Imagine Dragons: ‘Try to be happy in every situation’

Inventor Thomas Edison once said that there’s no substitute for hard work. The guys who make up American rock band Imagine Dragons would probably agree with that.

The group — vocalist Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, bassist Ben McKee and drummer Daniel Platzman — may be riding the wave of success right now, thanks to a string of hits such as Radioactive, It’s Time, Demons, Gold, Shots and I Bet My Life as well as two hit albums, Night Visions and Smoke & Mirrors. After finishing their first successful tour last year, they’ve hit the road again — including a stop in Singapore on Aug 25 — with shows that critics have called “rousing and perfectly executed”.

But Imagine Dragons didn’t get to this point by twiddling their thumbs. Formed in 2008, the band had to slog (they released three EPs) before hitting the big time. “We grew up in Las Vegas together as a band and got to play pretty much everything we could,” said Sermon. “We weren’t too proud, so we did everything, whether it’s opening for a mime act at a mall, playing at weddings or birthday parties or at lounges — all the casinos in Las Vegas have these lounges, so we played at a lot of them.

“No one can count how many hour we’ve had onstage — we’ve probably chalked up well over 10,000 hours being on stage.”

That, said Sermon, is one component in any band’s learning curve that cannot be ignored. “Really, you can practise all you want in your room or studio, and practise till you bleed, but nothing can compare with playing in front of a crowd for that many hours.”

They got their first big break when Train’s frontman fell sick just before a music festival in Las Vegas and Imagine Dragons was called to fill in, performing to more than 26,000 people.

They signed a record deal in 2011 and Billboard listed them as one of 2012’s Brightest New Stars and, later, The Breakout Band of 2013. Imagine Dragons also won last year’s Billboard Music Awards for Top Duo/Group, Top Hot 100 Artist and Top Rock Artist. Now, they look set to scale even greater heights.

But Sermon said it’s not all fun and games. “There are times when I go, ‘Oh, I have to do another show’, you know? When you’ve had only one day off after a string of shows and you have 12 more after that, it can seem never ending at times; not because it’s not amazing, but because you lose perspective,” said the guitarist. “It’s like everything you do ... if you do it every day, no matter what you do, it’s going to get monotonous, so you have to fight that feeling and give yourself a reality check.”

Any complaint Sermon has about being in Imagine Dragons right now is superseded by the knowledge of what they have achieved. If anyone gets too big for his boots, all they have to do is remember their beginnings.

“We had so many years of not being successful,” elaborated Sermon. “I had to carry my own amp everywhere we went for so many years. I was living in a crappy house with the rest of the band. We didn’t have air-conditioning half the time. We’d take food from Dan’s parents when they let us, eating only rice and beans. All of us were thinking, ‘If we were to make it big, we’d be so much happier, that we’d not have any worries’.

“But — and people don’t believe it, because it’s hard to believe — problems follow you around. Nothing really changes except that maybe you’re more comfortable in certain aspects of your life.”

The key, he said, is to “try to be happy in every situation”. “I was pretty happy when we were a nothing band, I really was,” insisted Sermon. “It’s not about external forces making you happy, it’s from within. Things can set us off and make us unhappy, but you have to fight that stuff and get over it.”

He continued: “We tell one another: All we have to do is think back to five years ago … We didn’t have opportunities. We were begging people to play our music (and) to come to our show — pestering our friends to come for the 54th time … hustling like that. Now, we have it so good. We get to keep on making music, doing what so many bands want to do … so I think we’ve learnt to appreciate the finer things in life.”

Although they have been to more countries in the past two years than many people get to visit in their lifetime, Sermon said they still get excited when playing at new venues.

“We’re just really excited to bring (our show) to places that we’ve never been … there’s an extra level of excitement,” he said.

“As of now, I’d say South American crowds are the craziest in the world. I’d love to be shown different in Singapore.”

Imagine Dragons will perform at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on Aug 25. Tickets on sale from SportsHubTix (http://www.sportshub.com.sg/sportshubtix).