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