Rising rock band Imagine Dragons trying to be a 'positive force'

"He had his first guitar when he was 12, and he took lessons from a really good teacher," she said. "He had a high school band. He plays the cello, the mandolin. He can pick up anything and play it. He's just a gifted kid.

"Our whole family is kind of musical. We used to play for the concerts in the park. We have a violinist, a bass guitar player, a bass drum player."

When Wayne Sermon went to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, he met McKee and Platzman. They proposed "dropping out" and starting a band. From there, they got together in Las Vegas with Reynolds and began making music.

Fortunately, according to Sermon, it's a good time to make music that doesn't fit into the standard slots.

"Now there's only good music and bad music," he said. "The lines are getting blurred. The barriers are dropping. I think it's a good thing."

"A lot of this was luck because the music industry is a very hard industry to get into," Debbie Sermon said. "We're very supportive. He loves it. I love it."

Reynolds says no one in the band could have predicted the reaction they've received.

"It's a bit dreamlike for us," Reynolds said. "Anytime you tell someone you want to be a musician they usually react as though you say you want to be in the NFL or win the lottery — many try, and many fail. We are extremely grateful and just count ourselves as lucky to be noticed. It's a great feeling to know that all the hard work and long years on the road are paying off.

"Music is all I know and all I've ever wanted to do. From the age 13 I was writing music on my little old computer through a program called 'Cakewalk.' It was my release from the world. I felt that it took me to places that I couldn't go any other way. It still does."

Email: haddoc@desnews.com