“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

Wayne Sermon of Imagine Dragons perform at Park HaYarkon on August 29, 2023 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

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.”