And he continued to deal with chronic pain due to the inflammatory bone disease ankylosing spondylitis.
Reynolds channeled all of this into the new Imagine Dragons album,Loom, out now.
The duo helped them comb through more than 100 possible songs.
Imagine Dragons released their new album, “Loom,” in June.Eric Ray Davidson*
Theyd say, We want it to remain simple and have no fat,' says Reynolds.
It just shows all the sides of Weezer that I wanted to see on a record.
That was our goal.
I dont even think that went through my head.
That was the focus.
We just ping-ponged all over the world.
I was constantly in a new time zone and on a stage or in an interview.
I didnt have much time to think.
That sort of whirlwind has destroyed many groups.
How did you verify it didnt break you?Oh, itdidbreak me.
Not in any way that slowed down the bands progress though.No.
Wed all been doing music for so long at that point.
All the guys had gone to Berklee for school, and started from a very young age.
We just took it really seriously.
It was a job to us.
We had four years before we got signed, and we would practice six to seven hours a day.
We were playing music and making money and getting to play it for people all over the world.
It was our career, and thats all we had hoped for.
I dont know if that answers your question, but all of that helped.
I think two things have served us really well.
One is that we write all our own music.
I write from a very narrative perspective with lyrics and melodies.
So its a very through-line, almost predictable thing to our fans.
They know what theyre getting.
Its not lightning in a bottle.
Its just a Dan journal entry with a melody, and us creating music to that in a room.
Sonically we dress it up different, but its always just an autobiographical journal.
I think that throughout the years, the honesty, take-it-or-leave-it, this-is-what-Dragons-are approach has become familiar and comfortable.
Its a community for a lot of people.
Thats just word of mouth.
Parents are now taking their kids.
People who went to Dragon shows 12 years ago now have kids and are bringing their kids out.
Theres a lot of families at Dragon shows.
Im kind of guessing for you.
These are things that come to mind that really helped us.
I think it helps that you arent afraid of a big song with a big chorus.
A lot of newer rock bands dont want to go there.I love a big song.
Thats the music I grew up on.
I grew up listening to everything my dad listened to.
It was Paul Simon and Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens, Billy Joel.
These are all singer-songwriters who wrote from a very emotional perspective.
Then on top of that, I listened to a lot of Queen.
I like to hear every word of lyrics thats the kind of music I consume.
I also was a child of the Nineties who had mixtapes.
I would sit next to the radio, Mix 94.1 in Las Vegas.
Every time a song came on, I would hit play and record and make mixtapes.
I listened to just singles.
I didnt really buy a lot of albums.
I was listening to the most poppy song from every artist.
Alternative radio was really big at that point, it was like Alanis MorissettesJagged Little Pilland Sheryl Crow.
And then it was Nineties hip-hop like Tupac and Biggie and Outkast, and then Nirvana.
Id get bored if I had to just write guitar songs or something.
We like to keep it exciting for ourselves.
Its a simple as that.
Lets get to the new record.
You worked with Rick Rubin last time.
Why did you want to go in a different direction here?I love Rick.
I still talk to Rick almost every day.
It really wasnt a matter of not wanting to work with Rick.
It was just wanting to try something new and be exciting for ourselves.
Even with Rick, we had other producers that would do songs, and Rick kind of oversaw everything.
This was our first time letting someone take the reins.
I typically dont like writing in the room with anybody.
I do the majority of the work at home by myself in a room.
I dont even know.
Over the years, Ive learned to read them.
Theres so much unsaid, and I love that actually.
It kind of makes it like youre just hanging out with your friends and vibing.
I just got out of a 10-year relationship, was navigating what that meant.
Lets go through the songs, starting with Wake Up.
Im an introvert, and my career requires me to be an extrovert.
When Im onstage, I am an extrovert.
It doesnt feel taxing to me.
Ive never been nervous to be on a stage, but Im extremely nervous in a party situation.
Im always want to escape to the bathroom and just kind of breathe.
I dont know where that comes from.
Im still sorting that out in therapy.
I hear Wake Up as kind of an anxiety song.
I want to capture anxiety and that feeling.
Starting the album there really sets the tone for the rest of it.Right.
And theres a reason we chooseLoomas the title of the album.
Looming is an anxious word.
Like, Ooh, somethings looming.
Its not necessarily bad.
It could be good, but its looming and its on the mind.
Imagine Dragons is not a subtle band.
