Former BYU student documents life on tour with Imagine Dragons

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She’s a dancer, a writer and a photojournalist who dislikes wasabi and happens to be married to Wayne Sermon, the lead guitarist of Imagine Dragons.

Former BYU student Alexandra Sermon has spent the past year touring with her husband and documenting their daily adventures around the world on her blog, subtitled “From the Dragon Wagon with Love.” 

“It’s nice to be able to put down all of our experiences and have that for the time capsule later on, and it’s nice that some people (readers) have been enjoying it as well,” Sermon said.

Sermon documents everything, from concerts and restaurants to vintage shops and the Grammys, as a way to channel her passion for writing and photography while on the road.

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Alexandra Sermon, whose husband, Wayne, is the lead guitarist for Imagine Dragons, enjoys photojournalism. One of her photos (pictured above) was featured on the cover of Las Vegas Magazine. (Photo courtesy of Wayne Sermon)

She graduated from BYU in 2011 with a degree in journalism, a major she discovered two years into her time at BYU. Sermon especially enjoyed her news writing class because it gave her the opportunity to write about whatever she wanted.

“I wrote way more stories than I was supposed to, and it felt good to have that much freedom,” Sermon said. “You just get to run with your ideas; you get to do the interviews, and no one is telling you how to filter them. … Journalism was meant for me.”

One of Sermon’s professors, Ed Carter, remembers her passion for the field and her understanding of journalism as a profession — she never did assignments just to check them off the list. Sermon always worked hard on her articles while maintaining her creative style.

“She has a knack for telling stories both visually and in written form. … On her blog she does a great job of telling the stories of her life, marriage, traveling with Imagine Dragons,” Carter said. “She seemed to be somebody who would get at the heart of a matter or issue … and she has the ability to understand people from their own point of view.”

Her friendly personality and ability to relate to others began in her childhood. Karen Hall, Sermon’s mother, described her as a kind person.

“When she was brought into our family we just thought she was such an angel,” Hall said. “She was always happy and smiling and so sweet to everyone.”

Despite the skyrocketing success of Imagine Dragons, Sermon has continued to be her same blue-eyed, free-spirited self with a genuinely friendly disposition that is infectious to anyone she meets. She recently attended the star-studded 2014 Grammy Awards, where she saw one of her idols backstage.

“I was such a school girl over seeing (Paul McCartney),” she said. She was too afraid to talk to him, but seeing him was satisfying enough. “He looked up and had this look, ‘Why is this girl standing here staring at me?’ So, we made eye contact.”

Alexandra with Daniel on set of the "On Top of the World" music video. (Photo taken by Alexandra's friend)
Alexandra Sermon with Wayne Sermon on set of the “On Top of the World” music video. (Photo courtesy of Alexandra Sermon)

Though there have been surreal moments and celebrity encounters, Sermon has mostly enjoyed the time she spends with her husband. They were apart for six months while she toured with the professional dance company Ballet Tucson, and when the time came to renew her contract, she opted to put dancing on hold to join her husband on tour.

“It’s not as much of a rockstar life as you would think,” Sermon said. “We are able to go on dates; we are able to see movies on days off. Just being able to understand what (Wayne) is going through and how hard it is — the rough days and the good days — and that he is there for me, that has helped us to be stronger.”

Sermon said one thing most people do not know about her husband is that he is an incredible writer. “I think he should write a book because he’s very talented that way,” Sermon said. “But he loves guitars so much that I don’t know if he sees anything else.”

Though the traveling can be exhausting, it is worth it for them to be able to support each other. “I felt like I was missing out on so much when I wasn’t there,” Sermon said. “No one gets to experience this, so we decided we wanted to experience it together. I don’t want to be hearing the stories; I want to be living them too.”

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