The Killers

It had to happen eventually. When you survey previous exports from the city of Las Vegas: an assortment of suspect hair metal bands; one-hit wonder Toni Basil; err… Andre Agassi… It was only ever a matter of time that a group would emerge from Sin City to wipe the slate ceremoniously clean, giving the inhabitants of that Nevadan outpost some fresh hope and an escape from their culturally underperforming past.

It’s evolution, see. The unique habitat in which our subjects developed, their native characteristics shaped by external factors (in this case Messrs. Morrissey, Bowie, Ocasek, Gallagher, Presley, Smith, Sumner, Corgan, Cocker, Byrne, Lennon, to name but a few…) would go towards creating a band so clearly the product of their environment and yet so perfectly adapted to becoming a truly dominant species in the world of pop. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you

The Killers:
Brandon Flowers – Vocals, Keyboards
David Keuning – Guitars
Mark Stoermer – Bass
Ronnie Vannucci – Drums

A Tale of Killers Past...
It was late 2002. Brandon Flowers (yes, it is his real name) had been dumped by his one previous group, a synth-pop outfit named Blush Response, when he refused to move with the rest of the band to L.A. Cruelly ditched, but inspired by seeing Oasis play (incredibly, the Brothers Grim had made it all the way to Vegas in one piece) he saw that his life needed more guitars. When he clocked Dave Keuning’s small ad in a local paper naming that band as an influence – and what with Oasis not exactly factoring in the pasty Vegas music scene – he took it as fate that they should be together. “He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn’t a complete freak”, remembers Dave, fondly. “He came over with his keyboard and we started going through song ideas straight away. I had the verse to “Mr Brightside” and he went away and wrote the chorus. That was the first song we wrote together and remains the only song that we’ve played at every single Killers show”.

So far so romantic, then. The early core of the band was cemented and their amazingly-previously-unused moniker appropriated from a New Order video. The premise of said promo was to represent the perfect band – with the greatest song as well as model good-looks and youth on their side - to represent Barney & Co. That band was called The Killers. “It gave me the ambition that our actual band should be as perfect as their fictional band,” says Flowers. And so began our heroes’ journey...

After trying out a couple of different bass players and drummers, Brandon and Dave met Ronnie Vannucci, a photographer at the Little Chapel of Flowers and student of classical percussion at UNLV, and Mark Stoermer, who was making ends meet as a medical courier (blood, urine, the odd body part – all glamour). In between these couldn’t-make-it-up day-jobs (Brandon, for the record, was a bellhop at the Gold Coast Hotel; whilst Dave garnered valuable training for his current all-the-ladies-love-an-axeman dilemmas whilst enjoying trysts with lady-shoppers at his Banana Republic job) the newly-complete Killers set to writing what we can assuredly state to be one of the most exciting debut albums you’ll have heard in a very, very long time.

Writing in 120 degree temperatures in the garage that became their rehearsal room provided a suitably intense hot-housing effect. And when they couldn’t get into the garage they’d use Ronnie’s spymaster knowledge to gain mid-night access to the facilities available at his University’s music school. “There was about 2000 sq ft of luxurious practice space complete with drum sets, marimbas, cymbals, pianos etc… So, for about a month or two we lugged a Marshall to sing out of, a Deville to play the axe through, a Bassman for the keyboard, a bass cabinet for Mark and I used the UNLV pep drum band set,” reminisces Ronnie. “Though I’d like to make clear that no instruments were mistreated during this time as we are, and continue to be, respectful, professional and, last but not least, resourceful musicians.”

It was during these pressurised sessions that The Killers began to live up to the expectations commanded by the roots of their name and wrote the bulk of the songs that were to comprise their debut album, the fittingly-titled Hot Fuss. Prolific writers, they were unearthing songs of jealousy and paranoia; tales about murderers, stalkers and Studio 54 AIDS victims; androgynous girlfriends and cuckolded boyfriends; and songs of ambition and the desire to rise above the everyday.

Word soon spread further afield about The Killers. The band came to the attention of London-based independent label Lizard King, and they made their way over to the UK for their first ever gigs outside of Las Vegas (for some of the band this was even the first time they’d needed a passport) and a limited edition release of “Mr Brightside” in September 2003. Those lucky enough to catch these first London shows came away pretty much unanimously enamoured (“A head-mashingly brilliant arsenal of tunes… Right now few bands are a safer bet than The Killers”, glowed NME), while the group’s subsequent appearance at New York industry fiesta CMJ in October saw a swarm-sized buzz surround the band and a worldwide (ex-UK) deal inked with Island Records.

From here, the boys set to work once more: touring the UK with British Sea Power; selling out their own headline shows, including a packed Valentines’ Day extravaganza at London’s ICA; playing with stellastarr** on a further support tour and, amidst all this, confidently self-producing their record, with final mixing expertise provided by the legendary Alan Moulder (U2, Smashing Pumpkins) and Mark Needham (Fleetwood Mac).

It wasn’t all plain sailing, of course – there were mishaps aplenty over the three months that the recording took. The band were rocked by an earthquake that propelled Ronnie from his drum stool during the recording of “Believe Me, Natalie”; they had to battle through fires in the Simi Valley to get to the studio to record “Change Your Mind” (which appears on the U.S version of the LP); oh, and they thought they were actually going to die when their plane hit an air pocket and started free-falling while on their way back to the UK for their gigs in December 03. But somehow they made it through, and here we are, with The Killers all set to release their debut album.

