The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Imagine Dragons’ Daniel Platzman jazzed to headline Music Midtown
The past five years have seen Imagine Dragons vault from friendly radio presence to inescapable hitmakers, the type of band whose music is so ubiquitous, you don’t even realize how much you’re hearing it.
To wit: Last month, the quartet of singer Dan Reynolds, bassist Ben McKee, guitarist Wayne Sermon and Atlanta native drummer Daniel Platzman became the first act to command the top four spots on the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart (“Thunder,” “Whatever It Takes,” “Believer” and the new stomper “Natural”).
Their “Evolve” world tour, named for their current third album, has been spinning across the globe since last fall. Imagine Dragons played Atlanta in November — a sold-out show at Philips Arena — but on Sunday, the band will return for a headlining slot at Music Midtown in Piedmont Park.
It’s more than just another festival gig for drummer Platzman, who currently lives near Summerlin in the band’s base of Las Vegas, but has deep roots in Atlanta. He grew up here, his family still resides here, but most importantly for this weekend, he has vivid and special memories of attending Music Midtown.
During a call last month from a tour stop in New Orleans, the gregarious Platzman reflected on his past experiences with Music Midtown and expressed his gratitude and awe at the band’s status as headliners.
You once told me about your history about going to see Music Midtown way back when and that the experience influenced you musically, right?
I have a full spectrum of emo-
tions and memories. I certainly attended as a freshman in high school with my high school band to see Hoobastank and Incubus and dreaming one day it could be me up there, never thinking that could actually happen. And then fastforward just a few Music Midtowns to us playing there. It’s hard to put into words how crazy that is being a musician who grew up in Atlanta, hustling in the music scene as much as I could, playing gigs at barbecue restaurants where every 10 minutes the waiter or waitress comes over and asks you to play quieter. To go from that culture to playing a giant Music Midtown show is pretty crazy.
You guys played Music Midtown five years ago, right before your first major arena tour, and I remember you mentioned that was really exciting. This year, you’re headlining, which is even cooler.
The Music Midtown story continues. Now we get to headline Music Midtown in my hometown. I don’t know if I’ve wrapped my head around that yet. Being a hardworking young musician and trying to get any opportunity possible to play drums or music of any kind and going from that to headlining Music Midtown is going to be a really crazy emotion. I only wish my drum teacher Billy Dennis were still with us to come out and see it.
Does the rest of the band know of your affection for this festival?
Oh, yeah. I freaked out when we played it back in the day. It’s a really fun festival. I’ve invited my childhood friend, Dustin Chambers, who’s a fantastic photographer, to come out. Even (last time we played Music Midtown), he took some of my favorite photos of the band that’s ever been taken. It’s just such a big crowd and the park is so pretty. Maybe I’m biased because I love Atlanta, but those shots just look amazing, and when I see those photos, I’m just filled with emotion.
I heard a story that your uncle brought you to Music Midtown many, many years ago and that’s what influenced you to become a musician. Is that correct?
I definitely went unsupervised with my high school band when I went to Music Midtown, and it was a very big coming-of-age moment for me. I was a freshman in high school, I was 15 and with my band. We all went and were just feeling so enthused. It was a lot of firsts for me. It was the first time I saw someone in a band get recognized in the public area and have to run and throw guitar picks — it was the guitar player for Hoobastank — and he had to get out of there because he got made really fast and he wasn’t expecting to. I didn’t know that was culturally a thing, that people in the bands would be out in the public area with you — and how magical is that? I remember we left Music Midtown that night and were discussing how we wanted to take the band to the next level. It was very inspiring.
Have you talked to the band about doing anything special for this show?
I’ll probably bring that up closer to that time. I think we have a couple of things in our sights between now and then (laughs), which is probably good. If I was just sitting here focusing on the fact that we’re going to headline Music Midtown, I’d probably start to get nervous or something.
But you’ve headlined so many festivals and played to so many thousands of people.
There’s no show like a hometown show. This is the moment I was dreaming of in high school when I was telling people I wanted to be a musician. I didn’t say it, but you can’t help but dream maybe one day I can headline a festival and get all my friends in. How crazy is that that I’m now in a position to do that?