Imagine Dragons took a few minutes during their
2014 Billboard Music Awards rehearsal to talk about the band’s steady
growth, the monster success of single “Radioactive” and the progress of
their second full-length album.
“We took a house here in Vegas, cleared it, renovated it and turned it
into a studio,” Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds tells Billboard.
“It was like a dream for us, because some of these guys are big-time
gear heads. We’re recording the album in that studio here in Las Vegas.”
Reynolds says many of the new songs were written over the past
two-and-a-half years while while Imagine Dragons were touring behind its
debut album, “Night Visions.”
“There are a lot of road songs and all the emotions that come with
that,” he says. “I think it will be a special record because it really
encapsulated the whole process of going from being a small nothing band
to actually playing arenas. There are a lot of interesting things that
go on between that. We’re excited with how it’s turning out.”
Imagine Dragons, who along with Lorde lead the pack of artists who are
finalists in the most 2014 Billboard Music Awards categories, are in
contention for a whopping 12 BBMAs, including top artist, top duo/group,
top rock artist and top rock album. The quartet burned up the charts in
2013 with its album "Night Visions" and its many hit singles, including
"Radioactive," which broke the record for the most weeks ever on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart.
“I don’t think any of us expected it to have any life like that,”
Reynolds says of the song. “It just kept going. Playing live, honestly,
we didn’t burn out on it because … we don’t really listen to our music
unless we’re on a stage playing it. If you do that, it keeps it fresh
for you. Maybe in 20 years I’ll be telling you we’re very tired of
playing that song, but right now … we have good memories associated with
it.”
Reynolds also discussed writing the new song “Battle Cry” for the
upcoming film “Transformers: Age of Extinction,” due in theaters June
27.
“They reached out and asked if we wanted to do something with
(composers) Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky, who are two of our all-time
favorites — they’re legends,” he says. “It’s incredible to work with
them. We all grew up watching the ‘Transformers’ cartoon, it was part of
our youth, we’re children of the ‘80s.”
Watch the 2014 Billboard Music Awards May 18 at 8/7c on ABC live from
the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas as host Ludacris welcomes the
biggest names in music to the stage.
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