I must admit, I didn’t know what to expect when I sat down to speak with Imagine Dragons. Here’s a band that has taken the world by storm in the last year or so and have every right to be riding high on that wave. What I found was a group of humble musicians that are truly thankful for everything they have.
“We’re still trying to wrap our heads around what happened,” Dan Reynolds, Imagine Dragons’ singer, told me. “We’ve been a band for five years; three of those years we were plays bars in Western U.S. trying to make ends meet.”
Making ends meet includes buying gas for the van the band used to travel to gigs, affectionately nicknamed the “Dragon Wagon.” Even with the success over the last couple of years, the band still remembers all of the other bands out there.
“There are so many bands that are working incredibly hard, making great music that deserve to be out here,” said Reynolds.
Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds performing at iTunes Festival SXSW. Photo credit: iTunes Festival at SXSW
As a music fan, I find Imagine Dragons’ music amazing in that there are so many different types of music on one album. Usually you see that over years of a band progressing, but not on a single release. All members of the band agreed that the songwriting process is very collaborative.
“All four of us have input,” said Reynolds. “It all starts as a demo on Wayne or mine’s computer with a melody and chord progression. Our strongest belief is that if a song can’t be played with just a guitar or piano and be a good song, then it’s not a good song.”
Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds performing at iTunes Festival SXSW. Photo credit: iTunes Festival at SXSW
One of the secrets to Imagine Dragons’ music is the way they add instruments, whether it’s a mandolin or an extra snare drum, to fill out the sound.
“We’ve gone through a lot of growth over the course of our EP releases and we try not to limit ourselves, said Ben McKee, the band’s bassist. “We’re crediting music that we love and would have fun listening to.”
Imagine Dragons count The Beatles, Paul Simon and Billy Joel as influencers of their music. They are all melodic songwriters, but one thing that’s changed between the older artists and now is iTunes and the digital music revolution.
“There is something very personal about a record collection,” said Reynolds. “You can be sad about it [the change to digital] or you can embrace it. As artists we are still trying to create something that is very personal for our fans.”
Drummer Daniel Platzman agrees. “The separation between the artist and the listener is getting smaller every day. Yes, albums are great and the artwork is great, but our iTunes Festival show is being streamed to millions of people tonight—that never would have happened back in the day.”
Imagine Dragons put on an amazing performance at iTunes Festival SXSW and were easily the best band on the stage. Expect more great things from this band.