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 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.
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