Exploding like a supernova with the hits-laden 2004 debut Hot Fuss and subsequently going Springsteen Americana for the sophomore release Sam’s Town, Las Vegas quartet THE KILLERS are back with a Day-Glo sheen on recent album Day & Age. DENIS SEMCHENKO quizzes the initially morose-sounding guitarist DAVE KEUNING about the band’s music and … The OC.

Ever since Somebody Told Me started pouring out of radio transmitters everywhere nearly five years ago and follow-up singles Mr Brightside, All The Things That I’ve Done and Smile Like You Mean It burned themselves into the collective indie/mainstream psyche with their unstoppable hooks and stylish videos, life has been a whirlwind ride for The Killers. Multiple music industry awards, millions of shifted units, world tours, household name status, fashion shoots, an appearance on The OC – it all happened when they seized the limelight.

On the line from the US, curly-haired axeman Dave Keuning sounds … a bit bored by it all, not even excited about headlining V Festival 2009 even despite his band having a huge fanbase here, who flocked in droves to the radio-slaying quartet’s string of Australian shows and cheered and chanted their snappy name many times over.

"I am looking forward to it – it was a good time last time and I’m sure it will be this time; the audiences were great and the atmosphere is always good," he says of The Killers forthcoming Down Under visit, the ‘I’ve-said-it-many-times-before’ ennui palpable in his voice. "I’ve only got good memories – the two shows in November 2007 in Sydney and in Melbourne were amazing," he continues in a slightly more reflective tone. "They were end-of-tour shows, so we were trying extra hard because we knew we were going to be done for a while."

Produced by the uber-trendy Stuart Price (aka ‘Jacques Lu Cont’, the UK producer who most famously helmed Madonna’s Confessions On A Dance Floor as well as remixing a number of the band’s hits), The Killers’ third album proper Day & Age is a return to Hot Fuss’s pure synthpop/rock template – but Dave isn’t too impressed when I wonder whether hiring Price was a move aimed at restoring the four-piece’s original sound.

"I don’t know… yeah, a little bit," he tersely replies. "I think we’re still the same band

that made Hot Fuss, only four years older and with more experience in writing and recording songs, and bringing his experience also helped shape how it sounds – we definitely had the songs written before we went into the studio and if we’d recorded the album with someone else, we’d still have the same songs but it would be a different-sounding record."

Having already yielded the chart-eating first single Human and new fan favourite Spaceman, the album also features more radical experimentation, than, say, mariachi horns on Sam’s Town’s Bones; the gamelan (steel drum) plays a major part on the uplifting, tropical-vibe I Can’t Stay. Whose idea was it to use a traditional Indonesian instrument within the context of a pop song? A long pause follows before Dave finally musters up "I don’t remember – it was actually done on a demo so it might have been Brandon [Flowers], Stuart [Price] or Ronnie [Vanucci, drummer]; we’re… (another pause) not afraid to use any instrument."

A long, immensely annoying ringtone interrupts my next question – Dave’s favourite Killers tracks to play live – prompting the guitarist to scowl "Hold on, I need to be done with this crap!" and hang up; I’m treated to a good two minutes of phone muzak before he’s back on the line, sounding considerably more relaxed. "I have a few – I like Mr Brightside which never gets old even though it’s an old one; I like Spaceman, the new one; I like…" Another seemingly endless pause. "When You Were Young is never dull, it’s always a good moment – so yeah, there’s a few … I think everybody likes it," he chuckles (finally!).

Having done a long trek of live performances with The Killers, Dave hesitates to state whether he prefers playing festivals or venue shows: "It’s hard to say; our own shows are pretty special and it’s all our fans, but I like all other shows, really – there’s something about a festival crowd that’s having a good time and there’s alcohol and people have taken off work … a pretty good atmosphere. It’s pretty crazy when you look out there and see that many people – it’s kind of surreal to see more faces than your eyelids allow you to take in; it’s … awesome."

Along with Brandon Flowers’s love-it-or-hate-it voice and arena-sized keyboards, Dave’s taut, restrained guitar lines are crucial to The Killers’ widescreen sonic soup.

"My main influences are probably Jimi Hendrix, Billy Corgan, The Edge and Angus Young," he says. "They’ve all influenced me in different ways; in guitar bands, that kind of stuff is when you’re just learning guitar, playing along and learning more songs … it’s there in my playing in some shape or form."

2007’s stop-gap B-sides/covers 2CD Sawdust saw The Killers collaborate with a bona fide American rock institution – Lou Reed – on the ambitious Tranquilize. Recalling the process, Dave’s got nothing but admiration for the oft-cantankerous New Yorker: "We had a song that we didn’t use for Sam’s Town and we thought it would have been better if somebody was on it, so we asked Lou Reed and we were so excited when he said ‘Yes’, we went to New York in the next couple weeks and recorded the song. It’s just … cool to work with people like Lou Reed."

With two-and-a-half years having passed since the release of Americana-swept Sam’s Town (which gave The Killers a pair of monster hits in When You Were Young and Read My Mind), Dave is defiant that the said album has passed the test of time. "I still like it, if that’s what you’re asking – it’s got a different sound but it’s as much a Killers album to me as Hot Fuss and Day & Age," he deadpans. "It’s a natural – some people didn’t give it a chance, but it definitely grows on you."

Not willing to convince my interviewee I’m a mere boredom-inducing music hack, I switch the topic to … US teen soapies, of course. As seasoned pop culture aficionados might remember, The OC was the ‘00s equivalent of American Bandstand for a multitude of bands, who either had runaway successes or a massive popularity boost on the strength of having a song featured on the show – the most prominent examples being Interpol (with Evil), The Killers’ once-arch nemeses The Bravery (with An Honest Mistake), theme song California authors Phantom Planet (where a very young Jason Schwartzman used to play drums) and Youth Group (with the Alphaville-written Forever Young). The Killers have also guested, but Dave seems genuinely surprised that I popped the question:

"That was four years ago – that show’s off the air now! I thought it was cool as I’d never been to a TV show before other than talk shows and we haven’t been since, but it was kind of neat – we were asked to do it and a couple other bands did it … I kind of forgot about it, to be honest, now that you’ve mentioned it." Well, it’s never been the same after they took off Mischa Barton. "Yeah, and what has she done since?" Touche. "That show went downhill during the last season anyway and the writers were really stupid – I watched it a little bit and … man, the writing in the last couple of seasons, they deserved to get off the air, even though I think it was a cool kinda show; now we have the new Beverly Hills here, which I haven’t watched [probably for the best – DS]." Mission accomplished – The Killers are human, not dancer.

DAY & AGE is out now through Island. THE KILLERS headline V Festival 2009 featuring Elbow, The Human League, Madness, M83, Duffy and many more acts at the Gold Coast’s Avica Resort on Sunday Mar 29. Check out www.myspace.com/thekillers and www.vfestival.com.au for more info.

Comments (3)

1. Written by the captain, on 11-03-2009 18:44 snarky little hack journo! shame on you for being so rude....sam's town is brilliant and you should know you were speaking to a bonafide rock god.

3. Written by denistheman, on 12-03-2009 08:52 The Captain - I totally, like, dig your sarcasm dude... provided you were being sarcastic   Jimmy 2T - was that referring to ST or D&A? The latter one I thought was alright...

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