"It's the one thing, as artists, that we get to keep to ourselves," Imagine Dragons' front man Dan Reynolds 発言しました when asked the meaning of the band's name. Yep, with apologies to ファン boys all over the world and quite possibly Middle Earth, the buzzworthy Las Vegas alt-rock group didn't name themselves over an undying 愛 of Game of Thrones, Dungeons & Dragons, または anything medieval または ファンタジー filled.
"We were sitting down and came up with a phrase that we felt particularly connected to, but we didn't want to call it that. It just didn't flow right," Reynolds explained in an April 25 interview.
"We ended up rearranging the letters and did an anagram. We haven't told anyone except our manager and our spouses. It's funny how people will try to guess what it means... a lot of people think it's a drug reference."
Reynolds 発言しました everything from "Aged Mens' Radio" to "Gemini is So Grand" have been suggested によって fans, but they'll keep everyone guessing for now. Whatever their name means is sort of irrelevant considering it's the 音楽 everyone has been paying attention to lately. The band, which consists of Reynolds on vocals, guitarist D. Wayne Sermon, ドラマー Daniel "Z" Platzman and bassist Ben McKee, have been enjoying success with their current single "It's Time" off of their new EP Continued Silence. The track has been played repeatedly on many alternative rock stations (the EP is in the 上, ページのトップへ ten of Soundscan's Alternative New Artist Albums chart), and MTV just named the song's video its PUSH artist of the week a few weeks back.
I caught up with Reynolds and asked him about the band, their current tour (they're on the road with The Jezabels* tour dates below), and how "It's Time" manages to stay cool even when played ad nauseum on my お気に入り alt-rock station.
"It's Time" is really being a lot on the radio -- at least on the station I'm listening to. It has the wonderful ability of not getting under my skin even though I've heard it a bunch of times. So, first off, congrats on that. Second, what was the songwriting process behind that amazing track?
[Laughs] Well, thanks! There's so many times あなた wake up at 3 a.m., grab a recorder on the iPhone and say something -- a lyrical idea または melody -- and then あなた lay it out in logic later on and sometimes it makes no sense. We sat with "It's Time" for a 年 または year-and-a-half. Sometimes あなた just have to let a song sit for awhile. There's just something really special about it. I wrote it during a very hard time in my life. I had dropped out of college, and I was just sitting down at my computer, and I came up with this rhythm. And the words just wrote themselves. I knew I had something special coming.
When a song is most honest and most raw that's when あなた know you're doing something right. A lot of my お気に入り artists are able to be in touch with their problems and put it through melodies. It happens all the time with bands.
"It's Time" is on your latest EP. I'm finding もっと見る and もっと見る bands prefer to release an EP または a couple EPs throughout a 年 または two rather than releasing a full-length album. Why do あなた think that is? Is it because an EP is もっと見る immediate?
Honestly, I'm so afraid of doing the first album. あなた only do a first album once and あなた have to live with it forever. So many bands I listen to have first albums that are my favorites. I really wanted to make sure I felt our band had really developed and understood who we are before releasing a first album.
Some bands do it overnight, and we've been a band for three years. It took three または four EPS to determine who we are. We've seen growth, and are excited to have an album out in the fall. We'll go into the studio at The Palms in Vegas in June.
It'll be nice to get in the studio I'm sure. You've been on the road for a while. I take it's gone well?
It's been incredible. We've been on the road two months now, and we've play places we never played before and we've been selling out. There's no place where we feel もっと見る at ホーム than on the road. We've been on the road for three years, and people are coming out and connecting with our music. There's really an incredible energy in the bus.
Lastly, getting back to "It's Time." It really feels like a breakthrough for あなた guys. Do あなた get that sense? I know MTV just gave あなた リスペクト for the song's 音楽 video.
I always would dream of making 音楽 videos. Whenever I make music, I always have a visual in my mind. I always see things. My お気に入り are the もっと見る conceptual 動画 -- the ones that got あなた thinking how it related to the song. There's something about puzzles I love. When we were making the video for "It's Time" I wanted to make it a little もっと見る abstract. It's a song that people can interpret in so many ways. I hate it when artists say what it exactly means. It really compartmentalizes it. I always like to leave art and 音楽 open to interpretation.
Like your band name!
[Laughs] We were very happy that we were able to own the name "Imagine Dragons" on Google very quickly. When あなた think of bands like Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins the name matters less. The name ends up being defined によって the 音楽 at the end of the day.
"We were sitting down and came up with a phrase that we felt particularly connected to, but we didn't want to call it that. It just didn't flow right," Reynolds explained in an April 25 interview.
"We ended up rearranging the letters and did an anagram. We haven't told anyone except our manager and our spouses. It's funny how people will try to guess what it means... a lot of people think it's a drug reference."
Reynolds 発言しました everything from "Aged Mens' Radio" to "Gemini is So Grand" have been suggested によって fans, but they'll keep everyone guessing for now. Whatever their name means is sort of irrelevant considering it's the 音楽 everyone has been paying attention to lately. The band, which consists of Reynolds on vocals, guitarist D. Wayne Sermon, ドラマー Daniel "Z" Platzman and bassist Ben McKee, have been enjoying success with their current single "It's Time" off of their new EP Continued Silence. The track has been played repeatedly on many alternative rock stations (the EP is in the 上, ページのトップへ ten of Soundscan's Alternative New Artist Albums chart), and MTV just named the song's video its PUSH artist of the week a few weeks back.
I caught up with Reynolds and asked him about the band, their current tour (they're on the road with The Jezabels* tour dates below), and how "It's Time" manages to stay cool even when played ad nauseum on my お気に入り alt-rock station.
"It's Time" is really being a lot on the radio -- at least on the station I'm listening to. It has the wonderful ability of not getting under my skin even though I've heard it a bunch of times. So, first off, congrats on that. Second, what was the songwriting process behind that amazing track?
[Laughs] Well, thanks! There's so many times あなた wake up at 3 a.m., grab a recorder on the iPhone and say something -- a lyrical idea または melody -- and then あなた lay it out in logic later on and sometimes it makes no sense. We sat with "It's Time" for a 年 または year-and-a-half. Sometimes あなた just have to let a song sit for awhile. There's just something really special about it. I wrote it during a very hard time in my life. I had dropped out of college, and I was just sitting down at my computer, and I came up with this rhythm. And the words just wrote themselves. I knew I had something special coming.
When a song is most honest and most raw that's when あなた know you're doing something right. A lot of my お気に入り artists are able to be in touch with their problems and put it through melodies. It happens all the time with bands.
"It's Time" is on your latest EP. I'm finding もっと見る and もっと見る bands prefer to release an EP または a couple EPs throughout a 年 または two rather than releasing a full-length album. Why do あなた think that is? Is it because an EP is もっと見る immediate?
Honestly, I'm so afraid of doing the first album. あなた only do a first album once and あなた have to live with it forever. So many bands I listen to have first albums that are my favorites. I really wanted to make sure I felt our band had really developed and understood who we are before releasing a first album.
Some bands do it overnight, and we've been a band for three years. It took three または four EPS to determine who we are. We've seen growth, and are excited to have an album out in the fall. We'll go into the studio at The Palms in Vegas in June.
It'll be nice to get in the studio I'm sure. You've been on the road for a while. I take it's gone well?
It's been incredible. We've been on the road two months now, and we've play places we never played before and we've been selling out. There's no place where we feel もっと見る at ホーム than on the road. We've been on the road for three years, and people are coming out and connecting with our music. There's really an incredible energy in the bus.
Lastly, getting back to "It's Time." It really feels like a breakthrough for あなた guys. Do あなた get that sense? I know MTV just gave あなた リスペクト for the song's 音楽 video.
I always would dream of making 音楽 videos. Whenever I make music, I always have a visual in my mind. I always see things. My お気に入り are the もっと見る conceptual 動画 -- the ones that got あなた thinking how it related to the song. There's something about puzzles I love. When we were making the video for "It's Time" I wanted to make it a little もっと見る abstract. It's a song that people can interpret in so many ways. I hate it when artists say what it exactly means. It really compartmentalizes it. I always like to leave art and 音楽 open to interpretation.
Like your band name!
[Laughs] We were very happy that we were able to own the name "Imagine Dragons" on Google very quickly. When あなた think of bands like Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins the name matters less. The name ends up being defined によって the 音楽 at the end of the day.
Daniel may be a native of Atlanta, GA, but he is rocking it with the best in LA. Also a graduate of Berklee College of Music, Daniel pounds the drums with precision and passion. Fun fact – Daniel has a Bachelor’s Degree in film scoring and holds credits on three films!
Daniel also performs the backing vocals for the band, as well as playing the viola.
He is the newest member of the band, joining in 2011, after the departure of Andrew Tolman who previously played drums and performed the backing vocals.
