The Killers
Having sold a massive 15
million records across the world in just over five years, The Killers are
undoubtedly one of the hottest bands in the business of rock today. Consisting
of vocalist Brandon Flowers, guitarist Dave Keuning, bass guitarist Mark
Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr., the Las Vegas band have released
three hit albums since their breakthrough in 2004, and have had a string of hit
singles including ‘Mr Brightside’, ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’, and
‘Somebody Told Me’.
The band got together in 2002, after Flowers had ditched his previous LA-bound band Blush Response and subsequently replied to a newspaper advert placed by Keuning. Following experiments with two other drummers and a number of bassists, the pair approached Vannucci Jr. and then Stoermer with a request to join their new group, which had taken its name from a fictional band in an old New Order music video. Their line-up settled, The Killers then proceeded to play numerous gigs in and around Las Vegas, eventually attracting the attentions of independent UK label Lizard King, who signed them up in 2003.
Almost straight away, the band began recording their first album, ‘Hot Fuss’. The first two singles from the album were successful enough, but it was not until the re-release of ‘Somebody Told Me’ in January 2005 that the band truly broke through to the mainstream, propelling the album to the number one position in the UK charts. Riding the wave of popularity, The Killers appeared at the London Live 8 concert in July of that year, where they played their hit ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’. A particular line from the song, “I’ve got soul but I’m not a soldier”, effectively became the tagline for the event, and was incorporated into the performances of Robbie Williams, Coldplay and U2.
In 2006, The Killers released their second album, entitled ‘Sam’s Town’. Flowers somewhat boldly claimed that the record would be “one of the best albums people would remember 20 years from now”, and although it was unarguably successful, it could not quite match the popularity or commercial performance of its predecessor. That said, the album still reached number one in the UK Albums Chart, and accolades followed suit with the band landing two Brit Awards in February 2007.
After releasing the compilation album ‘Sawdust’ later that year, The Killers’ third studio album, ‘Day & Age’, hit the shelves in November 2008. As with their first two records, the album made it to number one in the UK, and leading track ‘Human’ not only became the band’s third UK top five single, but was also voted the best song of 2008 by Rolling Stone readers. Following the sad loss of Flowers’ mother to brain cancer in early 2010, the band prematurely ended their ‘Day and Age Tour’ and opted to take a short break, having been touring across the world consistently since their breakthrough. They won’t be gone for long though, you can bet on that.
