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The Weekly interview: The Moth & The Flame drummer Andrew Tolman

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LA-based The Moth & The Flame plays the Weekly’s Music Issue Showcase June 6 at Brooklyn Bowl.

You were the drummer for Imagine Dragons right before they blew up. Was it tough leaving that band at such a critical time? Yeah. My wife [Brittany Tolman] and I played in Imagine Dragons from the very beginning. I met Dan [Reynolds] early on back in Utah, and we all moved to Vegas and lived there for a few years. It was definitely a hard decision, because we’d grown close with all the members and we’d put a lot of work in. We’d done three different EPs. But my wife and I are the type of people that make decisions based off our gut feeling, and it didn’t feel like the right situation for us long-term. So we helped them find some replacements before we left. We had no idea that they would blow up so big so fast, but we’re really happy for them.

The Moth & The Flame opened for Imagine Dragons during last year’s European tour. What was that like traveling with them as part of a different band? It was amazing. I don’t think anyone would complain to go on tour across Europe playing sold-out shows everywhere for thousands of people. It was a really great growing experience for The Moth and & The Flame. It worked really well even though our music is a bit different.

A lot of people seem to mention Radiohead as a reference point for your band’s sound. What are your thoughts on that comparison? We definitely all grew up listening and loving Radiohead. We all feel like that’s a compliment as far as a comparison, but at the same time we definitely feel like we have our own thing going. We draw influences from lots of people, but we always try to make it our own.

The Moth & The Flame is a young band, but you’ve worked with a great roster of producers. How did that happen? Early in 2013 we signed with the label Hidden Records. It’s a new indie label—we’re the first band on it—and we were able to throw different names out. And we were really lucky with the people we ended up working with. We did the EP with Joey Waronker, who is the drummer for Beck and Atoms for Peace, and that worked out great. It was actually not too long after we finished that EP that we went and worked with Peter Katis, the Jonsi/National/Interpol guy. He had an awesome studio at his home in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and we actually just lived with him for six or seven weeks and recorded our upcoming LP. It was an amazing experience.

When will that album be out? We’re looking at releasing the LP later this year. We’re still figuring out specific details of dates and even who we’ll be releasing it with, but we’re all really excited about the product. We just want to make sure we do it the smartest way possible.

Since you used to be a local, what are your thoughts on Vegas’ music scene? The great thing about being a local band in Las Vegas is that you could play each night and be playing to new people, which is kind of difficult to do in most scenes. If you play a show to your home crowd, you can’t really ask them to come to a show the next day. But when I was in Vegas, we felt like we were able to capitalize on that a bit—just playing lots of shows and honing in on the performance aspects of the band.

What is it like coming back to Las Vegas now? Las Vegas is always changing. Last time I was there I was so surprised with how much the Downtown area had changed. It seemed like the Downtown Project kind of appeared out of nowhere really quickly. That was really cool to see. Playing Downtown with Imagine Dragons, they were fun shows, but it was definitely a dirty part of town. It felt like you might get stabbed at any moment. But it doesn’t feel like that anymore. It’s a lot of fun.

The Moth & The Flame at Las Vegas Weekly’s Music Issue Showcase June 6, 7 p.m., free. Brooklyn Bowl, RSVP at lasvegasweekly.com/musicissue

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