No smoke and mirrors for these Dragons

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This article was published 06/06/2015 (4106 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

During the 2015 Grammy Awards, Target shelled out approximately $8 million for a four-minute block of commercial time to run an ad in the form of a live concert performance.

And who did the retail giant ask to be at the helm of the ad promoting their #MoreMusic campaign? None other than Las Vegas pop-rock quartet Imagine Dragons.

It was history in the making as the band performed the single Shots from their most recent album Smoke + Mirrors in real time. As the circular stage rose up, high above the crowd of screaming fans surrounding it on all sides, you could almost hear the iTunes sales racking up.

And they did, quickly — Shots jumped from No. 99 to No. 26 on the iTunes charts the day following the broadcast of Target’s commercial.

Love them or hate them, it’s undeniable Imagine Dragons know how to promote themselves and capitalize on their ability to pump out catchy, radio-friendly singles, though they have admitted the immense success of the 2012 single Radioactive was completely unexpected.

The song held strong on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-breaking 87 weeks and Night Visions, the band’s 2012 debut album, remains on the chart after an astounding 142 weeks.

Before beginning production work on Smoke + Mirrors, Imagine Dragons decided to go a different route and purchased a house in a slightly sketchier area of Las Vegas. They turned it into a fully functional home studio so they could take their time in crafting the new album.

“Working in a rented studio usually ends up with the creative process being somewhat rushed, so this was the best way to make something at our own pace,” explains Dan Reynolds in a press release.

Reynolds is the band’s lyricist, and he delves a bit deeper into his emotional catalogue with Smoke + Mirrors, exploring themes of depression and anxiety.

He has been open about his battle with depression, saying it began as the band’s career began to rapidly take off.

“At times it’s really scary to think about so many people hearing what I’m talking about in the lyrics on this album, but I know that for better or for worse it’s completely authentic and genuine and true to who we are as a band,” says Reynolds in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “And that’s the most important thing you can ever do as an artist, and also the most magical: forget about everyone and everything else for the moment, and just create whatever’s most meaningful to you.”

Imagine Dragons, rounded out by Wayne Sermon on guitar, Ben McKee on bass and Daniel Platzman on drums, have just set out on their North American tour in support of Smoke + Mirrors, which hits the MTS Centre on Monday.

Rolling Stone magazine has deemed the tour one of the 30 hottest of the summer, and while Imagine Dragons have been doing their best to keep the details of their live production under wraps, fans can surely expect a bit of a spectacle from snippets they have revealed.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Reynolds admits the last tour was put on hastily, as the blow-out success of Radioactive was so surprising no one anticipated having to put together an arena tour. With Smoke + Mirrors, though, the tour has been carefully planned.

“I don’t want give away too much, but it uses projection to create almost 3D imaging. You project onto things you wouldn’t normally project on. It plays with your sense of perception and your depth of perception and makes you take a second look at things,” Reynolds told the magazine.

Regardless of their grandiose stage presence and increased amount of success, the members of Imagine Dragons remain humble and grounded and are prone to living the clichéd rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

“We didn’t have crazy lives before. We’re all pretty much giant music nerds… and the fact that we get to do music on a stage with four people makes us really, really happy,” Platzman tells AP.

“It’s a cliché thing, but literally, really, none of us got into music thinking we’d have money or wanting to have money,” Reynolds added. “My friends come over to my house I bought and they’re like, ‘This is your house?’ And I’m like, ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ It’s like they’re expecting the Night Visions mansion.”

erin.lebar@freepress.mb.ca