from Pitchfork


"Synth atmospherics"! "Powerful, chunky guitars and horn swells"! "Dazzling anthemic" songs! Bold statements like these in a press release can only precede one momentous occasion: a new Killers record!

Day & Age, the third LP from the histrionic Vegas rockers, is due November 25 from Island Records. Recorded in Las Vegas and London and produced by Stuart Price of Les Rythmes Digitales, the disc is their follow-up to 2006's Sam's Town, and will be preceded by first single "Human".

There's a seven minute epic called "Goodnight, Travel Well"! "I Can't Stay" has a tropicalia chorus! There are songs called "Losing Touch" and "Spaceman"! And the cover art consists of portraits of all four Killers by artist Paul Normansell!

Statements like these are what exclamation points were invented for.

I don't even want to listen to thirty seconds of this. Sounds horrendous.

thx for letting us know

No problem, I'm sure I'm not the only one who couldn't sit through another shit stain of an album from them. They should just release singles.

So far the Killers have released two pretty solid albums filled with some huge hits and some missteps. I have a feeling this disc will be the one where they get it all together and make a consistent, solid album that can be listened to straight through without any interruptions. Is that so much to ask, Brandon Flowers?



^^^ this man is the reason I believe these things ^^^

This would probably get no real complaint from me. The band has been one of the best singles bands of teh decade.

As I listen to 'Jenny Was a Friend of Mine,' I can't help but think of the potential these guys have to write consistently amazing songs. The synth and bassline on this thing are a beast. They came out of the gates and made a statement. Shame they never fully realized what they could do. I sincerely hope this is the time they right that and make the best album of my lifetime. Brandon Flowers basically promised it with Sam's Town and came close, but not close enough. That fuck owes me the greatest album of all time and soon.

Jenny is easily the best thing they have written.

I also need to add this press picture is one of the best things I've seen all day. Who the fuck is that guy on the far right? What's his deal? I don't like him.



I would say it's one of the best things they've ever written. It doesn't exactly top 'Mr. Brightside' (easily one of the ten best songs of the 00s...don't argue with me about this statement). And it's on par, but not totally up to scuff with monsters like 'When You Were Young,' 'All These Things I've Done,' or 'Read My Mind.'

I really do like the Killers.

even their non singles still wow me

Jenny, as well as "Believe Me Natalie" are two of my fav Killers songs


from their b-side collection, a Price produced "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" is insanely good

nah. its their best tune.
Mr.Brightside is kinda gay......

dude.... read the post

i read it.

Please explain your point. Because as of now, you are treading in to a dangerous area with your absurdly misinformed statements.

Jenny is the only Killers song i enjoy.
shame it wasnt a single.

Only!??!

i'm sorry to hear that... enjoy the other non Killers threads

yeah, i dont know why iam even posting in this thread.

peacceee..

It is a shame it wasn't a single. It would have been another one of the great singles released by the Killers.

And it's also a shame you don't appreciate some of their other hits.

Enjoy the rest of the board. There's a Mountain Goats thread floating around somewhere if that tickles your fancy.

So now that no one but the four or so Killers fans in this thread remotely give a shit, The Killers try to get back on track and make us all forget the abortion which some call Sam's Town.

If half the new record is half as good as the half a good record that reprsented Hot Fuss, they may do Ok.

I like The Killers, and I wish them luck.

solid albums, man

The Killers will have the best Greatest Hits album of any 2000's band.

I'd even go as far to say that "Hot Fuss," is an excellent album.

"Sam's Town," was not very good. "Where you where Young," though, remains one of the best singles of the decade.

I liked Sam's Town a lot although they definitely bit off more than they could chew when they started spewing Springsteen-lite lyrics and ventured away from the sound they're good at, I don't think anyone needed to hear a song like "Uncle Jonny". If they can make an album full of fun catchy pop singles like "When You Were Young" and "Read My Mind", I'll be happy, but I have a feeling that they might go overboard trying to impress again. I wish Brandon would just listen to the first Cars record and emulate that.

Never for the life of me will I figure out how the geniuses behind When You Were Young, Mr. Brightside, Read My Mind, etc. could churn out such a fuckload of garbage like they have.

Also, anyone remember the last Killers thread where I defended Brandon Flowers as a great vocalist? lolzers

I love Hot Fuss. I even like Sam's Town quite a bit. But that B-sides thing from last year was awful. 4 decent tracks at best, one of which was a Joy Division cover.

Their cover of "Romeo and Juliet" may be the most pointless remake of all time.

sam's town grew on me. "for reasons unknown" is a fun song.

Yeah, it grew on me, too. Even the weakest songs have enviable hooks.

