A Chat With Lead Singer of Imagine Dragons

When Imagine Dragons performs on stage, it’s one of the few times the band members truly feel at home, lead singer Dan Reynolds says in an email.

“When music is all you know and do, nothing feels better than sharing it live with other people,” Reynolds says.

The Las Vegas-based indie-rock band will take the stage at 8 p.m. on Feb. 20 in Alumni Hall in the HUB-Robeson Center to celebrate Founder’s Day. Imagine Dragons will perform courtesy of the Penn State Lion Ambassadors in association with the Student Programming Association.

Students attending the show, which SPA Marketing Chair Megan Mansell says sold out in less than an hour, can expect high-energy.

“We recommend everyone wear helmets just to keep their heads from exploding,” Reynolds jokingly says of the band’s upcoming performance at Penn State.

Imagine Dragons, comprised of Reynolds, bassist Ben McKee, guitarist Wayne Sermon and drummer Dan Platzman, became nationally recognized this past year with the release of its full-length debut album, “Night Visions.”

The breakout indie-rock band‘s platinum-selling single, “It’s Time,” was just recently nominated for MTV’s 2012 Video Music Awards’ Best Rock Video and has even been featured in trailers for “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

Even though the band mates have experienced a significant amount of change in the past year, Reynolds says in a lot of ways, everything feels the same – the group still spends their time the same way they did three or four years ago.

Yet, Reynolds says every once in a while the band members will experience moments that seem “unreal,” like hearing their music play in a theater or performing a show in front of a massive crowd.

“We’ll probably won’t ever get fully used to it,” Reynolds says. “Anytime you hear someone singing along at a show or read an email from someone personally moved by a song, it’s incredibly humbling.”

As surreal as this newfound success is for Imagine Dragons, the band members are coming to Penn State prepared and ready to give the show everything they have, Reynolds says. The band mates put in a lot of time and thought into their music.

“We are constantly writing, and we rely heavily on each other throughout the process,” Reynolds says. “Typically, one of us will have a beginning of a song that they bring to the rest of the band.  The song takes shape and comes alive through everyone’s contributions.”

The band typically only ends up using about five percent of the songs they write, Reynolds says.

“It’s a constant process, but one that we love,” Reynolds says.

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