Inspiration has never eluded Las Ve' The Killers, and it's a
damn good thing it hasn't, because their 2008 record, their third
studio album entitled Day & Age, is full of their finest songs to
date. Together with bassist Mark Stoermer, guitarist Dave
Keuning, and drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Flowers helped to mold the
album into ten songs that work best together as a whole, each
individually describing an evolution of the Las Ve band's
sound. "We're always pushing ourselves," says Stoermer, "and
there's a lot of diversity here-from anthemic rock to dance
songs." Flowers adds: "We felt like Sam's Town was a continuation
of Hot Fuss, and we feel like this is a continuation of Sam's
Town.'
About the Artist
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Inspiration has never eluded Las Ve' The Killers,
and it's a damn good thing it hasn't, because their newest
record, their third studio album entitled Day & Age, is full of
their finest songs to date. "I think about moments when we were
coming up with 'When You Were Young,' or, in this case,
'Spaceman,'" Flowers says. "If we'd decided at that moment,
'Let's go to the park,' they might not have happened. It's y.
It almost makes me not want to stop because I could be missing
out on these wonderful songs. They're out there for the
taking--you've just got to grab them."
Together with bassist Mark Stoermer, guitarist Dave Keuning, and
drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Flowers helped to mold the album into 10
songs that work best together as a whole, each individually
describing an evolution of the Las Ve band's sound. "We're
always pushing ourselves," says Stoermer, "and there's a lot of
diversity here--from anthemic rock to dance songs." Flowers adds:
"We felt like Sam's Town was a continuation of Hot Fuss, and we
feel like this is a continuation of Sam's Town. But at the same
time, Day and Age is totally different from both of them, while
still sounding like us. It's kind of looking at Sam's Town from
Mars."
Those familiar with the band's oeuvre will recognize their
signature in the synth-heavy "Human," four minutes of sweeping,
epic rock, on which Flowers sings: "My sign is vital/ My hands
are cold/ And I'm on knees, looking for the answer/ Are we human,
or are we dancer?" He says the lyrics were inspired by a
disparaging comment made by Hunter S. Thompson about how America
was raising a generation of dancers. But the song also had some
help from album producer Stuart Price (aka Jacques LuCont), known
for his work with Madonna and Missy Elliot, and who'd previously
remixed "Mr. Brightside." "He was the icing on the cake," says
Stoermer.
"We had just put 'Human' together, and we wound up shooting over
to his house after dinner [in London]," Flowers recalls of his
first time in the studio with Price. "A few hours later, we had
something very close to what you hear now. I was on cloud nine."
He continues: "When we walked into his flat, the first thing I
saw was picture of the cover of The Man Who Sold the World, and
further down the stairs there was a picture of Eno in his Roxy
Music days. I just kind of felt that we'd found our man."
That he'd find comfort in the signifiers of those artists
shouldn't come as a surprise: The band's made no secret of their
admiration for both art-rock and stadium giants (collaborating
with the likes of Lou Reed, who guested on "Tranquilize," a
single from Sawdust, 2007's collection of B-sides, rarities, and
new songs). Formed in Las Ve in 2002, the band belongs to the
lineage of high-energy rock bands that manage to be both
commercially successful and critically accled (both of their
studio albums have received endless column inches bursting with
praise), and it's almost mind-blowing to consider that without
the classifieds section of a local paper, they might have never
been.
Flowers first met guitarist Keuning while perusing said
classifieds for fellow musicians; when Dave's ad mentioned The
Beatles, Oasis and more, Flowers knew he was on the right track.
They cled the name The Killers (taken from the bass drum of a
fictional band in a New Order video), and eventually recruited
Stoermer and Vannucci into the fold, all of them agreeing that
there seemed to be an intangible something to the music they were
making, as well as the response they were generating from people
who saw them play. And as these performances became bigger and
bigger, and praise for the band began to spread rapidly, A&R men
came from the UK and the US to see them, eventually leading them
to sign with Island Records in America. Their debut, Hot Fuss,
catapulted them onto the global stage upon its 2004 release,
selling millions of copies around the world. The band toured for
two years straight behind Hot Fuss, playing more than
four-hundred shows, and eventually returned to Ve to begin to
work on the follow-up album with legendary producers Alan Moulder
and Flood. The result, a love letter of sorts to their hometown
entitled Sam's Town, was released in 2006 and spent forty-two
weeks on the Billboard Top 200. In between all of this, the band
managed to fit in two appearances on Saturday Night live, in
addition to performances on The Tonight Show, The Late Show with
David Letterman and more. One might think this would produce a
generous a of pressure as the band began to work on their
newest collection of songs, but this was not the case. "We're
confident together, comfortable with the way we work as a live
band," Stoermer says. "So when we were writing this record, there
was less anxiety, not that we're resting on our laurels."
This comfort in their work together is apparent on Day & Age. The
album sees The Killers experimenting with different instruments:
"I Can't Stay" has a tropical sound--thank the saxophone and
steel drums--and, as the singer says, "could be the most perfect
pop song we've ever written." "Losing Touch," meanwhile, is a
gorgeous uptempo track with bright horns and grim lyrics
("impending doom, it must be true/ I'm losing touch") that lend
it an ominous vibe. "Spaceman," an unabashedly arena-sized
glam-rock number whose associative lyrics reference, among other
themes, alien abduction. ("We've been playing it between 'Read My
Mind' and 'Mr. Brightside,' and it feels like it's been there
forever," Flowers says.) More than anything, The Killers are
excited for their fans to hear what they've been creating,
though, says Stoermer, "We're always a little nervous about
whether people are going to like it."
The people have in the past. Besides the sales figures--including
moving 4.4 million units of Sam's Town abroad--the band has
received seven nods from the Grammys, and won a variety of MTV,
BRIT, and NME awards. They've headlined some of the biggest
festivals in the UK and Europe, including Glastonbury, the
Reading and Leeds Festival and Pukkelpop, and have sold out
prestigious venues such as Madison Square Garden in America. The
attention has, at times, made it difficult for them to keep their
composure, but this time out the band is trying to remain more
level-headed.
"We got thrown up to the position very quickly that we're in now
--the test is to retain it," says Flowers. "I want us to be a
positive force. People think that we're overconfident and cocky,
but it comes from excitement. It's not 'I'm better than you,'
it's that I can't wait till you hear this song because I know
what it does to me physically. I'm able to listen to our songs
and not think 'this is us playing,' I'm able to allow the music
to affect me and I know if it's good or not. Sometimes people
think I'm running my mouth, when I'm truly excited."
