INTERVIEW: Imagine Dragons

Entertainmentopia recently had a chance to talk with Imagine Dragons who are finding themselves all over the radio these days. We talked about what its like to tour with them, their ideal tour mates and how they came together.

Entertainmentopia: How did you all come together to form the band?

Imagine Dragons: Three of us (Wayne, Ben, and Daniel Platzman) went to college together in Boston at Berklee College of Music. When Wayne graduated, he met up with Dan Reynolds and found that there was some good musical chemistry going on.  Wayne called Ben and Daniel and everyone headed to Vegas to start Imagine Dragons.

Entopia: Growing up what were your musical influences, was music something that was encouraged when you were young?

ID: Everyone in the band grew up in a different place listening to different kinds of music.  Everything from Willie Nelson, to Wayne Krantz to Weezer to Weird Al. The one thing we all have in common is that we all have supportive families.  Music can be a hard thing to dedicate your life too.  I don’t think that this band could exist if it wasn’t for the encouragement, patience and understanding that all of our parents had for us.

Entopia: When you sit down to write music, how does that process go, is it collaborative? Is it done in seclusion? Maybe a middle of the night dream that cause you to take notes?

ID: We don’t have any kind of formula for writing a song.  Over the few years that we’ve been together we’ve tried it all kinds of different ways.  Often somebody will come up with a rough demo on their computer and then we’ll work the idea out with the band until it feels like Imagine Dragons.

Entopia: If you could tour with one current band, who would it be, and why?

ID: Arcade Fire would be a fun band to tour with I think.  They have so much energy and I don’t think that watching them perform every night would get old.

Entopia: Life on the road can’t be easy, what do you guys do in your travel and down time to stay sane?

ID: With all of the amazing recording and music making software that exists now, having time on the bus between cities can really be an opportunity to work out some new song ideas.  There’s a lot of music being made on our bus.  There’s also quite a bit of Diablo 3 these days too.

ID: I’m not sure what sets us apart from other bands.  I know that we’re a very hard working band.  We’ve never seen this as a hobby or a casual undertaking.  We never expected this to be easy or glamorous.  None of us were ever trying to pursue a “rockstar lifestyle’.  We’re just four guys that have always needed to make music and decided that we wanted to work as hard as we could at doing it together as best we know how.

We would like to thank the band for taking some time out of their busy touring schedule (and Diablo 3 time) to chat with us. For more on Imagine Dragons check out their facebook page and their official website.