LOVELOUD: TRUE BELIEVERS

Seven years ago, in what would become the HBO documentary film Believer, director Don Argott cinematically began capturing two transformational experiences in real time.

The first was a personal one. He documents the rebirth of Imagine Dragons front man Dan Reynolds, a previously devout Mormon questioning his faith. Through the camera’s lens, we see Reynolds’ heart and head locked in combat. The Book of Mormon, which he had read from childhood, had taught him to believe that homosexuality was directly against God’s will.

Now, at 30, Reynolds’ heart had grown larger than the narrow confines of Joseph Smith’s doctrine. In the film’s most emotional scene, Reynolds is shown placing a call to his friend and fellow musician Tyler Glenn, lead singer of Neon Trees, who had also been raised in the church of Latter-day Saints. The difference between them was that Reynolds is straight and Glenn is gay. Reynolds knew that Glenn had grown up in loneliness and self-loathing because the LDS doctrine made him believe he was a sinner within his family and community.

The second transformative event caught on film by Argott’s camera was the birth of a music festival, LOVELOUD. That first concert, celebrating the commonality of love expressed in straight and LGBTQ+ communities, was staged in the small Mormon city of Orem, Utah, after the organizers were denied permits for concert venues in Salt Lake City and Provo.

Here’s the phone call from the film Believer that began it all:

Dan Reynolds: I feel like I should have made this call two years ago. You know, I’ve watched you over the last couple years. And I’ve watched you just go through this. And I’ve been like, a really shitty bystander, honestly. And so I guess first I just want to… apologize, because I feel like, I don’t know how many other people you can relate to in this industry that are Mormon and have to feel conflicted about all these things…

Tyler Glenn: That really means a lot. Thank you. Wow.

Reynolds: But the question I want to ask you is what now? Like, what can I do? I had this little idea in my head, and tell me if it’s stupid. What if we put on a big event. Me, you, some [other] people can come together and be inclusive of everybody and tell them all this needs to change. You know and I know we can’t force the church to change it. But maybe we can by raising more awareness and making more Mormons in their heart feel like this isn’t right.

Glenn: Dude, I’m down. Absolutely. Let’s do it.

The documentary follows Reynolds’ little idea struggling to take shape, even as it shows the intense pushback Reynolds and Glenn received from trying to mount a gay and straight festival in Utah. That first concert happened on a wing and a prayer, but six more have now followed, including two last year for the first time outside of Utah, in Austin and Washington, D.C.

Besides Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees, as well as Reynolds and Glenn solo, LOVELOUD lineups have included Mike Shinoda, Grace VanderWaal, GROUPLOVE, Tegan and Sara, Kesha, Victoria Monét, Lindsey Stirling and WILLOW. There will be an intimate LOVELOUD event in Chicago for Pride, with possibly more to be announced later in 2024. Check loveloudfest.com for updates.

HITS spoke with Reynolds (as he was preparing to embark on Imagine Dragons’ Loom world tour next month), Glenn (on the road this summer with 311 and AWOLNATION) and LOVELOUD’s executive director, Clarissa Savage.

Dan, You’re a straight man who has embraced this cause as your own. Can you talk about how that came about?

Reynolds: I really feel like my life has been a path of least resistance. That is just the way I live. From a young age, I had a lot of friends who were gay and religious, particularly Mormon. And Mormons kind of all stick together in the culture. I also was in the arts community and drama. So, I was around a lot of different people from a young age and seeing that those groups were at odds. I’ve never seen someone be gay and Mormon and for it to seem healthy in any way, because their doctrine says God is telling them that they are flawed, and then they’re expected to flourish in the world and have a great life. It was just continually unsettling and upsetting for me. I had a friend in high school that took his life in front of the Mormon temple, because he just could not come to terms with this church he was attending, and he desperately wanted to believe it. It just was heartbreaking.

Tyler, there’s that incredible moment in Believer where Dan calls you.

Glenn: For the beginning of it, it was genuinely just an apology. And I was really taken aback. You know, anytime you’re seen by someone, it’s a great feeling, right? But to be seen by someone that maybe you didn’t think cared about you, or maybe had moved on from it, was genuinely a great feeling. And that, coupled with him wanting to do something about the things he was feeling, and the platform he had… He’s part of quite possibly the biggest rock band of the last decade.

