the late ’70s, and they have outlasted most of their peers while still sounding and, for the most part, looking the same. ‘Candy Coloured Catastrophe’ is a joyous, kaleidoscopic blast of big riff power pop that Redd Kross do better than almost anyone else today. ‘I’m ready to start our third act, and for it to be magnificent,’ says Steven McDonald, so make way.” - Brooklyn Vegan “{“Born Innocent”} is a ramshackle and scratchy uptempo number which outlines their origin story.” - FLOOD

Saxsquatch

Saxsquatch is a 7’ tall multi-instrumentalist, producer, and electronic music artist from North Carolina. He has accumulated over 3 million followers online through releasing music with legends such as John Oates, Billy Ray Cyrus, the band WAR, and songs with the infamous electronic music label Monstercat. In 2021, Saxsquatch created theme music for Rocket League, and the following year had music featured in Fortnite. Saxsquatch has been trending on Rolling Stone’s website twice and on the front page of Forbes for his music releases. Showcasing his spell binding stage presence, he has been a guest on Jimmy Fallon’s “That’s My Jam!’ and Tosh.0 and has shared the stage with Walk the Moon, Billy Strings, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sister Hazel, Goldfish, Andy Frasco, Here Come the Mummies, Sam Bush, St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and Pigeons Playing Ping Pong. Saxsquatch’s live show is a mind bending experience showcasing his music production, stage plot, and saxophone skills over original music, remixes, and crowd participation. His dream of creating the “Bigfoot Rave” tour came to fruition in 2024, adding a laser show to an already dynamic set. His next tour, “Footprints” sold out 27 shows across the United States, ending at a sold out show in Denver at Cervantes Ballroom. After being so well received across the United States and selling out major markets, the search for this cryptid won’t be hard. You can find him on tour or at major festivals across the world.