Its love or hate.
Its right in your face, and its from the get-go.
Our first record Radioactive was the first song onNight Visions.
Its kind of following in that, where its just like, Here we go!
When youre dating someone, youre kind of also dating their friends and family.
Im in a very different position in my life now.
Which are all valid reasons.
Thats just about giving love a chance, giving someone a chance and putting aside your preconceived notions.
Minka Kelly is credited with the hand-clapping on the song.Yeah.
She was there for claps.
That was the last song that we wrote for the record.
And then we had to cheer because the record was done.
We had a lot of fun with that song.
Theres a lot of defiance and determination in that.Thats a song with a lot of false bravado.
I think I do that a lot.
I started doing that when I was really young.
But I love that people hear it and theyre like, Oh, its this really confident song.
Because it wasnt really written from a place of that.
Going back to Weezer, there are moments of self-seriousness and moments that arent so serious.
I grew up such a people pleaser.
I think something from that has made me always want to be liked and want to have someone care.
Then as Ive gotten older, Ive realized thats been the bane of so much unhappiness for me.
In Your Corner is obviously a breakup song.Yeah.
I think a lot of the record is about a relationship.
I think In Your Corner examines that.
Its about loyalty, hurt, how to deal with hurt, but also being in each others lives.
Just because a relationship ends, it doesnt mean it always ends.
Thats an interesting, uncomfortable place to be.
You cant always do that, so then what?
In Your Corner comes from that place.
On Gods Dont Pray you sing My venom went and turned to rage.
Where is that coming from?That song actually started with that line.
I was like, Gods dont …
I sang it, just kind of riffing over the song when we were building it.
Mattman & Robin were like, Thats interesting.
Did you say, Gods dont pray?'
Then I was just examining what that meant.
I grew up praying and asking for forgiveness and guidance every day.
Thats what you do at the end of the day as a Mormon kid.
Youre like, Dear God, these are the things I did bad today.
These are the things Im trying to achieve.
Im thankful for these things.
That really led me to never feel adequate.
I always felt like I had something to be forgiven for and wondering if God had forgiven me.
I really struggled with self-love because of that.
That song examined that, but its also a little tongue-in-cheek.
Its really reflective on the simpler times, the good parts of that and the bad parts of that.
Im grateful for the way that I was raised.
I got married at 22.
That was on a day where I was really not in a good headspace.
I was writing a song for myself to get through the day, make myself feel a little better.
It was a very cathartic experience.
It had kind of a Gorillaz vibe to it.
I just mumbled, You got to get yourself together, kid.
Then I said something like, Pull your trousers up, theres holes in it.
And I was like, Is that even a saying?
We listened back to it and then we kept that exact take.
I didnt even re-sing it.
When the song starts and you hear that take, its actually me just saying that on the fly.
Then we were like, That sounds funny.
Thats how I felt.
Sometimes it has no meaning, and sometimes it has meaning.
If it has meaning, then well chase it.
I was feeling out of control that day.
And it was like, Get it together.
You have a lot of responsibility.
You have these kids who are counting on you, you have a band.
Its the pressures of life.
You end the record on Fire in These Hills where you sing Ive lost my will.
Where is that coming from?Thats one of my favorite songs on the record.
I feel that way sometimes: Wheres home for me?
When youre raised Mormon, its like, The next thing you do is this.
Youre supposed to be an Eagle Scout.
You have this timeline, and theres an answer for every question.
What happens when you die?
Well, this is what happens when you die.
What happened before youre here?
This is what happens.
There was no questions.
In my twenties, I was like, Wait, who am I?
I just die and its nothing maybe.
This sucks, man.
I have had to kind of rebuild my sense of meaning and sense of self.
Do you miss the certainty of being a Mormon?
Theres a lot of comfort in certainty.I envy people of faith.
My whole family is still very much Mormon.
Seven brothers, one sister.
They all live in Las Vegas.
My mom and dad are still alive; all of them are Mormon.
My cousins are Mormon.
I have 40-plus nieces and nephews, all Mormon.
Im the only one whos not.
So thats a strange position for me.
I would love to believe that families are forever, and heaven and all those things come up.
Im really close with my mom and dad.
Weve healed a lot of hurt thats come through the public-ness of that.
I have a lot of respect and love for them.
It just something that didnt work for me.
What would you tell him?To really see that through for yourself and listen to your own voice.
