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The Killers

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The Killers

The Killers is a rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada, and were formed in 2002. The band is comprised of Brandon Flowers (vocals, synthesizer), Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass, vocals), and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums, percussion). The Killers released their debut album Hot Fuss in 2004. Their second album, Sam's Town, was released to mixed reviews in the United Kingdom on October 2 2006 and in North America on October 3 2006.

History

Formation

Before they became a band, all four had various jobs. Flowers, who had dropped out of college, was a bellhop for a while at the Gold Coast Hotel in Las Vegas. David Keuning, who was originally from Pella, Iowa, dropped out of Kirkwood Community College, then University of Iowa, and finally moved to Las Vegas in January of 2000. He began work there at a Banana Republic store, but could not stand the vast amounts of hats. Mark Stoermer worked as a medical courier, delivering various medical supplies while studying philosophy at UNLV. Ronnie Vannucci was a student of classical percussion at UNLV and worked as a photographer at the Little Chapel of the Flowers and as a pedicab driver at the Desert Passage mall inside the Aladdin Hotel.[1]

The stars begin to align for The Killers, however, in 2001, when Flowers was abandoned by the first band that he was in — a synth pop band known as Blush Response — after he declined to move with the rest of them to Los Angeles, California. Shortly thereafter, Flowers attended an Oasis concert, and realized that he wanted to make the transition from a keyboard band, and began searching for a guitarist. Bandless in Vegas, he responded to an ad that Keuning had placed in the paper that listed, among other things, Oasis as an influence.[2] The two hit it off immediately, and began rehearsing. They were joined by a bassist (Keuning's roommate) and a drummer.[1]

While thinking of band names, they brainstormed the name "The Genius Sex Poets" (which was later featured on the bass drum in the American version of the music video for "Mr. Brightside").[citation needed] The band finally came up with the idea for "The Killers" from a New Order video titled "Crystal." It was featured on the bass drum of a fictional band in the song's video.[3]

Both bassist and drummer quickly moved on to other things, and the drummer would later sue the band, claiming that he wrote "Mr. Brightside".[citation needed] After their departure, Vannucci and Stoermer (who were both in other bands at the time) were approached by Flowers and Keuning with an offer to join The Killers.

After watching a few of their early shows, Vannucci acknowledged that the group was very green and would need a lot of work to become a polished act. Additionally, their fanbase was scarce and they hadn't worked out their image. Yet, Vannucci saw something and was determined to join.[1]

Stoermer was the final hold out, and still saw some of the issues of before. But he and Flowers quickly became friends, and before long he filled the remaining post. They played their first gig as the new band at a club in Vegas called The Junkyard. After Vannucci sold his house, and the boys found themselves without a garage to rehearse in, it was around this time that they took to sneaking into UNLV's music rooms to practice, where Vannucci was attending college.[1]

Mainstream success

With the band complete, and their repertoire of songs filling out, the band began to attract attention from talent bookers, local agents, major label scouts — and a UK representative for Warner Bros. Though Warner Bros passed on the band, he took the demo back with him, showing it to his friend and owner of a UK indie label. By the end of the summer, they had a contract and were packing their bags for England.[1]

They released their album Hot Fuss on June 7, 2004 in the United Kingdom (on London-based indie record label Lizard King Records, now re-named Marrakesh Records) and June 15 in the United States on Island Records. UK magazine NME was an early champion of the band - reviewing early UK shows. They released their Japanese and French versions of the same album in late 2004. Their first single, "Somebody Told Me," was released on that same year. The band also had chart success with their singles "Mr. Brightside", which reached the Top 10 in the UK when released, and "All These Things That I've Done". The main bulk of their mainstream success came when they scored a number three chart position with their re-release of "Somebody Told Me". Such success spawned feuds with The Bravery and Fall Out Boy, both fellow label-mates for Island Records (see Controversy below).

Much of The Killers' music is based on British influences and on the music of the 1980s, particularly New Wave music. Flowers has also said in interviews that the larger than life sound of many of the band's songs is due to the influence of living in Las Vegas, a city where everything is about flash and who can top whom. Despite their appreciation for the wave of post-punk bands that sprung up during the 80s, the band members are also avowed fans of David Bowie, Morrissey,[4] Queen, and Saves The Day, and the influence of these bands can easily be felt in some of their songs. Flowers occasionally sings with a faux British accent.

On December 1, 2004 they appeared as guests on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and on December 2, 2004, they made a guest appearance on the FOX television series The O.C., playing at The Bait Shop (which is a fictional all ages club). On January 15, 2005 they were the musical guest on Saturday Night Live. In the past, they have appeared as musical guests on: Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Late Show with David Letterman, and in Britain they have appeared on Top of the Pops, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross and Later with Jools Holland. Most recently, on April 14, 2005, they appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On May 12, 2005 and October 10, 2005, they performed throughout MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed. They performed for an episode of Austin City Limits that aired on November 5, 2005.

