Imagine Dragons: Ignorance is bliss

“We’ve been geeks our entire lives,” says frontman Dan Reynolds.

Imagine Dragons are among the biggest rock bands on the planet right now and they don’t even know it.

That’s just the way they like it though.

There is happiness in ignorance and you can’t struggle with fame and celebrity if you are unaware of how famous you are.

“We’ve been living in this bubble,” says frontman Dan Reynolds. “We’re either on stage or in interviews.”

Between tour stops, press runs and special appearances at top award shows around the world, Imagine Dragons could easily take a moment to wrap their heads around their international fame, but the band has more important things to do with their free time. Like songwriting.

“All we do is music,” Dan says. “When we’re on the road, the majority of the time we’re in our hotel room writing music together. The four of us gathered around a computer being really nerdy.”

That’s right, Imagine Dragons are self-proclaimed nerds and would rather be labeled that than rock stars because that’s who they are.

“We’ve been geeks our entire lives,” Dan admits.

And that’s not going to change now, especially since Dan says fame is a notion they have yet to comprehend.

“The concept is beyond us. We’re really grateful for it, but we’re not used to it yet.”

And understandably so. The band has only had a few years to attempt to get a grip on it all.

Founded in 2009, Imagine Dragons is still a young band and their rise to the top was a fast one. They went from playing intimate American night clubs to sold-out arenas over night following the enormous success of their No.1 debut album Night Visions, which has sold over 5 million copies since its release in 2012.

The album spawned three Top 20 singles “It’s Time,” “Demons” and the 9x-platinum selling standout hit “Radioactive.”

“Radioactive” peaked at the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Rock chart and won the 2014 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance and the 2014 Billboard Music Award for Top Streaming Song.

Chasing that success, their 2015 album, Smoke + Mirrors, debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and then sold over 1 million copies worldwide.

Now the band is about to unveil their third album Evolve which will surely be another triumph. The album’s lead single “Believer” has paved an easy street for it after spending 6 consecutive weeks at No. 1 at Alternative Radio.

Once Evolve is finally released on June 23, the guys will focus all their energy on the live tour, which Dan explains is what Imagine Dragons is all about.

“[Playing live] is huge for us. Our favorite bands growing up were bands who took their performance very seriously. The reason we got into music was to perform live.”

The North American leg of Imagine Dragons’ Evolve World Tour will kick off on September 27 in Phoenix, Arizona and will run into November with stops in major Canadian cities including Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Quebec City and Montreal.

Tickets for the Evolve Tour are on sale now and are bound to sell out. It’s happened before. After all, we are talking about the band of the hour whether Imagine Dragons know it or not.

Imagine Dragons are nominated for International Group of the Year at the 2017 iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards airing live Sunday, June 18 on Much, CTV, and VRAK. The band will also take the stage alongside performers including Lorde and Iggy Azalea. For a complete list of this year’s MMVA nominees, performers and presenters click here.

Imagine Dragon’s new album Evolve will be released Friday, June 23. Pre-order the album on iTunes here. See Evolve’s track listing and Imagine Dragon’s tour dates below.

1. I Don’t Know Why
2. Whatever It Takes
3. Believer
4. Walking The Wire
5. Rise Up
6. Make It Up To You
7. Yesterday
8. Mouth of the River
9. Thunder
10. Start Over
11. Dancing In The Dark

Evolve Tour dates:

September 26 – Phoenix, AZ – Talking Stick Resort Arena
September 27 – San Diego, CA – Mattress Firm Amphitheatre
September 29 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena
October 1 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
October 3 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
October 4 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
October 6 – Seattle, WA – Key Arena
October 8 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
October 10 – Edmonton, AB – Rogers Place
October 11 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome
October 13 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheater
October 14 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center
October 16 – Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
October 18 – Chicago, IL – United Center
October 19 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
October 21 – Cincinnati, OH – U.S. Bank Arena
October 23 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
October 24 – Newark, NJ – Prudential Center
October 26 – Quebec, QC – Le Centre Videotron
October 27 – Montreal, QC – Bell Centre
October 29 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
November 1 – Buffalo, NY – KeyBank Pavilion
November 2 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
November 4 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
November 5 – Washington, DC – Verizon Center
November 7 – Atlanta, GA – Philips Arena
November 8 – Charlotte, NC – Spectrum Center
November 10 – Orlando, FL – Amway Arena
November 12 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
November 13 – Dallas, TX – American Airlines Arena
November 16 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center

Posted by Marc Andrew on Jun 13 2017. Filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.