Brandon Flowers, singer for glam-pop Las Vegas rock band The Killers, has been a busy man.
For most of the past two years he has been on the road supporting his band’s debut record, “Hot Fuss,” which has sold more than 2.5 million copies. During that same time he started a feud with label mates The Bravery, performed at Live 8 and MTV’s VMAs, where The Killers won the Best New Artist award, and to top it all off he recently got married.
The Killers’ current single, “All These Things I Have Done,” is riding high on the charts with its catchy gospel chorus of “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier.” The song’s hook has been interpreted as an anti-war sentiment, but Flowers sees it differently and wants to leave it open for interpretation.
“For me it’s more of a spiritual thing, but I don’t want to give it away because it will change how people react to the song,” Flowers said during a phone interview from Atlantic City.
Flowers’ two-year musical crusade behind “Hot Fuss” will near its close Wednesday when the band performs the last American concert behind the album with opening act British Sea Power at KeyArena. The last date on the tour is Thursday in Vancouver, B.C.
Besides “Hot Fuss” being filled with songs containing plenty of 1980s pop sensibility, one of the things that may have assisted with record sales is the highly publicized war of words with New York synth group The Bravery. Flowers recalled how it started:
“It could have been any band. I was doing an interview just like this on the phone and the guy asked me my opinion on The Bravery. You could ask me my opinion on any band and I’ll tell you what I think and it just happened to be The Bravery, which turned out to be this big thing.
“I’m either going to have to be more politically correct when I talk about bands or I am going to have to be known as a big mouth.”
While The Bravery feud made for great ink in rock tabloids, The Killers recently have become the target of another up-and-coming group. This time it’s fellow label-mate Fall Out Boy, whose members also happen to be from Vegas.
So why do bands have a beef with The Killers?
“I don’t know. My mom would say it’s because they are jealous,” Flowers said with a chuckle.
“I’ve never heard a Fall Out Boy song before, so I don’t know how this whole thing started,” he said. “It’s just a misunderstanding again. The worst part is that they’re from Las Vegas and now they probably think I hate them. But the truth is they’re young kids who I’ve never heard and never met.”
Instead of focusing on budding feuds, Flowers has begun concentrating his energy on writing a successful follow-up to “Hot Fuss.”
Since the Killers have been on the road for most of the year, songwriting is done during sound checks and on the tour bus. The band has been playing one new song, “All the Pretty Faces,” on the current leg of the tour.
Flowers described it as being “a lot harder than the last album” and that fans should anticipate broader arrangements, including a string section, pianos and organs, on the second one. The album reportedly will be produced by famed British duo Flood and Alan Moulder, known for their work with Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and others.
“I don’t want to be known as the keyboard band or that ’80s band. There was a lot of great music in the ’80s, but it is 2005 now.”
