View from the top:
Las Vegas favorites The Killers make it to the big time, or at least get pretty close.
By Amey Tygart

Halfway through the summer of 2002, a friend brought me a mix C.D. of a mysterious new band called Hot Hot Heat and recommended that I check out their show. A couple of weeks later, they played at a coffee house, and I took my friend’s advice. While fifty or so hipsters eagerly awaited Hot Hot Heat in the foyer of the sweltering Café Espresso Roma, they were first introduced to the opening band, The Killers- four well dressed but intentionally disheveled, rock-stars-in-the-making. Brandon Flowers, the lead singer, wore more eye-liner than all the girls in the room combined. His singing and stage presence brought to mind what a pre Duran Duran Simon LeBon might have looked like, practicing for super-stardom at fifteen. The band played an exciting set, and with a few more sweaty melodramatic shows, they gained a permanent spot in the hearts of many a scenester.

Hot Hot Heat turned out to be all the rage of 2003. This year The Killers are following closely in there footsteps. So closely in fact, that in April of this year, 2,000 or so patrons of the Coachella Arts and Music Festival crammed into an outdoor tent to see The Killers play on the same stage that H. H. H. had rocked the year before.

To be sure, The Killers have come a long way from being an inexperienced coffee shop opening act, however not much (including the eye-liner) has changed. With West-coast and European tours, releasing a new album, video, and working the talk show circuit, this former Sin City band will see little of the Vegas Strip this year.” During a brief U.S. layover they talked with SMASH about being a band in Vegas, why European fans are important, and what it’s like to be on top of the world.

Over the last three years the “hipster” scene in Las Vegas and the music of The Killers have co-evolved. It was during the “Summer of Sasha’s” in 2003 that The Killers gained a loyal following in Vegas. As bassist Mark Stoermer recalls, “We didn’t fit into the normal scene of fraternity boy bars and metal bands. We were lucky to have Roma and Sahsa’s [Tramps], which are both gone now, to put us in front of likeminded people.”

The Killers started playing music because they wanted to bring back songs with real meaning, says Stoermer, “In the 60’s and 70’s, and even in the 80’s to an extent, bands were making songs with lyrics that had staying power, and that is what our record has. Every song is different though. Some of our songs are just to make girls dance, others have a deeper purpose.”

In their first years, The Killers were highly effective at marketing themselves, and were playing shows with bands like The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Libertines. “We worked hard, five or six hours a day in a hot garage working on songs and practicing. We weren’t necessarily working towards anything, but we kept working at it,” says Stoermer. Soon, the band got signed by an independent label in the U.K. This turned out to be important not only for their European success, but for their future in America as well. As Mark explains, “Major American labels don’t really want to take risks. But, once you’ve got your foot in the door and you’re a little bit proven, then everybody wants you.” Signing with Lizard King paved the way for a record deal with Island/Def Jam in late 2003.

It often seems that what record labels are looking for in a band is an image that they can push. Drummer Ronni Vannucci feels that Image is important, but that it doesn’t carry as much weight as good music. “When you hear your favorite song, do you think of what that guy or the girl was wearing? I mean, when they hear Imagine by John Lennon, nobody thinks of the little grey suit he used to wear.”

The Killers deny being just a pretty face, and say that their music will carry them above the buzz. As Vannucci explains, “The buzz is weird; people will always try to pigeon-hole you. We’ve been compared 80’s bands… to The Strokes, Interpol. It’s great to be compared to such great bands, but hopefully once they hear the record it will set us apart… in a good way.”

In an industry that changes from month to month based on fads and fickle pop culture, The Killers confidently declare that they are a band for the ages. Denying the title “Vegas based buss band”, Stoermer predicts, “One day 10 years from now, you may listen to our record and it will sound like 2004, but it’s still good. Years from now, we will still be writing good songs. No matter what’s cool, maybe we will change and evolve, but we will still be writing good songs, and everyone always wants to hear good songs.”

It seems that what ever happens, The Killers know they have a good thing going and aren’t taking any thing for granted. Vannucci explains, “Right now we’re moving so fast that it’s hard to take it all in.” Even with the newly gained attention, Stoermer modestly proclaims, “I wouldn’t say we’ve made it big yet.” Vannucci sums up the high points of rock star life saying, “It’s awesome to go and see new places, and meet totally great people, and make friends with people you saw on T.V. when you were growing up, and other bands. I don’t get star struck very easily, but the other day I watched The Hives play with Slash. It’s neat to be placed in that world and still kind of keep your feet on the ground.”