Whereas it’s solely pure for a band to harbor excessive hopes for his or her early choices, the success of Think about Dragons’ debut album, Evening Visions, exceeded its creators’ wildest desires. Launched by way of Interscope/KIDinaKORNER on September 4, 2012, the album seemingly got here from nowhere to peak at No.2 on the Billboard 200, whereas its multi-million-selling signature hit, “Radioactive,” set the band on the right track for superstardom.
The statistics are astounding, however they solely inform a small a part of the story, for Evening Visions’ runaway success was not at all a given. Certainly, the Las Vegas-based quartet had initially scrambled for all the eye they may get following the discharge of their independently-issued, self-titled debut EP in September 2009. A prolonged bout of dues-paying ensued, with Think about Dragons taking part in each Vegas nightspot that will have them. The venues included Mandalay Bay and the well-known Caesars Palace, however glitz and glamour have been not often on the agenda.
‘The slot machines were louder than the speakers they gave us’
“We’d play in front of these blackjack dealers in bikinis and dudes just sitting at slot machines,” frontman Dan Reynolds informed Rolling Stone in 2013. “The ding-ding-ding from the slot machines was louder than the tiny speakers they gave us. We would do four nights a week and they’d give us $400 for the six hours. It gave us enough money to pay rent and eat Top Ramen or Taco Bell.”
Nevertheless, in the identical manner that the grind of taking part in sleazy Hamburg bars sharpened up The Beatles, these subsistence-level gigs laid the groundwork for Think about Dragons’ subsequent success. Key tracks from Evening Visions such because the mandolin-flecked “It’s Time” and the anthemic “Amsterdam” first appeared within the band’s setlist throughout this era, alongside their crowd-pleasing covers of classics by The Rolling Stones, The Automobiles, and The Remedy.
With their artistic juices flowing, the band’s fortunes improved after they received over an enormous crowd at Chunk Of Las Vegas Pageant. Additional self-released EPs adopted, and the band ultimately brokered a cope with Interscope Information in 2011. The Nevadan quartet’s barely quirky nature and their atypical utilization of surprising percussive parts, resembling the huge Japanese taiko drum featured on “Radioactive,” additionally endeared them to their new co-producer, Alexander Grant (aka Alex Da Child), who has additionally lower hits with Eminem and Nicki Minaj.
‘We’ve at all times been a rhythmic rock band’
“We bonded over rhythm and of course they were great live too,” Grant informed Rolling Stone in 2013. In the identical interview, Dan Reynolds added, “We’ve always been a rhythmic rock band. I grew up listening to a lot of hip-hop in the 90s, such as Tupac and Biggie Smalls. That finds its way into the music.”
Reynolds wasn’t kidding. Evening Visions – which the band crafted slowly with assist from Grant and co-producer Brendan Darner – was each compelling and refreshingly eclectic. Think about Dragons have been desirous to show their versatility on smoldering, guitar-driven rockers “Hear Me,” “Tiptoe” and “Amsterdam”; poppy, synth-flecked flare (“On Top Of The World”) and tracks which benefitted from Grant’s hip-hop stylings, resembling “It’s Time” and the vivid “Radioactive.”
“Alex really helped with [‘Radioactive’], it has a dubstep vibe to it,” Dan Reynolds later revealed to Rolling Stone. “That’s basically a song about my struggle with anxiety and depression. It’s about becoming self-empowered and rising above that.”
The track’s common attraction – and killer refrain – enabled “Radioactive” to develop into Evening Visions’ essential breakout observe. A sleeper hit when first launched on October 29, 2012, it will definitely peaked at No.3 on the Billboard 100 and remained on the chart for a exceptional 87 weeks, transferring nearly 9 million copies within the course of.
‘It’s precisely what we’ve been ready for’
In its wake, one other of the album’s key tracks, the craving “Demons,” additionally cracked the US Prime 10. A rollercoaster world tour adopted and, when Evening Visions received Billboard Music’s prestigious Prime Rock Album Award for 2014, this unassuming Nevadan quartet formally joined rock’s massive league.
“It’s exactly what we’ve been waiting for,” guitarist Wayne Sermon informed Rolling Stone on the time. “But if we had this success in our first year, as some bands do, we wouldn’t have survived. We weren’t close enough. To get here, we needed those thousands of hours playing to five, 20, 50 people, trying to win them over every night!”
Store for Think about Dragons’s music on vinyl or CD now.
