It's been quite a year for The Killers: the 20th anniversary of the band’s debut record, Hot Fuss; a sold-out Las Vegas residency — the band’s hometown; and a new song, “Bright Lights,” that we've been playing on The Current. So today we’ll talk about all three of those things and go straight to the source. Brandon Flowers joins us on The Current’s Morning Show. Listen to the interview using the audio player above, and read a transcript below.

Interview Transcript

Jill Riley: I've got Brandon Flowers from The Killers with me on The Current. How are you?

Brandon Flowers: I'm great. How are you?

Jill Riley: I'm doing well, happy to be talking to you today. Like I said, 2024, it's been quite a year, but I have to imagine that it's been quite a year of reflection, especially with the sold-out residency and the 20th anniversary of your debut record. I wonder if you could talk about that a little bit, about what it's been like to, you know, revisit the debut album.

Brandon Flowers: About five of the songs on our first record are typically in rotation on our set lists, and so that was a breeze. But there are, you know, five or six that that aren't as familiar to us anymore. And it was interesting dusting those off and getting back and revisiting and inhabiting the person that wrote those songs and and having these memories come back to the occasions when we were, you know, young men meeting together and and with nothing going on but this, but the band and the excitement of those days and going to Ron [Vannucci Jr.] our drummer's garage. And so I didn't want to drench myself in nostalgia too much, but I was guilty of I dipped my toes in it a couple of times, and then we knocked out 10 gigs at Caesars Palace and here we are.

Jill Riley: Here we are today, talking, and I do want to talk about the new song because, you know, the new song is inspired by that entertainment hub, those bright lights of where you're from. Now, getting into even dipping your toes into that nostalgia a bit. "Mr. Brightside," it's such an anthem, I think, for a certain generation. Was there a moment — I mean, you talked about some of the songs that you almost had to get, you had to, like, re-familiarize yourself with. Can you talk specifically about maybe one of those songs?

Brandon Flowers: Yeah. Maybe something like, "Everything Will Be Alright." It's the final song on the record, and it is a slow burner, it is a slow song. We had only performed it twice until Vegas, where we were, you know, preparing to play it for 10 nights, and you realize right away, "Oh, this is why we don't play this live!" It is very slow, but it's so romantic, you know, coming from the point of this 20-year-old. I was 20 years old, and it's the first song that I wrote about my wife, and I have since written many more, but it was interesting, and to get into that headspace, and there was a little bit of turmoil between us at that time, and it was interesting to revisit that, and then bear it to these people every night. And I felt emotional about it a couple of nights, for sure.

Jill Riley: Yeah, I bet. And "everything will be all right" has a different meaning at the age of 20 than it does at age 40.

Brandon Flowers: There's something beautiful about how it's turned out, because my wife had a rough upbringing. You know, I felt my upbringing was very fortunate compared to hers. And so the way that she's persevered and worked through some of that, those things, and singing it now, it does have a completely new meaning, yeah.

Jill Riley: I'm talking with Brandon Flowers from The Killers, like you've mentioned the Vegas residency a couple times, and, you know, I've got to remind myself sometimes The Killers are a Vegas band, and I don't really know anyone, or I can't think of a ton of bands that call Vegas home. What was it like preparing for doing a residency, a sold-out residency? Fans are so excited for this and to to really celebrate the city, and celebrate where you're from, and celebrate where it all started. How did you feel coming out of that?

Brandon Flowers: We didn't know when we started the band that we were going to embrace it and be embraced as a Las Vegas band. We didn't know how strange it was to be from Las Vegas until we went to England, and people were looking at us like we were aliens, you know? And so we really did fully embrace it, and we've almost become ambassadors for the place. And it was great. It was an amazing experience, and, you know, for us to go around the world for so many years, it was interesting to have people come to us, to our town, to these shows, and travel to see us. And we got to show them what we were all about. And we did it the best we could. You know, the stage setup was amazing, and it was very Las Vegas.

Jill Riley: Yeah, you know, every city has a certain identity. I've talked to artists who talk about the identity of whatever town they're from, in Jersey, or then you've got New York and L.A. You know, I kind of poke fun at it a little bit; like, people go to Vegas, but I'm like, "But who is from Vegas?" So when you say that you really embrace it, like, to you, what is the identity that you have really embraced about Vegas?

Brandon Flowers: There's a little bit of something dying in rock and roll and in bands. There's a showmanship that we are, I think, that we have permission to sort of inhabit that other bands aren't doing anymore. And it's, I feel like it's allowed us to be keepers of some kind of tradition, and we really apply that to our shows. And what's the greatest thing about it is it still works, these things that are tried and tested things that are sort of becoming antiquated, you know, to most people. They just seem to fit right in at a Killers concert. And people really respond. And I feel really lucky because I am able to use these things, and I love performing, and it's become a part of my identity. And, you know, I think about growing up and just, it wasn't uncommon for me. If you walk into a 7-11 you know, in your town, it's different than in Las Vegas. There's slot machines, there might be a picture of Sinatra next to this fountain drinks, there might be a picture of Elvis. I was always surrounded by it, and those are the kind of things that you start to appreciate as you get older.

Jill Riley: Yeah, the entertainment side of it, and it's a big show, and you were really able toembrace that and share with your fans that, yeah, when you come to Vegas and you come to a residency, like, you are going to be entertained! I wonder if we could spend a little time talking about the new song, because, again, that's another example of really embracing that and going, "Yeah, this is our town!" So could you talk a little bit about "Bright Lights"?

Brandon Flowers: Yeah. We all have since moved, sadly. I left about five years ago, and I live in Utah now, and so I wanted to capture this essence of this homecoming that the shows were going to represent. And so I was kicking around these ideas, and I had a couple of duds. And then I thought about how we occasionally will cover "Viva Las Vegas," and that opening line, "Bright-light city is going set my soul on fire," and I just sort of used that as a launching pad, you know, "Turn 'em on, because I'm coming home." And it became kind of this beautiful metaphor for so many different things that you could apply it to, you know? You could be going through a rough patch and feel like you're returning to yourself again, and going through this darkness and coming back, and your own desert that you're going through to get back there. And so I started seeing all these beautiful analogies, and it sort of finished itself right away once I saw all that.

Jill Riley: I've been on the line with Brandon Flowers from The Killers, talking about the 20th anniversary of the debut record, Hot Fuss, talking about the Vegas residency over the summer, and talking about this new song. And we're going to go into it shortly here and take another listen. And Brandon, I really appreciate you checking in with The Current.

Brandon Flowers: Oh, no, thanks for talking to me.

Jill Riley: All right. You are listening to The Current's Morning Show.

Credits

Guest – Brandon Flowers of The Killers
Host – Jill Riley
Producer – Nilufer Arsala
Digital Producer – Luke Taylor

External Link

The Killers – official site