Viva.. Las Vegas!
Assembled from a classified ad in a local newspaper, the Killers went through some iterations and various lineup changes before coming together to become the current 4 piece that we know and love in Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ron Vannucci and have stayed the course, while many of the Indie acts of the early 2000’s have since faded away. Well.. Kind of, Flowers and Vanucci have been ever present but Keuning and Stoermer in the last few years have exercised more freedom to come and go, picking and choosing to stay at home for some of the studio time and tours.
Early days
It’s hard to imagine but front man Brandon Flowers was only in his early 20s when catapulted into the lime light when the band bolted out of the stable door with their ‘Hot fuss’ debut album in 2004 that would gallop ahead and become a platinum release containing 4 hit singles, in a mix of indie guitar rock with glittery synth pop.
That mix came from a British wave of influences including Roxy Music, Depeche Mode, New Order, Oasis that washed over the neon strip of Vegas, and also from a love of U.S. classic rock such as Springsteen and guitar acts like The Cars, whom Flowers inducted the band into the hall of fame with a glowing recollection of a youth spent listening to them while travelling with his older brother.
During those early frenetic years, they released ‘Hot Fuss’, ‘Sam’s Town’ and ‘Day and Age’, toured the world, appeared on the Pyramid stage headlining at Glastonbury in 2007, recorded with Lou Reed, and made a live recording from Albert Hall in 2009.
My Killers
But when I think of the Killers, I don’t think of the desert, the neon lights of the Vegas strip, cowboys, casinos or roulette tables, the glitz or the glamour. What comes to mind first, is vivid memories from a couple particular summers travelling cross country to the sunny south east coast of Ireland when my two children were very young.
With only 16 months between my daughter and son, it was a very busy few years before we became properly mobile, by that I mean when the journey could be longer than the time taken to load the car, with all the paraphernalia that goes with those early years.
Back then, rather than having to endure listening to Barney the dinosaur I used to try share music that would cross the age gap boundaries and engage the little ones, the common denominator for family listening was the Beatles initially. Over time, I tried changing it up successfully and sometimes not so successfully. I started playing the Killers on each car journey and it wasn’t long before I would hear the parts of the chorus come from the back seats amongst all the soft toys especially for tracks like “Mr Brightside”, “Somebody told me”, “Human”, “Smile like you mean it” and especially “All these things that I’ve done”..
“I got soul, but I’m not a soldier”,
“I got soul, but I’m not a soldier”,
“I got soul, but I’m not a soldier”,
We had a real attachment to their first 3 albums which we wore out in the car, the CD cases in pieces long since. I still can’t explain why, but after around 2011 whether it was just a case of being more busy with life or just out of sight out of mind we lost touch with the band. As the years passed later releases like ‘Battle Born’, ‘Wonderful Wonderful’ and ‘Imploding the Mirage’ went unnoticed by us. Only in more recent times have I returned listening to the band again.
The church of LDS religion has always been a part of Flowers’ life but he has become more devout again in recent years and it’s reflected even more in those later albums, such as ‘Imploding the Mirage’ which has some good tracks.
‘Pressure Machine’ too, which is a homage to blue collar life and Springsteen whom was always a massive influence. When Flowers relocated back to Utah and the small town of Nephi, ruminating on the past led him to the creation of this very under rated record. It’s a more sombre tone not what fans had come to expect but I’ve become very fond of this album..
20 for 20
The band released ‘Rebel Diamonds’, a 20 song compilation and the accompanying tour highlighting their 20th anniversary provided an opportunity for us as a now grown up family to once more relive some of the fun moments from the early days.
3arena
The Killers brought with them the razzmatazz of Vegas with a flamboyant show in Dublin’s 3arena, that left us dazzled and amazed right from the theatrical start with “My own soul’s warning” belting out along with ticker tape firing into the jubilant crowd.
Listening to them live, unleashing all their hits they are a well oiled machine with Vannucci the heartbeat behind them on drums. Flowers now in his early 40s was like a circus ringleader and I just kept thinking of those Elvis performances of Viva Las Vegas, as he danced and sang, running around the stage just minus the black leather jacket.
In interviews Flowers appears more relaxed, less brash while being settled with his wife and children, he too is all grown up now. Speaking with Zane Lowe on Apple music, he revisited their career highs and lows, the duality of stardom as an entertainer and parent, explaining along the way how the band were all in agreement when they turned down an offer from Dodge for use of one of their songs, for a staggering $5 million.
After a thrilling encore including “Mr Brightside” and “When you were young”, We travelled back that night from Dublin on another shared homeward bound journey, with a head full of memories, hoarse and jaded with sore feet for us now older parents but it was absolutely worth it for the opportunity of reuniting with friends.
Boy, one day you’ll be a man
Oh, girl, he’ll help you understand
Smile like you mean it