A Tale of Killers Present…
Hot Fuss features eleven nuggets of reel-you-in storytelling genius and musical nectar that belie the incredible truth that, when it’s released on June15th, chief songwriter and lyricist Brandon Flowers will still only be 22 years old. These eleven tracks span from the “very Vegas – like Ziggy came to town” first proper single release “Somebody Told Me” (which glided into the Top 30 in March 04); the aforementioned “Mr Brightside” - a tale of jealousy that depicts that moment in a relationship when you realise that your other half might be playing away and this thought takes up residence in your psyche feeding the worst fears and visualisations your imagination can then throw at you. You’ll find two-thirds of a murder trilogy (oh yes – don’t rule out the possibility of a future concept album) in “Midnight Show”, which starts off harking back to “Lipgloss” before veering into far darker territory than old Jarvis would ever have flirted with, in Pulp days at least, and “Jenny”. These two are connected by the story of a murder of a girl by her jealous boyfriend (“There was water involved,” says Brandon, cryptically, “although he didn’t drown her”). The first part of the trilogy, “Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf”, will, you can be sure, make an appearance at some point in the future. It’s a deliciously ambitious series that belies the band’s tender years, and they’ve already decided they’ll be calling on our favourite dark lord actor James Spader for the video…. Elsewhere, meanwhile: “On Top” celebrates where Brandon feels the band is at, while stalker’s tale “Andy You’re A Star" and “All These Things That I’ve Done,” a future smash hit if ever we heard one, saw Flowers realise his dream of using a gospel choir in their recordings. This choir – “Sweet Inspirations” - are best known for their work with Elvis Presley, Jimi Hendrix, and Aretha Franklin. “It was such an amazing experience working with the choir in the studio that we decided to incorporate one into special live shows, including the the Spin Magazine show [at SXSW 04]," says Brandon

“Hot Fuss” is, to sum up, a triumph. A triumph that will see the light of day concurrently in the UK on June 7th, and June 15th in the U.S. It will be accompanied by a major touring as well as a prestigious appearance at California’s Coachella festival and closely followed in the UK by an appearance at Glastonbury at the end of June.

And as for A Tale of Killers Future…? Well, whatever it may hold, you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s going to be a blast.

Few bands in the mid-2000s rose so quickly to the forefront of pop music as Las Vegas quartet the Killers. With a mix of '80s-styled synth pop and fashionista charm, the band's street-smart debut, Hot Fuss, became one of 2004's biggest releases, spawning four singles and catapulting the group -- particularly their dandyish, 22-year-old frontman, Brandon Flowers -- into the international spotlight. Hot Fuss reveled in the garish glitz of the band's native Las Vegas, spinning tales of androgynous girlfriends and illicit affairs to a public whose taste for revivalist dance-rock would prove to be virtually insatiable. Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, and the Bravery all benefited from such retro-minded interest, but the Killers unapologetically trumped them all -- even when their sophomore effort, Sam's Town, deemphasized the group's new wave sensibilities in favor of something more akin to the heartland rock of Bruce Springsteen and Rattle and Hum-era U2.

Brandon Flowers (vocals/keyboards), David Keuning (guitar), Mark Stoermer (bass), and Ronnie Vannucci (drums) first came together in 2002, two years before the stylish Hot Fuss introduced their band to the public. Flowers had been sacked by his former synth pop band, Blush Response, after refusing to move to Los Angeles alongside his bandmates. Instead, he remained in Las Vegas, where he soon met local guitarist and Oasis fanatic Keuning. The two began collaborating on material; within weeks, they had composed their soon-to-be radio hit "Mr. Brightside." Stoermer, a former medical courier, and Vannucci, a classical percussion major at UNLV, soon joined the fray, and the band began playing small clubs in their hometown. A U.K. representative for Warner Bros caught wind of the Killers' brewing hype, and although he neglected to bring them aboard the Warner roster, he did pass along their demo to London-based indie imprint Lizard King. The British label quickly signed the Killers, who temporarily moved to the U.K. and issued a limited-edition single for "Mr. Brightside." The Killers' buzz had effectively traveled back across the Atlantic by fall 2003, and the band was offered a prime spot at the annual CMJ Music Marathon in New York City. A worldwide deal with Island followed shortly thereafter, positioning the Killers to join the ranks of Interpol, the Rapture, and the Strokes.

Shared U.K. dates with British Sea Power and stellastarr* in summer 2004 gave the Killers the opportunity to showcase material from their debut album, Hot Fuss, which arrived in June. "Somebody Told Me," "Mr. Brightside," "Smile Like You Mean It," and "All These Things That I've Done" all became worldwide chart hits, and Hot Fuss peaked at number seven on the Billboard Top 200. Buoyed by such success, Flowers became a sought-after media presence, often lashing out at such groups as the Bravery for riding his band's coattails into the mainstream. The frontman's confidence was not unwarranted; by 2006, Hot Fuss had earned five Grammy nominations and sold over five million copies. Rather than take a break to recover from their relentless tour regime, the Killers immediately set to work on their sophomore effort. A newly built facility at the Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas became the band's studio, and legendary producers Flood and Alan Moulder (who had previously worked together with U2 and the Smashing Pumpkins) were chosen to helm the controls. Instead of mining the glamour and glitz of their hometown (as they did to successful extent on Hot Fuss), the group instead focused on nostalgia and the demise of old-fashioned American values, citing veteran songsmith Bruce Springsteen as a chief influence.

The popularity generated by leadoff single "When You Were Young" led up to the highly anticipated release of Sam's Town in early October 2006. While the album did not match the commercial popularity of the band's debut, it nevertheless sold 700,000 copies worldwide during its first week, eventually spawning three U.S. singles and gaining the Killers two additional Grammy nominations. Sawdust, a collection of B-sides, rarities, and remixes, was scheduled for a fall release the following year. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide