magine Dragons -- a band that is gaining considerable visibility these days thanks its hit singles, "It's Time" and "Radioactive" -- may be a fairly new presence on the national music scene to many listeners, but that is not the case in Utah County.
The band got its start in Utah County when lead singer Dan Reynolds, a BYU student, joined forces with guitarist Wayne Sermon of American Fork. The group eventually relocated its home base to Las Vegas, Reynolds' home town, but has never turned its back on its Utah roots.
The band finally has been blowing up nationally, and returns to Utah County on Monday with a show at the UCCU Center. To highlight the band's meteoric rise, it has gone from selling out dates at Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo to a soldout show at the UCCU Center in just over a year's time.
Like so many seemingly overnight successes, though, Imagine Dragons spent its share of time in relative obscurity, writing songs, touring and settling into its current lineup before making the current impact with its first full-length album, "Night Visions."
Formed in 2008, the group self-released a self-titled EP in 2009, a second EP, "Hell and Silence," in 2010, and in 2011, a third EP, "It's Time" (yes, the eight-song release included the hit song), all before the group got its current deal with Interscope Records in November 2011.
In today's world of instant Internet phenoms and reality TV contestants-turned-chart-topping singers, the gradual progress of Imagine Dragons might have tested the patience of many bands.
But guitarist Sermon is thankful that his group didn't rocket immediately to the level of mainstream success it is experiencing now.
"It was definitely a slow process for us," Sermon said of the band's development. "We weren't exactly sure what we wanted to do, what we wanted to sound like for awhile. For people who have collected the EPs through the years, I think you can kind of see that, like slowly kind of hopefully honing in on to something that was more concrete as the EPs went on.
"We were lucky we had that before we released our first album, before there was a lot of spotlight on us as a band," he said. "We're fortunate that we had that incubation period."
That's not to say that Imagine Dragons is a finished product at this point or that the band's best music isn't still to come. But Sermon feels the group, which also includes bassist Ben McKee and drummer Dan Platzman in addition to Reynolds, has found a musical focus and an identity that it can call its own.
"I think the sound arose out of just a collection of everything we've listened to, everything that has influenced us individually," he said. "There's definitely a lot of classic rock influence in everything we do because we've all listened to that growing up. We all love Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and we all listened to Simon & Garfunkel a lot, Harry Nilsson. We like the '60s and '70s influences a lot. So at the core, I think that's what we are as a band."
But while there are classic elements to the Imagine Dragons sound, "Night Visions" also shows some modern sensibilities and some specific twists in the music that command attention. For one thing, the band has a unique way of combining acoustic and synthetic instrumental elements, creating something of an electro/organic rock sound.
"We try to write the best song possible and then we try and dress it up in whatever production seems to match it. A song like 'Radioactive,' the lyrical content and just the shape of the song lends itself to synthetic elements, whereas a song like 'It's Time,' it just had this organic, sort of almost folky quality to it in the beginning, so we just tried to nurture that with the instrumentation that feels right."
The band also features drums and percussion in ways that are unusual in the worlds of rock and pop, building big beats -- some synthetic, some acoustic -- into songs like "It's Time," "Demons" (which has a bit of an expansive Coldplay sound to it) and "Hear Me."
"He (Reynolds) actually started out playing drums. That's the first instrument I think he learned," Sermon said. "So for him to kind of have that thing going on and then to have Platzman, who is such a great drummer and such a great percussionist, I think that's where the big percussive element came from."
Imagine Dragons got its start in Provo. Sermon, who grew up in Utah County, had returned to Provo after graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
"I had come back just to kind of figure out what I wanted to do," Sermon said. "I knew I wanted to do music. I knew I wanted to be very serious about it. So I just kind of began exploring the scene a little bit, and a friend told me about this guy that sang and played guitar. So I went to a show he was doing in Provo and just kind of liked what he was doing."
That musician was Reynolds. The two became acquainted, and when Reynolds decided to move to his previous home base of Las Vegas, he asked Sermon to join him and form a new band there. It was 2008, and that group was Imagine Dragons.
In the years since, Reynolds and Sermon have forged a productive writing partnership, even though they are, as Sermon put it, different types of people.
"I think all of those differences have turned out to be really good things." Sermon said. "A lot of our influences are the same, but our personalities are different, him being very in the moment, very instinctual and knowing what he wants to do with things right away and just kind of wanting to run with that. And I'm maybe a little more methodical. I like to dissect something into its absolute part. I want to work on it."
They've learned to recognize their differences and make them an asset.
"We've always had a lot of respect for each other and we respect each other's opinions on, whether it's a lyric or whether it's a guitar part or anything else in between," Sermon said. "At the end of the day, that's what's most important, not always agreeing with each other, but having respect for each other's artistic vision."
There also seems to be a willingness among all four band members to express differing opinions about the band's music. That happened in choosing the songs that made "Night Visions."
"There was certainly a lot of discussion, and sometimes heated discussions, about what songs were going to be on the album," Sermon said. "We just had to look at it like, 'OK, which 10 or 12 songs best reflect what we are right now?' And you know, also asking us, 'What are the best songs we've written?' At the end of the day, this is kind of what we came up with being the best songs that we've written and the ones that kind of belonged together."
With "Radioactive" now having gone Top 10 on Billboard magazine's all-genre Hot 100 singles chart and No. 1 on the magazine's Hot Rock Songs and Alternative Songs ("It's Time" got to No. 15 on the Hot 100 and Top 5 on the Hot Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts) Imagine Dragons is beginning a new set of headlining shows in support of the "Night Visions" album. A spring U.S. tour met with such resounding success that a limited run summer string of dates at larger venues was added to the schedule -- many of which also sold out -- including Monday's date at the UCCU Center.
Sermon said the band is stepping up its game to meet the growing expectations of its expanding audience.
"We're definitely going to be upping our production value on this tour," he said. "There are going to be a lot of new things and a lot of twists and turns. We've even written some new material to do in between songs and new jam sections and extending some songs out and stretching out in ways we haven't been able to do before. I think people are going to be impressed by our live show and what we have planned."
The band got its start in Utah County when lead singer Dan Reynolds, a BYU student, joined forces with guitarist Wayne Sermon of American Fork. The group eventually relocated its home base to Las Vegas, Reynolds' home town, but has never turned its back on its Utah roots.
The band finally has been blowing up nationally, and returns to Utah County on Monday with a show at the UCCU Center. To highlight the band's meteoric rise, it has gone from selling out dates at Velour Live Music Gallery in Provo to a soldout show at the UCCU Center in just over a year's time.
Like so many seemingly overnight successes, though, Imagine Dragons spent its share of time in relative obscurity, writing songs, touring and settling into its current lineup before making the current impact with its first full-length album, "Night Visions."
Formed in 2008, the group self-released a self-titled EP in 2009, a second EP, "Hell and Silence," in 2010, and in 2011, a third EP, "It's Time" (yes, the eight-song release included the hit song), all before the group got its current deal with Interscope Records in November 2011.
In today's world of instant Internet phenoms and reality TV contestants-turned-chart-topping singers, the gradual progress of Imagine Dragons might have tested the patience of many bands.
But guitarist Sermon is thankful that his group didn't rocket immediately to the level of mainstream success it is experiencing now.
"It was definitely a slow process for us," Sermon said of the band's development. "We weren't exactly sure what we wanted to do, what we wanted to sound like for awhile. For people who have collected the EPs through the years, I think you can kind of see that, like slowly kind of hopefully honing in on to something that was more concrete as the EPs went on.
"We were lucky we had that before we released our first album, before there was a lot of spotlight on us as a band," he said. "We're fortunate that we had that incubation period."
That's not to say that Imagine Dragons is a finished product at this point or that the band's best music isn't still to come. But Sermon feels the group, which also includes bassist Ben McKee and drummer Dan Platzman in addition to Reynolds, has found a musical focus and an identity that it can call its own.
"I think the sound arose out of just a collection of everything we've listened to, everything that has influenced us individually," he said. "There's definitely a lot of classic rock influence in everything we do because we've all listened to that growing up. We all love Led Zeppelin, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and we all listened to Simon & Garfunkel a lot, Harry Nilsson. We like the '60s and '70s influences a lot. So at the core, I think that's what we are as a band."
But while there are classic elements to the Imagine Dragons sound, "Night Visions" also shows some modern sensibilities and some specific twists in the music that command attention. For one thing, the band has a unique way of combining acoustic and synthetic instrumental elements, creating something of an electro/organic rock sound.
"We try to write the best song possible and then we try and dress it up in whatever production seems to match it. A song like 'Radioactive,' the lyrical content and just the shape of the song lends itself to synthetic elements, whereas a song like 'It's Time,' it just had this organic, sort of almost folky quality to it in the beginning, so we just tried to nurture that with the instrumentation that feels right."
The band also features drums and percussion in ways that are unusual in the worlds of rock and pop, building big beats -- some synthetic, some acoustic -- into songs like "It's Time," "Demons" (which has a bit of an expansive Coldplay sound to it) and "Hear Me."
"He (Reynolds) actually started out playing drums. That's the first instrument I think he learned," Sermon said. "So for him to kind of have that thing going on and then to have Platzman, who is such a great drummer and such a great percussionist, I think that's where the big percussive element came from."
Imagine Dragons got its start in Provo. Sermon, who grew up in Utah County, had returned to Provo after graduating from the Berklee College of Music in Boston.
"I had come back just to kind of figure out what I wanted to do," Sermon said. "I knew I wanted to do music. I knew I wanted to be very serious about it. So I just kind of began exploring the scene a little bit, and a friend told me about this guy that sang and played guitar. So I went to a show he was doing in Provo and just kind of liked what he was doing."
That musician was Reynolds. The two became acquainted, and when Reynolds decided to move to his previous home base of Las Vegas, he asked Sermon to join him and form a new band there. It was 2008, and that group was Imagine Dragons.
In the years since, Reynolds and Sermon have forged a productive writing partnership, even though they are, as Sermon put it, different types of people.
"I think all of those differences have turned out to be really good things." Sermon said. "A lot of our influences are the same, but our personalities are different, him being very in the moment, very instinctual and knowing what he wants to do with things right away and just kind of wanting to run with that. And I'm maybe a little more methodical. I like to dissect something into its absolute part. I want to work on it."
They've learned to recognize their differences and make them an asset.
"We've always had a lot of respect for each other and we respect each other's opinions on, whether it's a lyric or whether it's a guitar part or anything else in between," Sermon said. "At the end of the day, that's what's most important, not always agreeing with each other, but having respect for each other's artistic vision."
There also seems to be a willingness among all four band members to express differing opinions about the band's music. That happened in choosing the songs that made "Night Visions."
"There was certainly a lot of discussion, and sometimes heated discussions, about what songs were going to be on the album," Sermon said. "We just had to look at it like, 'OK, which 10 or 12 songs best reflect what we are right now?' And you know, also asking us, 'What are the best songs we've written?' At the end of the day, this is kind of what we came up with being the best songs that we've written and the ones that kind of belonged together."
With "Radioactive" now having gone Top 10 on Billboard magazine's all-genre Hot 100 singles chart and No. 1 on the magazine's Hot Rock Songs and Alternative Songs ("It's Time" got to No. 15 on the Hot 100 and Top 5 on the Hot Rock Songs and Alternative Songs charts) Imagine Dragons is beginning a new set of headlining shows in support of the "Night Visions" album. A spring U.S. tour met with such resounding success that a limited run summer string of dates at larger venues was added to the schedule -- many of which also sold out -- including Monday's date at the UCCU Center.
Sermon said the band is stepping up its game to meet the growing expectations of its expanding audience.
"We're definitely going to be upping our production value on this tour," he said. "There are going to be a lot of new things and a lot of twists and turns. We've even written some new material to do in between songs and new jam sections and extending some songs out and stretching out in ways we haven't been able to do before. I think people are going to be impressed by our live show and what we have planned."