I do remember that, but I think that's because I laced into you with some "U IDIOT LISTEN TO THE GUY SING LIVE ON LETTERMAN HE SOUNDED LIKE ASS" diatribe. Man, Sam's Town was pretty bad. And this is coming from someone who defended "Bones".

By the way - go back to the picture at the start of the thread. Krist Novoselic and Lion-O have joined The Killers. Shocking developments.

I liked "This River is Wild" from Sam's Town a lot. That and WYWY are easily the best songs on the album for me. Hot Fuss though is solid throughout.

so, "The River is Wild" and "Read My Mind"? are there any other songs from Sam's Town that a non-big fan would like? Hot Fuss had a lot of good shit, and "When You Were Young" is great, but I haven't heard another track from Town

ordinary band. absolutely terrible live.

I'll add a vote for When You Were Young as a brilliant single.

Nothing I've ever read has made me brave their albums though, so I probably never will. If even their biggest fans admit they're a singles band...

Hot Fuss is very much the opposite of a solid record. Terrible second side.

I get the feeling that the Killers aren't in on the joke anymore.

They went from 4-5 single-worthy songs on the first record to maybe 1.5 on the second. Does not bode well for this one.

I'll be waiting over here with the fork for this turkey...

This will be horrendous.

Sam's Town was such a debacle that I don't think there's anyone that can come back from such a pathetic attempt at music.

If there's one decent track on this new one then it'll be a pleasant surprise, because I actually do think that these guys could be almost good one day.

Jesus, dudes, overreact much?

After 'Uncle Johnny', using Sam's Town to wipe your ass isn't even an overreaction.

If I gave a shit, I'd mark this down as the first day you and I have agreed in almost a year.

post / avatar combo

I'm more of a "Smile Like You Mean It" and "On Top" fan.

As for Sawdust "Who Let You Go?" and "All The Pretty Faces" are great tracks.

I look forward to hearing this new record. I still have faith in Mr. Flowers and thank God he shaved. he was too pretty for all of that ugly facial hair.

So you're a fan of America's Next Top Model too?

Hot Fuss = 3 good singles.
Sam's Town = 3 good singles.
Most bands > 1 good single.

I really like half of Hot Fuss.
I liked almost all of Sam's Tom.
I am looking forward to this.

I don't get why there is so much hate directed towards the Killers. They don't seem that important in the grand scheme of things.

the funny thing is that the people who dislike the Killers talk/think/post about them more than i do

from Rolling Stone

The Killers announced today that their new disc, Day & Age, will be released on November 25th.

Last week we heard five of the 10 cuts slated for Day & Age and each one of them will blow your mind. The first single "Human" is destined to be a worldwide club hit. On "I Can't Stay" the Killers open up their sound, adding tenor sax and steel drums. And "Dustland Fairytale" is an epic — featuring characters like the "slick-chrome American prince" and "Cinderella" — that Flowers says he wrote about his parents.

A few mornings ago we met our buddy, Brandon Flowers, in a suite at New York's Rivington Hotel. Click more to read the transcript of our chat. "It's like looking at Sam's Town from Mars," Flowers says about the new disc.

So, what have you guys been up to?

Well, we were just in London. We were playing a bunch of festivals. Then we mixed—we finished mixing the album, almost, in London. Now we're here.

Let's go back to when the album started. I guess it was when you started working with Stuart Price on music that ended up on Sawdust…

He had done stuff, he had done remixes with us before but we had never met him until he was doing "Sweet Talk". And, you know, we did that Christmas thing with him, so that was good. We just liked him right away. I don't wanna fucking go get Eno right now. Not that we didn't attempt to in that past. [laughs]. But you know, you want that hunger that he must have had 30 years ago. And I feel like Stuart's that man.

What's Stuart like? Is he a nut?

He's kind of a weirdo.

In a good way, I presume.

Yeah. But he's quick, he's quick with ideas, and with our ideas, and it just made it a lot more fun. He's not afraid to say, you know, "that sucks," or "let's try something else," so it really kept it—kept it rolling.

So when did you write all this stuff?

It started on the road for Sam's Town, so, it's been goin' on for a couple years.

So hotel rooms, and that kind of shit.

Yeah. Doin' it on computers. And then we'd send it right to him, and pre-production would be going right away. So he's been going—he got more than he bargained for with this album. It's been going on for a while.

So at what point did you guys decide Stuart was your man?

Pretty early on.

Like, a year ago?

Yeah. When we met him, we were just having dinner with him in London about what he was doing for us at Sawdust, helping us with Sawdust. So I just said, "What are you doing after dinner?" He said he was free, and we went to his house -- he has a studio there -- and we recorded "Human." We just knew that it just sounded so good—it was only a couple hours we spent, and it wasn't much different that it is now.

