DETROIT SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
PRESENTS
te.
part of it was meeting like-minded musi-
cians.
"I loved talking music with other peo-
ple he says. "I finally felt like I was with
other music nerds like me"
It was there that he met McKee and
Sermon — "my randomly assigned
roommate," Platzman says — and the
trio played in a jazz infusion ensemble.
Losing touch after college, Sermon joined
a band that soon needed to replace two
members, and he immediately thought
of his college buddies, who headed to the
band's base in Las Vegas.
After four years of playing bars with
fewer people in the audience than on
the stage and six-hour sets at casinos,
Imagine Dragons (the name is an ana-
gram which no one but the band mem-
bers know) began receiving local acco-
lades. In 2010, the frontman of the band
Train became sick, and Imagine Dragons
was brought in to replace them at a
local festival, playing in front of 26,000
new fans. They signed a contract with
Interscope Records and released their
debut album, Night Visions.
Combining fist-pumping rock with
electronic dance music and tinged with
elements of hip-hop, the album went
double-platinum, and its second single,
Grammy-winning "Radioactive" was
the most-streamed song on Spotify in
the U.S. in 2013. The band also won a
Grammy for Best Performance.
This past February, Imagine Dragons
followed up with Smoke + Mirrors, which
went straight to No. 1 in its first week. The
album is sharply crafted, artful, visceral
and rhythm-driven, more of an evolution
of their style than a departure. "We're
changing, getting older" Platzman says.
"We are trying to stay true to ourselves."
Fans of the band may not know of the
precision and musicianship that go into
the making of the music, but they do
know the songs are not easily pegged.
For the song "I Bet My Life" for example,
Reynolds told Billboard, "We brought in a
gospel choir and we sampled them. They
had some really cool riffs, so we cut it up
and sampled it and put it to a hip-hop
beat. And then there's an electric guitar
that's reverbed out, some weird cowboy
guitar we put in on the verses, a big blue-
sy solo on the electric guitar on the end"
Even while recording and touring with
Imagine Dragons, Platzman still likes
to keep his fingers in the film-scoring
pot: Last year, he received his first major
film credit in Transformers: The Age of
Extinction, and got to jam with compos-
ers Steve Jablonsky and Hans Zimmer.
"Steve told me that Michael Bay was
really into the sound of my 'ratty viola:"
Platzman says. "Working in a control
room with Steve was a dream come true"
Not that he's complaining about his day
job. "I never expected all of this — I was
never aiming for a career as a profession-
al drummer," he says. "The opportunity
found me. There's so much luck involved.
"I get to travel the world and play
original music to sold-out crowds. It's an
amazing experience. Every time is the
best experience ever, and it keeps getting
better" Platzman says.
"I'm working in music and movies.
Throw food in there, and that's all I
need:'
VNEIGHBORHOOD
CONCERT SERIES
OSSIBLE BY THE WILLIAM DAVIDSON FOUNDATION
THE DSO COMES TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!
Dvofak & Grieg
Marcelo Lehninger, conductor
Andrew von Oeyen, piano
as,
Beethoven Coriolan Overture
G
Piano Concerto in A minor
Dvofak Symphony No. 8
In Southfield
Thurs., June 25 at 7:30 p.m.
at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
27375 Bell Road
In Macomb
Fri., June 26 at 8 p.m.
at Macomb Center for
the Performing Arts
44575 Garfield Road
In Clarkston
Sat., June 27 at 8 p.m.
at Clarkston High School
Performing Arts Center
6093 Flemings Lake Road
In Beverly Hills
Sun., June 28 at 3 p.m.
at Seligman Performing Arts
Center, 22305 W. 13 Mile Road
PURCHASE TICKETS TODAY!
DSO.ORG/NEIGHBORHOOD OR 313.576.5111 1960900
RESTAURANT
❑
Mediterranean Persian Cuisine
30005 Orchard Lake Road
Farmington Hills
41,111.. 11,1t
-, I ......
(North of 13 Mile)
www.pars1 resturant.com
248.851.8200
Pars Mediterranean Restaurant
20% Off
Total Food Bill
Exp. 09.09.15
Hours:
Mon-Thur
11 am-10pm
Fri & Sat
11am-11pm
Sunday
11 am-9pm
Pars Mediterranean Restaurant
Buy One Entrée
Get 2nd Entrée
1/2 Off
Exp. 09.09.15
2004900
Platzman in 2013
JN
June 18 • 2015
33