John Thomas Nolan (born February 24, 1978) is an American musician best known as the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of

Taking Back Sunday Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. The band was formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in 1999. The band's members currently are Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keybo ...

, and the former lead singer, pianist, and guitarist of

Straylight Run Straylight Run is an emo band based in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York. The band released two albums, ''Straylight Run'' and '' The Needles the Space'', as well as three EPs, ''Prepare to Be Wrong'', ''About Time'', and ''Un Mas Dos''. In 2010, ...

. Nolan left Taking Back Sunday in 2003 along with bassist

Shaun Cooper Shaun David Cooper (born 5 October 1983) is an English retired professional Association football, footballer. He is currently an assistant manager at club AFC Bournemouth. Career Cooper was a product of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth's youth sys ...

, with whom he formed Straylight Run. During March 2010, he and Cooper rejoined Taking Back Sunday, reforming the ''

Tell All Your Friends ''Tell All Your Friends'' is the debut studio album by American rock band Taking Back Sunday, released on March 26, 2002, through Victory Records. Established in 1999, the group underwent several line-up changes before settling on vocalist A ...

''-era lineup. Nolan is also a solo artist and has recorded an album called ''

Height Height is measure of vertical distance, either vertical extent (how "tall" something or someone is) or vertical position (how "high" a point is). For example, "The height of that building is 50 m" or "The height of an airplane in-flight is abou ...

'' and "Live at Looney Tunes."

Biography

John Thomas Nolan was born in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

, then at three, moved to

Rockville Centre Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census. Histor ...

, Nassau County, New York, United States. As member of the band

he performs lead guitar, vocals and keyboards, in

he performs lead vocals, piano, and guitar.

Taking Back Sunday

In 1999, John was recruited into

Jesse Lacey Jesse Thomas Lacey (born July 10, 1978) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who is best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the American alternative rock band Brand New. He is known for his enigmatic a ...

. He later would invite

Adam Lazzara Adam Burbank Lazzara (born September 22, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is the lead vocalist of the rock band Taking Back Sunday. Along with singing lead vocals, Lazzara plays guitar and occasionally the harmonica. B ...

to join the band. In 2002 the band would release their debut album, ''

.'' He would leave the band in 2003 to pursue a different musical direction, along with personal differences with other band members. In late March 2010, he and Shaun Cooper rejoined Taking Back Sunday. In 2011, the band released a self-titled album that peaked at number 17 on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of art ...

, the first since Nolan's rejoining. In 2014, the band released ''Happiness Is'', which debuted at number 10 in the Billboard 200 and went to number 1 on Billboard's top independent albums chart, becoming Nolan's highest-charting album.

Straylight Run

In 2003, John would go on to form

with his sister

Michelle DaRosa Michelle DaRosa (née Nolan) is an American musician, formerly of the band Straylight Run, for whom she was a vocalist, guitarist, and pianist. Biography Michelle DaRosa was born Michelle Nolan on September 13, 1980, in Rockville Centre, N ...

, drummer

Will Noon Straylight Run is an emo band based in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York. The band released two albums, ''Straylight Run'' and ''The Needles the Space'', as well as three EPs, ''Prepare to Be Wrong'', ''About Time'', and ''Un Mas Dos''. In 2010, ...

and former Taking Back Sunday bassist

. In 2004 the band released their self-titled debut album which peaked at number 100 in the

, and number 4 in the Billboard Independent Albums chart. From 2004 to 2009 Straylight Run would release two albums and four EP's. The band's 2007 record, ''

The Needles The Space ''The Needles the Space'' is the second studio album by American indie rock band Straylight Run. With the release of the ''Prepare to Be Wrong'' EP in late 2004, the group completed their contract with independent label Victory Records. Recording ...

'' would debut at number 72 in the Billboard 200, marking the band's highest position on that chart. The band's 2005 ''Prepare to be Wrong'' EP charted at number 168. On February 16, 2010, it was announced that

was on "hiatus", with a live album to be released in the future.

Solo

Nolan announced on his MySpace blog on May 1, 2009 that he had decided to work on some solo material, some of which can be found on his MySpace and

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

profiles. His first solo album, ''Height'', was released on October 27, 2009 on

Doghouse Records Doghouse Records is an American record label currently based in New York City.Alan O'Connor, ''Punk Record Labels and the Struggle for Autonomy''. Lexington Books, 2008, p. 41Google Books/ref> The company was founded by Dirk Hemsath in late 1987 ...