NewDad

Life is all about balance, and for every dream experience that shakes up your world, there’s often a sacrifice to be made. NewDad have had plenty of the former since releasing their debut single ‘How’ in 2020 and steadily building an ever-burgeoning fanbase around their spellbinding dream-pop. They’ve released a critically-acclaimed debut album in 2024’s ‘Madra’, gained a fan in their ultimate hero, The Cure’s Robert Smith, and toured parts of the world they never thought they’d get to visit. But for all that to be possible, the Galway three-piece have had to give up some things, too. Around four years ago, the band – singer/guitarist Julie Dawson, guitarist Sean O’Dowd, drummer Fiachra Parslow – left their home behind and moved to London. It’s a relocation that’s helped them thrive as a group, but is also something that Dawson still has mixed feelings about. “Most days I wake up and I’m like, ‘Yes, let’s fucking do this’, but I do still miss home,” she explains. That tension between knowing you’re where you need to be right now and longing to be somewhere else colours ‘Altar’, NewDad’s highly anticipated second album. Started shortly before the release of ‘Madra’, it’s deeply informed by Dawson’s yearning for home, for family and the place that she truly belongs. In some ways, the record is a tribute to Galway, the singer in reverence of her hometown. “The album itself is where I divulge my love for home,” Dawson shares, nodding to its title. “It’s the idea that Ireland is the altar and it’s the thing that I worship, in a way.” The meaning that imagined altar takes on has multiple layers to it, too. It’s a reference to the sacrifice the band has made in putting hundreds of miles between them and the people they cherish most – “Sacrifice is another thing that happens at altars; I haven’t seen it, but I’ve heard that happens,” Dawson laughs. ‘Altar’ also taps into some of the themes in the lyrics of “appeasing people, and that’s what you do at altars – appease a higher power”. “I think of where / I’d like to be / Anywhere but here / Is fine by me,” Dawson sings on the twinkling slow build of opening track, ‘Other Side’. Across that song and the album in general, that burning for home – for the place Dawson feels most at ease and like her true self – grow darker and more anxiety-ridden, themes of survival and needing to be saved repeatedly piercing through. “Kneeling at the altar / Hope I get to heaven,” she sighs on ‘Mr Cold Embrace’, an acoustic-guitar-led, string-laden beauty that also finds the singer questioning “don’t know if I should have left her”. ‘Misery’, meanwhile, finds her interrogating her role in her unhappiness, acknowledging the sometimes self-inflicted nature of her gloom. “It’s all these cyclical things that we do and these patterns we fall in and out of,” she explains. “I was like, ‘Can I go home? Do I need to be here? Why am I doing this to myself? Why am I putting myself in these situations where I’m becoming deeply unhappy?’” Dawson wanted to make the song sound “surreal and alarming”, inspired by the imagery in Dante’s Inferno. “It’s very whispery and freaky.” Finale ‘Something Broken’, though, breaks the dwelling and yearning, Dawson asking to feel at home in her current location, to laugh harder, to forget what’s tormenting her. “It’s a more hopeful message in that it’s like, ‘I’m here now, let’s make the best of something that can be really hard’,” she says. ‘Altar’ – recorded in January 2025 between studios in Ipswich and London – isn’t simply an album about where one comes from and wants to get back to, though. It also charts Dawson’s journey as a musician, coming to terms with the realities of her hobby and passion becoming a profession, and navigating the industry as a woman. “When you start doing music, you do it because you love playing music, you love making music,” she reasons. “I hadn’t really considered the other aspects – touring is so fun, but it’s intensive. It’s difficult. Doing social media, I hate it. Just a lot of inside pressures and politics – it’s a lot more pressure than I thought it would be.” Music, though, is still the outlet Dawson uses to alleviate the stresses in her life – even when they come from music itself. You can tell how impactful songwriting is for her just by looking at her catalogue of work so far – and the prolific levels at which she writes. ‘Altar’ was written before NewDad’s debut album had even been released, and between that record and this, she found the time to release her first solo album, ‘Bottom Of The Pool’, too. Across all of her writing, but particularly on ‘Altar’, her artistry has helped her to find more understanding of both who she is as a person and her relationship with being a musician. “These songs have definitely helped me understand that and become a stronger person,” she nods. “I can be bad at standing up for myself. But you really need to do that in music, otherwise people will take the piss. I definitely realised that through songwriting.” That side of ‘Altar’ finds the singer grappling with her people-pleasing tendencies on ‘Entertainer’ and tackling the expectations put on female musicians on ‘Heavyweight’. ‘Roobosh’, a tightly-wound song that’s driven by a propulsive, rumbling bassline and Dawson’s sudden yells, plunges us into the confusing quagmire of being a woman in society, pulled deeper and deeper down by the expectation to be “so patient and understanding and nice all the time”. “That is placed on us, but I also definitely play into that,” Dawson explains. “I’m a people pleaser, and I’m trying not to be, but I want to make people happy. I just wanted to have one song where I just went, ‘Fuck you, fuck this’. I wanted to just have a whinge and one song where I just fucking went for it. I wanted it to be slap bang in the middle of the record, just completely off-kilter, like, ‘What the f**K?’” For NeFittingly, given the love for home on ‘Altar’, the continued ascent of the three-piece on this record will also continue to further Ireland’s current standing as a hotbed of world-beating creative talent. NewDad are bringing something fresh to the new wave of original, formidable young acts from the country, distinctive from their peers as they join them in making waves around the world. Whether live or on record and regardless of where listeners are tuning in from, Dawson hopes ‘Altar’ helps people gain the courage to stand up for themselves and be proud of themselves, and gain the strength that this confident new album has given her. “Nothing’s perfect,” she reflects, “but if you just work hard and are true to yourself, it’ll be alright.” Sacrifices might still have to be made in the balancing act of life, but ‘Altar’ at least has helped Dawson accept that and is about to take NewDad to even greater heights. wDad’s second album, the band enlisted rising producer Shrink – aka Sam Breathwick – to work with them in the studio, as well as reuniting with writer Justin Parker. The relationship with Shrink began in writing sessions, coming up with ‘Entertainer’ and ‘Safe’, the title track from the band’s 2025 EP, together. “These songs that we spent two days writing and he produced sounded perfect, so I was like, ‘I want to see what else we can do’.” The results are a record that’s as beautiful as it is crunchy and in-your-face, deftly skipping between sparkling, gentle moments and heavy blasts of guitar and bass whenever the songs demand. It’s more pop-leaning in its scope, drawing from Dawson’s appreciation of the current pop landscape and “cool rock bands with a lot of brightness to them” like R.E.M. and The Sundays. The expansion of the NewDad sound will be reflected in the band’s new live show – an already acclaimed setup that’s gained them slots at every major UK festival, landed them support slots for Pixies, Fontaines DC and The War On Drugs, and taken them as far afield as Japan and China. “I think our biggest headline show was in Shanghai, and the whole crowd were singing ‘White Ribbons’,” Dawson recalls. “I burst into tears. That’s the only time that’s ever happened to me, but I was like, ‘How is this real?’” The next phase of NewDad touring – which sees them return to China, Japan, North America, Europe and the UK over the rest of 2025 – will see Shrink join their on-stage line-up too. His addition will, Dawson says, make the songs sound “much more full”: “It’s a big step up. The songs that we have struggled with before – getting them across live – we have that now because we have another person.” Fittingly, given the love for home on ‘Altar’, the continued ascent of the three-piece on this record will also continue to further Ireland’s current standing as a hotbed of world-beating creative talent. NewDad are bringing something fresh to the new wave of original, formidable young acts from the country, distinctive from their peers as they join them in making waves around the world. Whether live or on record and regardless of where listeners are tuning in from, Dawson hopes ‘Altar’ helps people gain the courage to stand up for themselves and be proud of themselves, and gain the strength that this confident new album has given her. “Nothing’s perfect,” she reflects, “but if you just work hard and are true to yourself, it’ll be alright.” Sacrifices might still have to be made in the balancing act of life, but ‘Altar’ at least has helped Dawson accept that and is about to take NewDad to even greater heights.