Why Daniel Platzman of Imagine Dragons split with Las Vegas rock band

Daniel Platzman’s new single is called “Cloud Nine.”

For a long time, the adventurous musician seemed to live there.

Platzman was soaring as the drummer behind Vegas-born rock band Imagine Dragons, forming a fierce rhythm section with bassist Ben McKee. The Berklee College of Music-educated artist joined Imagine Dragons in 2011, just before the band signed with major label Interscope Records.

Platzman surfed the band’s worldwide success through the 2022 hit album, “Night Visions.” Then he simply slipped away, dropping from the band’s South American leg of the “Mercury Tour” in March 2023.

Platzman was noticeably absent from that month’s Tyler Robinson Foundation event at Resorts World. No explanation was offered.

But in his decision, Platzman has reached his own sky-high designs.

‘Incredible journey’ ends

Platzman finally, formally left the band with an announcement this past August, stating he was going solo “after an incredible journey of over a decade, I will be departing the amazing band that is Imagine Dragons.” He expressed his “deepest gratitude to the band’s fans.”

Andrew Tolman, the band’s original drummer, returned behind the kit. But officially, Imagine Dragons is today a trio of vocalist/front man Dan Reynolds, guitar master Wayne Sermon and McKee. They are credited on the band’s latest release, the inspired “Loom.”

Just before his former band headlined at the Hollywood Bowl last November, I asked Platzman, “What the heck happened?’

“I had the privilege of getting to tour the world and play for huge crowds of super supportive fans,” the 38-year-old performer said. “But my first passion was always film scoring and composing. That’s what I went to Berklee for.”

Platzman said the communication about the split was “a hard, emotional” series of conversations with his bandmates. Trained in several instruments outside of percussion (keys, trumpet and bass among them) the multi-instrumentalist was moving to his solo career by the spring of 2023, though nothing had been announced. The band has not discussed their former drummer publicly throughout the process. A rep politely declined to comment for this column.

“We all came from a place of supporting each other as artists, and I think they understood,” Platzman said. “The band has been super supportive, and everyone wants to feel creatively fulfilled.”

A solo focus

Platzman has already furnished music to the 2017 dark comedy “Best F(r)iends,” while still with Imagine Dragons. Conceivably, he could have continued to work on side projects while still touring and recording with the band.

“I really wanted both to work, but ultimately, there’s just not enough time to really do both fully,” Platzman said. “That’s kind of why I took so long to ultimately make this decision. But, you know, Imagine Dragons is a full-time incredible opportunity, and there just wasn’t enough time to also pursue film scoring, composing on the level that I want to get to.”

Platzman has been working with filmmaker-actor-model-author Greg Sestero, who played Mark in the widely panned crappy/campy cult film “The Room.” Sestero followed with the nonfiction book, “The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made.”

Platzman otherwise promises “a new year full of film scores,” including an upcoming documentary, details under wraps. He posts fanciful videos teasing his latest projects and unleashing unusual time signatures under PLATZ BEATS on his X feed.

We see Platzman as “Mr. Groove,” and “groovin’ in style” (his terms) while wearing a sequined purple jacket, wraparound shades and Weird Al Yankovic T-shirt. (Platzman is a big Weird Al fan, incidentally, proud that the parody master once flayed Imagine Dragons’ anthemic “Radioactive” with “Inactive.”)

In a cat/astronaut suit

This career tack might not be as powerful as playing to a packed Allegiant Stadium, or soaring with the Las Vegas Film Orchestra at Hollywood Bowl. But this drummer marches to his own beat.

In the video for “Cloud Nine,” Platzman portrays a robotic cat, donning an astronaut suit and gliding in orbit. A revealing line, “I’m not backing down, ‘cause never before have I felt so alive, so uncovered. I know you can’t see that same gloomy person anymore, ‘cause I found the door.”

The piece is a catchy work of art.

“I have built an amazing recording studio and that has just become my happy place and where I feel like I’m being true to my dharma,” Platzman said, invoking Buddhism’s path of rightness. “Ultimately, there was something missing for me. Artists are complicated creatures. I love my evolution as an artist, and as a songwriter and producer and all those things, but I just wasn’t giving myself a chance to do that. I just decided it was time.”

Cool Hang Alert

“Emo Night Tour” takes over 24 Oxford at Virgin Hotel at 8 p.m. Saturday. Billed as “The World’s Best Emo Party,” the show is (as an online reviewer reports), “An Emo DJ set where they just play Emo banger after Emo banger to really pump up the crowd and get people dancing.” That’s a lotta Emo, and a lotta grooving. Go to virginhotelslv.com for intel.

The method behind the madness of Cloud Nine. Full music video out now pic.twitter.com/4fcWeysked

— Daniel Platzman (@DanielPlatzman) January 5, 2025

John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.