The Killers performed at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival on the Pyramid Stage, on Friday Night, after they turned down the Sunday headline spot when Kylie Minogue cancelled after being diagnosed with breast cancer. They turned down the offer, stating that they didn't think they had enough songs to fill a headline slot. However, they attracted one of the biggest crowds at the festival. They also performed at the T in the Park festival in Balado, Scotland on July 9, 2005, during which, following The Killers' own set, Flowers performed "Crystal" with New Order — "Crystal" being the music video from which the band took their name. Soon, they were jetting off to Vienna with U2, in order to support them on the European leg of their current Vertigo Tour.

The Killers performed on the London stage of the Live 8 concert on July 2, 2005. They performed their song "All These Things That I've Done". To their surprise, Robbie Williams (who performed after them) incorporated the song's refrain "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" into his own performance.[5] Coldplay and U2 followed suit, and at their separate concerts played in Las Vegas, with The Killers in the crowd, they incorporated that famous line into their songs. Coldplay sang it into "God Put a Smile upon Your Face" and U2 sang it with "Beautiful Day."

After seeing footage for director Richard Kelly's upcoming film Southland Tales, the band agreed to allow Kelly to use "All These Things I've Done" for the movie's soundtrack. The song was also used in the final scene and closing credits of the 2005 movie, The Matador as well as the opening scene of the pilot episode of the CBS show, "Jericho".

The Killers' second album, "Sam's Town", was released on October 2nd 2006 in the UK, and October 3rd 2006 in the USA under Island Universal. Brandon Flowers quoted that Sam's Town will ""be the best album in the past twenty years", though the album has received a mixed response from critics and fans. The first single from Sam's Town "When You Were Young" debuted on radio stations in late July 2006. In late August 2006, it was offered as a downloadable track before the album's debut. The single then entered the chart on downloads alone at #5 and the following week on its official release went to #2 in the UK. It was unable to knock the Scissor Sisters off of the top spot. Their next single, "Bones", is due to be released later this year.

In promotion of Sam's Town, the band returned as the musical guest for the 32nd season premiere of Saturday Night Live on September 30, 2006. They performed "When You Were Young" and "Bones." [6]

The Killers have signed on to play the Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand in 2007, playing 6 dates from January 19 to Februrary 4. They are billed alongside Tool, Muse, My Chemical Romance, and Jet.

The album sold over 700,000 copies worldwide in the first week of release, with a No. 2 debut on the United World chart.

Controversy

Since going platinum, the band (and principally Flowers) has managed to incite a few rivalries - most notably with The Bravery and Fall Out Boy, who are both labelmates (Island Records). Flowers has said that these bands, especially The Bravery, are riding on the coattails of the success of The Killers.[7] However, it has been speculated that it was a publicity stunt to create momentum for The Bravery's self-titled debut album. Additionally, in an article of NME, Flowers claimed Fall Out Boy was hogging the A&R man both bands share, setting off Fall Out Boy's bassist Pete Wentz. However, after Wentz made a couple of rants on his blog in September of 2005, he offered a virtual cease-fire.[8]

Also in NME, Keuning went on record as saying "They're (Fall Out Boy and Panic! At The Disco) only influenced by each other. Each other, and Blink 182. How can that be a good thing?"[9]

Brandon Flowers, in interviews with several music magazines, claimed that the song "Where Is She?" was based on Jodi Jones, a Scottish girl whose boyfriend, Luke Mitchell, was found guilty of her murder. Many, especially in Scotland, saw this as an insult to her memory, and Flowers (speaking for the band) gave a formal apology, telling the Sunday Herald, "I came across kind of badly. I'd hate to cause offense or further hurt because of it... there's no way on earth I could ever possibly pretend to know what it must actually feel like to suffer such a thing, and I wouldn't presume to appropriate any other individual's feelings for a song." [10]

In February 2006 The Killers' former manager, Braden Merrick, filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract when he was fired in May of 2005. Merrick's contract was to have run through 2007 and the two sides had been negotiating a settlement before the lawsuit was filed. [11]

Flowers has recently gone on record claiming that Green Day's politically driven concept album American Idiot displays "calculated Anti-Americanism." He explained that he has problems with the album content itself and also the fact that the band's recent live DVD, Bullet in a Bible, was filmed overseas. Stating that he feels Green Day's DVD is a bit of a stunt, he went on to say that he feels The Killers' most recent release, Sam's Town, is a much more accurate representation of American culture. [12]

Discography

Main article: The Killers discography

Albums

Singles

Year Song Chart positions Album
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. Pop 100 U.S. Modern Rock UK singles AUS
2004 "Somebody Told Me" 51 - 3 3 17 Hot Fuss
"Mr. Brightside" 10 5 3 10 29 Hot Fuss
2005 "All These Things That I've Done" 74 58 10 18 42 Hot Fuss
"Smile Like You Mean It" - - 15 11 47 Hot Fuss
2006 "When You Were Young" 1 14 18 1 2 10 Sam's Town
"Bones" 2 - - - - - Sam's Town
  • 1 Currently active on charts. These are the highest chart positions to date.
  • 2 Planned second single. To be released later in 2006.