So why didn't "Human" end up going on Sawdust?

It was too good.

So, if Sam's Town is about Vegas, what is this one about?

For me it's definitely a continuation. On this one I was thinking more universal. Like, when Morrissey was singing about Manchester, I thought, "I got it." [laughs]. I don't know. Maybe I didn't. I feel like that's the duty, I guess. You're supposed to represent where you're from, and—I'm trying to figure out what that is— I don't know how to do it. I don't know.

Is it about spending so much time away from home?

Yeah, I said it's like looking at Sam's Town from Mars. It still always goes back to Vegas but it's, yeah, it's definitely maybe, maybe from an outsiders perspective…

Of missing your home town?

Yeah…that's always in there. I have a romantic notion of what America, and Nevada and the Wild West— about what it is. And, I'm tryin' to hold on.

Generally, how have you been doing the last couple of years? You have a new family.

Yeah, it's crazy. The boy's walking around. It happens quick. It's exciting, you know. I've always been around kids; I have 19 nieces and nephews.

Okay!

Nineteen. So it's always. I love him more than my nieces and nephews—not that I don't love them, you know, but it's cool. But I felt like I was more accustomed to kids than my wife. She comes from a small family, but she's doing fantastic.

Do they travel with you?

They travel, yeah. It's hard, though. The baby's got more stuff than I have. So it's hard loading it in and out everyday.

And your fellow Killers… Everything is good? You guys are getting along?

Yeah. I thought we got along really well on Sam's Town, better than we did on Hot Fuss, so. Hopefully we're going in the right direction. Maybe it's—we have a little bit more space, now, with the luxury of having success, I guess. With Hot Fuss you're sharing bedrooms, and…so there's a little more space. We don't have our own busses yet or anything, but it's nice. It's been good.

So, you meet up with Stuart Price, at his studio at home after dinner, and you do "Human." Then what?

Then we just start sending him ideas, from all over the place. So we sent him "Spaceman" from Panama, and then some stuff was from Australia, so it was cool—just being able to send it over. And he'd work on it right away. He's just—like I said, he's just got that drive.

You're sending him digital files?

Yeah, like Logic, or Garage Band. It's almost like Pro Tools or something. I mean it wasn't the best sounds, but you would get the gist of it. And then by the time we got home Ronnie had learned how to use Logic, and so did Mark, and so they were doing stuff and then sending it to him from their house. It's a really weird way to work. Wasn't that we didn't want to be around each other, it's just that we were home, and Ronnie, say, would have an idea, send it to Stuart, Stuart would shine it up, send it to me, and I'd sing at it, at my house, and send it back. It was a little weird.

So, and what is Stuart doing to it? He's just shining it up?

Yeah, and he's—he's not afraid to put out ideas, and you know at first that was hard to get used to. But I mean some of them we kept, and you know, we almost treated him like a fifth member.

So, for instance, on "Human," what did he add to that? Obviously it has kind of a Euro-pop feel to it.

The landscapes —that would be more Stuart. We'd do the meat and potatoes, and he adds the galaxy.

Right. So when you hear what he's done with " Human," are you like, "Wow this is incredible," or are you hesitant?

I was really excited. That one took a little coaxing for the other guys. Everybody's got their fingerprints on it now, but at first it sounded a little maybe too dance.

What's "Human" about?

I think we were at a weird festival in Germany. I was just trying to have it be a simple tune, with classic chord changes. The way I described it to Stuart was -- I remember saying this to him at dinner -- "I got this thing, it's like Johnny Cash meets the Pet Shop Boys. Let's go record it."

And you guys have a new studio in Vegas?

Yeah, we just got it. It's really close to the Palms, actually [where the Killers recorded Sam's Town].

Thank god! You gotta be close to the Palms!

[Laughs] 

It's about three minutes. It's basically right there in the hotel area. It's been a studio for years but we didn't even know about it. It was kinda--people would use it for like productions stuff. Hotels would use it for like plays or whatever that was going on—Cirque de Soleil.



Like live recordings?

I don't know. That's all we know. And so its, uh—Its got a great live room. And, it's big. It's a pretty big place. It doesn't look like much on the outside but when you go in its pretty cool. We were really happy to find it.

And you guys were rehearsing for a couple months and then Stuart comes in and you guys just knock it out?



Yeah. We had 19 that we were gonna record. And then there's quite a bit that we threw away. Yeah, so…fuck. It's hard to finish the lyrics and then you gotta worry about "iTunes wants bonus songs" and "Japan gets an extra song." By the time you're done its like two albums. I'm still not done with a lyric. I've still got one song that needs lyrics for the album.

