Imagine Dragons: News, History & Updates

Biography by DANIEL PLATZMAN from IMAGINE DRAGONS

Exclusively for Alternative Nation

Imagine Dragons’ early albums

I would not say it was a conscious effort, but we were trying to create from an honest place. We [were never] just trying to redo everything we had already done, yet on the opposite side of the coin, Night Visions was so successful, so we would try to make something that is the complete opposite of that album to prove our diversity, how deep our repertoire goes. What things to prove: what is Imagine Dragons, who are we, and so on.

The good thing is we started writing [our second album Smoke and Mirrors] and going into the demo process immediately after the first record was finished, and by the time the pressure had been mounting up we had already written the album. We just filled up the songs the way it was demanded.

Smoke and Mirrors was really an autobiographical account of the [early 2010’s and our first worldwide tour] for us. We got to play with Dan Croll overseas. The Naked & Famous, seeing them jump on stage every night, we learned so much. Cage the Elephant. We met those guys on the road a while back, they’re awesome, authentic people who aren’t fake, aren’t posers. They’re such amazing performance. They were hanging outside the stage and we just like, “We gotta get you out here for ‘Radioactive’!” Jared and Matt came out bashing on drums. That’s real rock and roll, their whole attitude about playing music. Tame Impala. Live music is really what the songs are all about.

We do have those songs that have a bigger, heavier sound. We were influenced by the process of [touring], playing shows around the world. We played Rock’n’heim in Germany. We’ve never experienced a crowd like that. It was eye opening. There’s a lot of music we want to be performing on this stage next time we get here! We got the gears turning.

Imagine Dragons’ influences

As far as [covering Rush’s] Tom Sawyer goes, you know, as a drummer, getting to cover Neil Peart, that was a really fun cover, and we even got to play it in Canada, which was pretty sweet.

[In terms of influences], Dave Grohl’s drumming on Nevermind and In Utero is some of the best rock drumming out there. He’s just such a hard hitter. All that playing really influenced me, alongside the Foo Fighters’ self titled album with Dave playing every instrument. Zeppelin and John Bonham, obviously. I had to learn “Moby Dick” to play with my older brother at a talent show… I would just listen to that all day. Stewart Copeland drumming with The Police, super clean, very dynamic and reggae influenced… besides that, there’s a jazz drummer named Jim Black who is a total genius, and I’m totally obsessed with him. He’s from Seattle and such a true musician.

Daniel Platzman interview conducted by Doug McCausland for Alternative Nation.