“In my experience, 70% of vintage guitars are clunkers – a new guitar will beat their sound and how they play. But if you get that diamond in the rough, it’s next-level”: Wayne Sermon is sneaking vintage guitars into Imagine Dragons’ blockbuster pop-rock
Though not always guitar-led, Imagine Dragons’ distinctive style – which merges pop, alt-rock and electronica – has been grabbing rock fans’ attention since they dropped their first record, Night Visions, in 2012.
For guitarist Wayne Sermon, the lack of heroics isn’t a problem. “I’m really proud of the moments where I take the guitar and sort of transform it into something totally different,” he tells Guitar World. “That’s always something the band responds to. It always puts a smile on [producers] Mattman & Robin’s faces when they say, ‘Wait, that’s a guitar?’ I always like to have people ask that.”
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Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Rock Candy, Bass Player, Total Guitar, and Classic Rock History. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.