Dont just follow what you think youre supposed to do.
Yes, I love this.
If you feel unsettled about it, a two-year mission is a long time.
Thats what I did for two years, and I got really lost.
Youve said you dont regret it though.I dont, because it really made me who I am.
But it was really difficult.
I only lived this life to my knowledge.
So I want to be exactly where I am today, and Im happy with who I am today.
I was stunned to learn they only let you call home twice a year.Mothers Day and Christmas.
Its a really lonely two years.
you might do the math, $10,000 for two years for your apartment and for your food.
The church doesnt pay for it.
You pay for it.
To move on here, fans are confused about the drummer situation.
Daniel Platzman went on hiatus from the band a year ago.
Is he on the album?He doesnt play on the record, and I cant talk about that.
Original Imagine Dragons drummer Andrew Tolman has been filling in ever since Daniel left.
Will he be on the upcoming tour?Andrew will be on the tour.
Whats it been like to have him back?
When he left, you guys were a baby band.
And now hes suddenly back with you playing arenas.
It must be a real trip for him.It was very full circle.
He also lives right next door to our guitarist.
Theyre best friends and have been through the whole process, way before the band started.
Weve always been really close with Andrew.
Hes a really, really good human.
If you go on Reddit or the fan forums, there are very long, confused threads about Daniel.
Every day I have to exercise.
I have to flush my body, all my joints, whether I like it or not.
I strengthen my joints, my hinge joints, especially in my hips, my shoulders, and elbows.
But that being said, Im able to do what I want every day.
Some days Im a little more inflamed than others, so Im just grateful for my body still working.
I was like, Why me?
Why is this happening?
Especially since I had lived so clean.
I lived the strict Mormon life and still it was like, Well, why is this happening?
Is it because Im struggling with Mormonism?
Is this from God?
What do I do just to not be in pain?
Let me give a shot to do every single thing I can.
The tour starts in a few weeks.
We want to play the whole new album.
Luckily its nine songs, so thats helpful because its shorter than our other records.
Then we want to play all the hits and then also some deep cuts along the way.
Itll be a long show.
Our last tour, our show was two and a half hours every night.
I would think this is probably something like that.
If its something significant, my manager will tell me.
Or the guitarist, Wayne, will tell me, Hey, I read this article or something.
But it hasnt really affected my life in ways, because the photographers are so good at hiding genuinely.
I can only think of a handful of times where Ive been like, Oh, OK.
But its not like Im walking around and people are taking my photo everywhere.
Getting off social media is smart.
I dont know when that will change because I have read significant research on that.
I dont think we even know what the full impact is yet.
Youre going on tour in the middle of a pretty heated election.
We never are looking to just jump on some issue because everybody is talking about it.
But we played in Ukraine a lot throughout the years.
So that was natural.
You took some heat for playing Israel and Azerbaijan.
Any regrets over doing those shows?No.
I think thats a really slippery slope.
Serj Tankian went after you pretty hardfor playing Azerbaijan.
He said he didnt respect you as human beings for playing there.
Any response?I think I just said it.
Its a slippery slope, and Im never going to deprive our fans of playing for them.
I grew up with Brendon Urie going to Mormon dances.
Vegas was settled by the Mob and the Mormons, so theres a lot of Mormons there.
Its a really interesting juxtaposition of a city, the city of sin, a bunch of Mormons.
Mormons are very musically inclined.
I think it has the highest doctorate degrees per capita of any religion.
I think that probably has something to do with it.
Youre around music all the time.
It feels really rebellious to be a musician when youre Mormon.
Do you know Brandon Flowers?
Do you guys ever talk about this stuff?Yep.
I love the Killers.
I know them all and love them and respect them deeply.
They put on such a great show.
They put Vegas on the map.
I have immense respect for the Killers.
Are you optimistic about the future of rock?
I think that there is a resurgence right now for out-of-the-box thinking, and people are wanting more authenticity.
Im even listening to what my 11-year-old wants to hear.
Its been the digital age.
So there is a resurgence happening of the Nineties and alternative music …
It did actually change my perspective a little bit.
My answer to that wouldve been no if you asked me that a couple of years ago.
I actually felt pretty close to being able to want to hang it up and go do something else.
Now I feel a lot of drive.
I feel like we have a lot more to do and to explore.
I feel like were just starting to figure out who we are.
You could still be doing this in 40 years like Mick.I would bank on that.