Awards and nominations

  • Nominated: Best Rock Album (2005) for "Hot Fuss"
  • Nominated: Best Rock Song (2005) for "Somebody Told Me"
  • Nominated: Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (2005) for "Somebody Told Me"
  • Nominated: Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (2006) for "Mr. Brightside"
  • Nominated: Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal (2006) for "All These Things That I've Done"
Note: The remix of the song "Mr Brightside" was also nominated for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical (2006) Jacques Lu Cont's Thin White Duke
  • Nominated: Breakthrough, Favorite New Artist (2005)
  • Nominated: Group of the Year (2005)
  • Nominated: Digital song of the year for "Mr. Brightside" (2005)
  • Nominated: Modern rock artist of the year (2005)
  • Nominated: Best Group Video (2005) for "Mr. Brightside"
  • Nominated: Best Rock Video (2005) for "Mr. Brightside"
  • Won: Best New Artist (2005)
Note: Laura Fox was also nominated in 2005 for Best Art Direction for the video "Mr. Brightside."
  • Miscellaneous:
  • Won: NME Magazine's Best International Band (2005)
  • Nominated: Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, Record Production/Single or Track (2005) for "Mr. Brightside"
  • Won: World Music Awards, World's Best Selling New Group (2005)

Quotations

He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn't a complete freak... 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.

— David Keuning, commenting on Brandon Flowers, The Cincinnati Post wire service

I've always had this thing about it not really mattering where you're from, because there's always been this big cloud over America saying you have to live in LA or you have to live in New York to make it. I always knew it didn't matter as long as you had the songs.

— Brandon Flowers, on musical success, Manchester Online interview

I think that the public hear their pop radio or whatever and they just get sick of bad music. They want to hear songs again.

— Ronnie Vannucci, Unverified

We want to be important and to last.

— Brandon Flowers, USA Today, 12 July 2004

People today are coming together as a family because our brothers and sisters in Africa need our help. So let's change their worlds.

— Brandon Flowers, Live 8, London, 2 July 2005, Unverified

I have no idea who Shed Seven are. If we sounded like them they would have sold 3 million records and we probably would have heard of them.

— Brandon Flowers, , NME Live 8 interview

For whatever reason, the art of a "song" has been lost in music today. We are not afraid to try to bring that back.

— Mark Stoermer, , unverified

Trivia

  • Actor Eric Roberts (brother of Julia Roberts) plays the so called "pimp" in the American version of the video for Mr. Brightside, directed by Sophie Muller. Eric Roberts is also in two Mariah Carey videos, both directed by Brett Ratner.
  • The UK Music video for "All These Things That I've Done" contains footage from The Killers gig at London sited Astoria venue on Thursday, 8th of July 2004
  • The track 'Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll' on The Killers album Hot Fuss (2004), references the Spoon song 'They never got you' from the album Gimmie Fiction (2005, with the line 'waking up breaking up what do you care'. This corresponds to the line 'when you were breaking up, they was just waking up' in the Spoon song.[citation needed]
  • The music video for Mr. Brightside stars Gabriel Byrne.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e Kalil, Mike (2005). "IN DEPTH: killers rising" ReviewJournal.com (accessed September 26, 2006)
  2. ^ Artist Direct staff writer (2006). bio ArtistDirect.com (accessed October 3, 2006)
  3. ^ The Killers in the New Order video "Crystal" included a female.
  4. ^ Pierce, Erin et al (2006). "Former BYU's student's brother is lead singer of the Killers" NetNews.com (accessed May 2, 2006)
  5. ^ NME staff writer (2005). "The Killers Flattered by Robbie Live 8 Tribute" NME.com (accessed May 2, 2006)
  6. ^ TV.com contributors (2006). Dane Cook/The Killers TV.com (accessed October 3, 2006)
  7. ^ Montgomery, James (2005). "The Vanilla Thrilla! - The Killers Vs. The Bravery" MTV.com (accessed May 2, 2006)
  8. ^ Montgomery, James (2005). "Fall Out Boy/ Killers Beef Gives Birth To A Song", MTV.com, May 2, 2006)
  9. ^ "The Killers vs Emo - band hit out", NME.com, (accessed September 26, 2006)
  10. ^ M, Fraser (2005). "Mr Contrite-side" BBC.co.uk (accessed May 2, 2006)
  11. ^ AP (2006). "Former manager sues The Killers, alleging breach of contract" USA Today
  12. ^ NME staff writer (2006). "The Killers 'offended' by Green Day" NME.com (accessed October 16, 2006)

References
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