John Nolan
For our third interview we were lucky to have the opportunity to sit down with John Nolan. With over 10 years of experience in the music industry John has played and performed with some of the biggest acts in the indie music scene. At an early age in his music career, John saw a tremendous amount of success as the lead guitarist of Taking Back Sunday. TBS’s album Tell All Your Friends hit big with punk audiences in 2002. The single “Cute Without The E” helped catapult the group to somewhat mainstream success. In 2003 John left Taking Back Sunday to start Straylight Run. Accompanied by his sister Michelle and Will Noon the group formed a piano driven sound complemented by Nolan’s lyrics and songwriting.
The release of Existentialism on Prom Night received some support and airplay from MTV2 and alternative radio. The group has opened for bands including Hot Rod Circut, Rooney, Say Anything, Northstar, Minus The Bear and Blink 182.
In his free time away from Straylight Run, John began writing and recording some of his own, more personal music. While maintaining a strong devotion to the writing process, Nolan kept an open mind. John announced “The Fan Collaboration” project and invited his own fans to join him in the writing process. Hundreds of fans sent clips of their own acoustic and electronic arrangements to aid influencing John’s next song. One clear success, Not To Let Go, has received over 7,000 hits on John’s Myspace and may be featured on the new album.
Mike Reuther
mike.reuther@ourvinyl.com
The composition of the songs in Straylight Run are incredible. Awesome live performance which shows the true talent and passion of this group. Looking forward to the next!