. John toured the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

and

east coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

with

Person L Person L is an American rock band fronted by Kenny Vasoli, of the pop punk band The Starting Line. Vasoli is the band's lead singer and guitarist and formed Person L in winter 2006 as an outlet to explore other musical styles. The group also cons ...

and Brian Bonz in November and in January with support from Gabriel the Marine and Ocean is Theory. In 2014 Nolan provided the song "Here Comes the Wolf" to the soundtrack of the

Jason Michael Brescia Jason Michael Brescia (born June 19, 1986) is an American writer-director from Malverne, New York. Early life Brescia grew up in Valley Stream, New York but his family moved to nearby Malverne, New York when he was a teenager. Brescia attend ...

film, Bridge and Tunnel. The song was nominated for several awards in the film festival circuit, and was the recipient of "Best Original Song" at the 2014

Long Island International Film Expo The Long Island International Film Expo, founded in 1997 by Nassau County Film Office Director, Debra Markowitz. The festival generally receives between 400 and 450 submissions every year In 2009, 170 films from 23 countries were screened at the ...

. He also provides backup vocals and co-songwriting credit on the Gabriel the Marine track "Round and Round." On July 27, 2015 Nolan released his second solo album, ''Sad, Strange, Beautiful Dream.'' The album was made possible by a successful

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

campaign.

Personal

Nolan currently lives in the

NoDa NoDa (short for "North Davidson") is a popular arts district in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is located in the North Charlotte neighborhood on and around North Davidson Street and 36th Street, approximately one mile northeast of Up ...

neighborhood of

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

with wife Camille, son John, and daughter Greta. Nolan lives down the road from bandmate

, who is a North Carolina native.

Discography

; With Taking Back Sunday: *'' Taking Back Sunday EP'' (2001) *''

Lullaby EP Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Long Island, New York. The band was formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in 1999. The band's members currently are Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keybo ...

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2002) * ''

'' (2011) * '' Happiness Is'' (2014) * '' Tidal Wave'' (2016) ; With Straylight Run: * ''

'' (2004) * '' Prepare To Be Wrong EP'' (2005) * ''

The Needles the Space ''The Needles the Space'' is the second studio album by American indie rock band Straylight Run. With the release of the ''Prepare to Be Wrong'' EP in late 2004, the group completed their contract with independent label Victory Records. Recording ...

'' (2007) * ''

Un Mas Dos ''Un Mas Dos'' is the second EP by American indie rock band Straylight Run, released on September 16, 2008. The EP is the band's first release since they were dropped by Universal Republic and since the departure of vocalist, guitarist and pianis ...

EP'' (2008) * ''About Time EP'' (2009) ; Solo: * ''The Collaboration Experiment'' (2009) * ''Height'' (2009) * ''Live at Southpaw'' (2009) * ''Live at Looney Tunes CDs'' (2010) * ''Songs I Wrote'' (2010) * ''Songs I Didn't Write'' (2010) * ''Sad Strange Beautiful Dream'' (2015) * ''Abendigo'' (2018)

Videography

*''Drinking Your Way To Confidence'' *''Street Robbery Blues (Punks in Vegas Session)'' *''American Nightclub 1999 (Punks in Vegas Session)''

Gear

It has been noted that John uses a

Fender Telecaster Deluxe The Fender Telecaster Deluxe is a solid-body electric guitar originally produced from 1972 to 1981, and re-issued by Fender multiple times starting in 2004. History The popularity of heavy rock in the late 1960s led Fender to re-think its str ...

due to its feel, but prefers the sound of a

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typi ...

. He uses a Big Bite pedal into a

Marshall JCM800 The JCM800 series (Models 2203, 2204, 2205 and 2210) is a line of guitar amplifiers made by Marshall Amplification. The series was introduced in 1981. Although models 1959 and 1987 had been in production since 1965 and the 2203 and 2204 had been in ...

amplifier to create his crunch tone. He also uses a Fender '72 Telecaster Thinline on occasion.

References

External links

John Nolan's website

Official Straylight Run Website

Straylight Run's profile
at

PureVolume PureVolume (formerly Unborn Media) was a website for uploading and streaming of music files, the first independently run of its type. PureVolume was created by Unborn Media, Inc; Mitchell Pavao; Brett Woitunski; and Nate Hudson, all from the Univer ...

Nolan's 2011 Taking Back Sunday Guitar Rig
GuitarGeek.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Nolan, John American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock singers 1978 births Living people Singers from New York (state) Musicians from Baltimore People from Rockville Centre, New York Guitarists from New York (state) 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers Doghouse Records artists