Driving around Las Vegas in his shiny new black Volkswagen Touareg -- with twenty-two-inch rims and Elton John's "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" blaring on the stereo -- the Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers told the Smoking Section all about the follow-up to the triple-platinum Hot Fuss. "It's more American," he says. "People called us the best English band to come from America and all that shit. That's cool, and English rock is great, but it's forced me to listen to American music to see what I was missing." So Flowers studied Bruce Springsteen's layering techniques on "Thunder Road" and dug the economy of Tom Petty. Beginning on February 15th, the band has booked the spanking-new studio at the Palms hotel to start running down new songs such as "The River Is Wild," "Peace of Mind" and "For Reasons Unknown" with producers Flood and Alan Moulder. In the meantime, the Killers are contemplating the addition of a new member, a guy named Ted who plays guitar and piano. ("I don't even know his last name," says Flowers.) But don't expect to see Ted onstage at the next Killers gig. "What do we do, hide him?" says Flowers. "At this point people are used to, or sick of, the four of us -- one of the two."

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Who does Pink Floyd's David Gilmour talk to about On an Island, his first solo album since 1984? Nobody -- except the Smoking Section. Gilmour dropped us a line from the London studio where he's putting the final touches to the album, due in March. "I hope people will think it's great," says Gilmour. "It's the best thing I've ever done." Gilmour has been collecting song ideas since releasing Pink Floyd's Division Bell in 1994, but On an Island began taking form in 2004, when Gilmour teamed with Phil Manzanera to co-produce and tapped his wife, Polly, a writer, to add lyrics. The title track features harmonies from Graham Nash and David Crosby, and -- put fresh water in the bong -- there are three instrumentals. Gilmour's ten-date U.S. tour in April will include Floyd tunes, but don't hold your breath for a full-fledged reunion. Gilmour politely says he enjoyed their Live 8 set "immensely" but adds, "Taking the gravy train for a Pink Floyd greatest-hits show is not what I need to be doing at this stage in my life."

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"The first song on the record is gonna be called 'Track One,'" Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz tells the Smoking Section, about the follow-up to FOB's platinum album From Under the Cork Tree. They haven't stepped into a studio yet, but Wentz says the album is written, and he couldn't help spilling new song titles such as "Summer of Like," "You Can't Spell 'Star' Without A&R" and "Gay Is Not a Synonym for Shitty." He also knows the album title but won't share just yet. "I'm sworn to secrecy," says Wentz. "But I promise you people will be like, 'What the fuck?'" We said, "what the fuck?" when Wentz told us the name of FOB's dream producer: Babyface.