Imagine Dragons’ Dan Reynolds Responds to Serj Tankian

Last year, the leader of the System of a Down Serj Tankian He publicly asked the Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons to cancel a concert scheduled in Azerbaijan, citing that country’s ethnic cleansing campaign against Armenians.

Imagine Dragons ignored Tankian’s request and performed at that show, and Tankian recently expressed his disapproval of the band: “I don’t know what to say about these artists. I don’t respect them as human beings. Fuck their art, they’re not good human beings, as far as I’m concerned.” Now, the frontman Dan Reynolds he addressed these issues in an interview with Rolling Stone released on the occasion of the release of the new album “Loom” (read the review here).

Speaking about the live shows in Azerbaijan and another performance last August in Israel Dan Reynolds said:

“I don’t think we should be depriving our fans who want to see us play because of the actions of their leaders and their governments. I think that’s a really slippery slope. I think the moment you start doing that, there are corrupt, warmongering leaders all over the world, and where do you draw the line?”

When Rolling Stone interviewer Andy Greene recalled Serj Tankian’s comments, Reynolds simply reiterated his position: “Again, it’s a slippery slope, and I will never deprive our fans of playing for them.”

Reynolds also said only a few words about the recent decision of the longtime Imagine Dragons drummer, Daniel Platzmanto take an indefinite hiatus from the group: “He doesn’t play on the record and I can’t talk about it.”

Dan Reynolds was raised Mormon and in this Rolling Stone interview he talks about his relatively recent decision to leave the church:

“I grew up praying and asking for forgiveness and guidance every day. That’s what you do at the end of the day as a Mormon kid. You say to yourself, ‘Dear God, these are the things I did wrong today. I’m so sorry. Please forgive me. These are the things I’m trying to accomplish. Please help me. I’m grateful for these things.'” He continued, “That led to me never feeling adequate. I always felt like I had something to forgive and wondered if God had forgiven me. Because of that, I struggled a lot with self-love. So, later in life, I had to learn that that’s not a real concept for me, and it wasn’t even healthy for me. I had to learn to listen to my own voice and be my own God, or at least find God in myself or in the universe in some way.”

Dan Reynolds was married to Nico Vega singer Aja Volkman for 13 years and they had four children together. The two divorced last year and Reynolds is now dating the actress Minka Kelly. In the interview with Rolling Stone, Reynolds talks about it while talking about the lyrics of one of his recent songs “Nice To Meet You“, which features Kelly:

“I was dating someone new. When you date someone, you’re kind of dating their friends and family. I’m in a very different place in my life now. I got married at 22 and I was still Mormon at the time, so I never dated growing up. That was a new thing to learn in my life, because obviously I have a weird life now and so people are going to have a lot of weird preconceptions about who I am or who I’m not. So that song was about dating someone and their friends were like, ‘Hey, you shouldn’t date someone who’s a musician for XYZ reasons.’ Which are all valid reasons. It’s just about giving love a chance, giving someone a chance, and putting your preconceptions aside.”