Since the mid 1990's John Schmersal has been performing, writing, recording, and touring in various acclaimed music groups, most recently with Caribou. Over the years, John has also: created theme songs and musical content, sound design, and scoring for television and film, as well as producing records for other music artists.
John attended Ohio University majoring in telecommunications and audio engineering. In 1993, he left and joined the seminal Ohio synth punk outfit Brainiac which provided the foundation for him to explore the relationship between recording and touring. Over the following years and releases, Brainiac received praise and adulation of critics and fans alike before being cut short by the tragic death of singer Tim Taylor. John moved to NYC in 1998 and released his first solo record borrowing the namesake of political philosopher, John Stuart Mill. Coinciding with this release, he started the eclectic electro pop group Enon.
During the ten years together, Enon released five full lengths, two instrumental LPs, numerous EPs, loads of singles and toured the world several times over. This decade also found John being contracted to write and produce commercial projects for clients such as Disney, Cartoon Network, MTV, Nickelodeon through award winning interactive and development company Funny Garbage. Here he worked closely with producer Andres Levin out of his Soho studio Fun Machine.
Schmersal then began a relationship with the Sundance channel in 2005, writing music for series opens, promo packages for shows, and the channel branding theme For A Change. At this time, John had relocated to Philadelphia, opened his own recording studio, and began actively producing and recording bands such as the Mean Reds and Thunderbirds Are Now! among others. He also joined forces with acclaimed record producer and film composer, David Sardy, on the soundtrack for Monster House.
In 2006, he was the composer for the award winning 2007 indie film "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" recording, arranging, and composing original music for the film. Enon, all the while touring, would also be featured the following year on Yo Gabba Gabba with "We are the Robots" and on MTV's Real World. In 2009 he wrote and recorded the theme for PBS kids show Dash's Dance Party. Schmersal has since relocated to Los Angeles as of 2010, spending most of this time since on tour with Caribou. In 2012 they were the main support for Radiohead on their North American, Mexican, and European tour dates. John continues to take on recording, writing, and performing gigs in and out of the Los Angeles area.