Right. So, what should we say about the other Killers stepping up on this record? I heard five songs and it's definitely the best shit you've ever done.


Yeah I feel like it is. I think it was like that freedom that Stuart gives you to just--If you want to try something—to nobody was afraid to try it. We brought in a sax player. Tommy, he's our buddy. He's probably going to come on the road with us. And Ronnie brought in his buddy—this Cuban guy, that's a percussionist. We all just kind of said, you know, fuck it. You know, people laugh at sax solos. We just said, fuck it.


I live for sax solos.

There's a couple on this album. It was just like… we just went with it.

Right. So the saxophonist is your friend Tommy.

Tommy Max. He's a Vegas character.

Who did all the strings? Are you playing all the strings on synth?



Yeah. Me and Stuart did all the strings. We were gonna have—we planned to get together an orchestra and do it later, but it sounds so good that we just left it alone.

And what's the other sax song?



There's one called "Joy Ride" that's got nice sax moment.

Another solo?

Yeah!

Sweet. And you got steel drums? Who did that?

The steel drums are fake. 



What about this song "Dustland Fairytale?" Can you tell me about that?

It started off just kind of ripping off "Waiting for the Man." I guess it's the most like Sam's Town on the album.

What's your favorite song on the record right now?

That one. It goes between that one and "I Can't Stay." But you gotta hear "Joy Ride." We just finished it a couple of days ago.

Why's the album called Day & Age?

I don't know. You wait for moments. I just wait for it come, and I knew that that was right when I had it. 



Is that lyric in a song?



Yeah, it's in two songs.

 It's in "Neon Tiger" and "The World We Live In."

So how many songs are on the record?



Ten. When does the Kings of Leon record come out?



I don't know. End of September?



That single is good.



"Sex on Fire" -- yeah.

The verses are so good.


What else are you listening to?

Lou Reed. We were listening to Berlin a lot, me and Mark., when we were making the record. What else? E.L.O. wouldn't go away.

Can you tell me like about writing some of these songs. Are you writing in the middle of the night after shows?

Yeah that's where it started—after shows. And then about half of it was done at home. So it's kind of all over the place. Some were at the piano at home. Some were jams. Some were on the road.



When you were writing these songs were you homesick, or depressed?



No. (laughs)

Not that they sound depressed, but I was just curious.

No, it's cool. I always feel like there's something wrong with me because I don't have some dire some sort of awful outlook on life. It seams like you're not allowed to—like it must not be real or it must not be good if you are happy to be here. And I'm very happy to be here. I love having a body that's fully functioning. I love traveling and getting this opportunity.

Are any of these songs about kind of specific things in your life? Are any of these songs about your baby boy or your wife?

Yeah, I mean there's a couple lines in there. There's one in "I Can't Stay." But yeah, the one that I just—specifically about my mom and dad is "The Dustland Fairtytale."

Nice. What's the touring plan?


We're going to go out October, November, December, just do TV and a couple of gigs here and there. We're going to come to New York on October 26th, I think. And then January will really kick off though the touring.

And so, are there going to be six people on stage now?



Six. Tommy and Ray. Ray is the new Ted, who went off to do his own thing. So Ray, played with Louis XIV. He was their Ted. And uh, he quit with them and he's with us now. We didn't steal him or anything. No bad blood.


Good. And he's playing keyboards and the occasional guitar?



Keyboards and guitar. So we'll have him and Tommy.



And everyone involved is psyched about Day & Age?

So far it's been a pretty good response. Yeah, Ronnie says if we never make another album, he's happy. I don't know how to take that.

See, people.

Paul knows the score on the Killers.

Everything he said in his last post is gospel.

I had no idea they already had another album coming (this soon).

I agree, they're not of enough 'importance' to be of any annoyance, and they make music that can be fun to put on, which is better than most widely popular music out there.

It may be a bleh album, but I'd take Sam's Town over Viva la Vida any day.

The problem is, Brandon Flowers would probably tell you something completely different.

meh, no diff than most rockers and hip hop artists out there

Definitely, but the way Flowers was shooting his mouth off left, right and centre before Sam's Town came out - saying how he wanted this album to be his Born to Run or whatever - left a pretty bad taste in the mouth, especially since when the album came out it was unlistenable and laughable, aside from 'When We Were Young'.

But I hate these guys too much to keep bitching about them, so I'll ease off until I hear this album and leave the anticipation to those who are excited to hear it.

You're right there. I'd thankfully forgotten about all his over hyping. Again, I don't think The Killers are that good, and certainly not as great as Flowers' fancies them to be, but I still enjoy some of the tracks on each record they release (even that B-sides, or whatever Sawdust was supposed to be).

Then again, at least he's not Kanye West.