Clarissa, you also grew up in the Mormon Church. You have a background in music too, right?

Clarissa Savage: I had a goal when I was 21, that I would work in the music industry. But I would work in the music industry because music saved me, and I wanted to save other people.

Dan, that sounds like something I’ve heard you say.

Reynolds: There’s something about music that brings people together, unites them. It quells their fears, speaks the ultimate language that is so much more powerful than any spoken word. With LOVELOUD, I have watched hardened people come into the show who are very resistant to being there. They had never been at anything even slightly gay in any way, and they’ll listen with their arms folded. And then they’ll hear something, and you will just see all their walls come down and understanding dawn. I’ve just seen it so many times now for so many years.

Clarissa, like Dan, you are not personally part of the LGBTQ+ community, so how did you become LOVELOUD’s executive director?

Savage: When I heard about Dan and LOVELOUD, I felt, in my soul, that I knew it was the next step for me. At first, I was helping behind the scenes, because this is really important to me. It is important to my community that I was raised in. And it just sort of fell into place. I was there at the first LOVELOUD, unofficially working. After it was done, I remember thinking, I don’t know how, but this is my job. This is what I’m doing. I know it in my gut.

Tyler, before you came out publicly (in a 2014 Rolling Stone interview), what was your experience of surviving in the closet? Did you learn to compartmentalize and even outright lie?

Glenn: Oh, my God, yes! And about the dumbest, most insignificant mistakes. At the end, it’s also a merging of that double life and you’re like, Okay, well now I have be accountable. It took a while to not hide things anymore and just face that future within the walls of the LDS church. I realize so many people that are Mormon are beautiful and brought up to be considerate, kind, neighborly people, so I really put the focus of my disdain on more of the LDS in my 20s, just trying to exist and be a good kid and not disappoint my parents, but also now not disappoint an audience that had gotten to know us in a certain way.

I finally got reacquainted with those questions, and in the span of a weekend, it blew up my face. I realized there were so many other people struggling that I hadn’t allowed myself to get to know, and it was shedding the shame. It made me so mad that I had wasted so much of my everyday life just feeling like shit because I couldn’t measure up. And I’d convinced myself, well, if I leave the church, it’s my fault. It felt so good to realize, Wait, I don’t have to feel like this—it’s made up. I channeled a lot of my anger and frustration into a solo record [2016’s Excommunication]. Dan really started to pay attention to that—the angry side. Clearly, he’s a straight man. He’s an ally. He’ll be the first to say, “I’m doing this because I love my LGBT friends and family,” and he is an amazing ally in that way.

Dan, as a straight man, do you think you’re able to help pull people in who can’t understand it, who can’t empathize with it, in a way that gives you more credibility than I would have as a gay man trying to make the same case?

Reynolds: I think that in order to reach everyone, you need all hands on deck. I do think there are some people who are reached by someone who is in their same sense of community culture. Someone who is Mormon is going to be more apt to listen to someone who is also Mormon. Someone who’s straight, I think, is more apt to listen to somebody who is straight. Sadly, that’s just part of life sometimes. And so you need everybody, always, anytime there is injustice. It’s complex, it’s a puzzle. And there’s a lot of pieces that go into fixing injustices. I think that my only goal is to just be a small puzzle piece.

Dan, I wonder if you think this particular year gives you a greater opportunity to pull in other allies because of a new sense of urgency? Clarence Thomas said that he wants to send gay marriage back to the states.

Reynolds: I saw that. What’s happening right now is almost like we want to go back in time 50 years on things. I think you make a good point. Because of 2024, this is a greater time than ever to maybe grab allies and get them to come to the table. I think that one thing we have found with LOVELOUD, without putting anybody on blast or naming names or shaming anybody, but when it comes to someone’s career and even things that seem to be very obvious, like equality, people get scared. They just get scared. We have had a lot of artists that we’ve reached out to say, “This is such a great cause and I love it and I believe it wholeheartedly, but I just can’t do it because of my career.” But I think anytime you’re making a decision out of fear, it’s always incorrect. And art will prevail if the art is great. I think that you might lose some fans, but you’re going to gain some fans too. I don’t think it kills careers to stand up for what you believe in.