Changing a successful formula can be risky, but bassist Ben McKee has form when it comes to taking chances. McKee was months away from graduating from Berklee College of Music when Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds called with an offer that meant leaving Boston, abandoning his degree and heading to Las Vegas.
“I was just months away from getting my degree when Daniel called me,” said McKee in the March 2015 issue of Bass Player. “He just asked if I wanted to join a band in Vegas with him.
“I went to Berklee planning to be a jazz virtuoso. It was really what I wanted to do: take crazy solos and play chords on the bass. But there was an attitude there, a competitive vibe that everybody had, where it seemed like people weren’t really making music to entertain people, they were doing it to show off their skills and prove that they were better than the other people at that school.
“So I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to at Berklee. I found myself in a jazz class where everyone was out to prove they were the best.
“I was one semester away from graduating, and our guitarist Wayne had graduated the semester before and called me to say that he had met our singer, Dan, and that they’d started making music with some promise.
“They were going to head out to Las Vegas and try and make it a career, and I was at a point where I was working hard to get this degree that wasn’t going to help me get the career that I wanted. I didn’t want to teach music.
“I knew Daniel wasn’t a guy to make frivolous decisions. So when he called, based on his word, I immediately took off for Vegas.”
The move paid off more than he could have imagined. On the strength of their platinum selling debut, McKee and his alternative four-piece toured the world and were recruited by Hans Zimmer and Steve Jablonsky to score Transformers: Age of Extinction.
You met some of the other members of Imagine Dragons at Berklee, correct?
Our guitarist, Wayne Sermon, and our drummer Daniel Platzman, were both at Berklee with me: we played in a fusion ensemble together called the Eclectic Electrics, It was five electric guitarists, bass and drums, and we would do Bill Evans piano solos arranged for guitars, or horn tracks from Miles Davis’s Birth Of The Cool. We did that for three years at school: it wasn't something that we needed for credits, it was just a treat that we gave ourselves.
What did it cost to study at Berklee?
Berklee is an expensive school. I don’t know what it costs now, but back then I think a semester cost between $30,000 and $40,000, if you didn’t get any scholarships. It was a lot, and you can be there for four years. I was there for three and a half: fortunately, there were a lot of opportunities for scholarships.
Was it worth it?
I wouldn't be where I am now if it wasn’t for that school, although it kind of turned me off jazz. I started taking classes on the music of Joni Mitchell, and the music of the Beatles, and the music of Laurel Canyon – all those amazing composers like Warren Zevon and Stravinsky. I really got connected to songwriting, and learning about music that people who aren’t necessarily musicians can relate to.
Did you study technique?
There was a long period of time when I would just lock myself in my room. I was practising bass for no less than nine hours a day: not working on particularly interesting music, just on techniques. I used to play different patterns around a metronome, and work on classical études. There was a lot of three-fingered technique. It’s useful for jazz solos, so I really worked hard on that.
Presumably Imagine Dragons would still have become successful without advanced bass chops on your part?
Exactly! Although if you look at some of our early, early stuff, there were some jam-out, extended solo bass and keyboard moments. This was well before anyone was remotely interested in putting our music up on Youtube, so I think that stuff is pretty impossible to find at this point.
We’ve definitely grown and evolved a lot as a band: the place where we all thrive is when we come together and focus on creating songs that people can get behind and sing and rock out to. The albums are really about an experience that you can sing along with, like the albums that we grew up with.
Who were your influences?
Some of the first bass players that I admired were Ray Brown and Paul Chambers. Ray Brown is the definition of solid time. I used to listen to him with the Oscar Peterson Trio all the time: for about 12 years all I listened to was instrumental jazz from before 1975. I was a big, big nerd.
I got into the fusion stuff for a while too – the Yellowjackets and Shakti and all that amazing stuff. Victor Wooten was another idol of mine: I spent a long time working out his double thumbing technique. Mike Dirnt was a big influence too, and James Jamerson, and Pino Palladino was huge for me. I went through my Jaco phase, as everybody does. But Paul McCartney, James Jamerson and Pino are the three bass guitarists that I try to channel stylistically when I'm playing.
Any tips on retaining sanity while touring?
Find balance, which will help you to find energy when you’re at your darkest and most depressed and you need to get off the tour bus and play. Go into town: walk about a bit, it’ll brighten your mood. There are lots of experiences to have on the road... it’s all about what you make of them!
