The Killers Inside

Drummer Ronnie Vannucci studied percussion in college, and he has the session-dude chops to nail the pulsing dance beat of the new album's lead single, "Human." Keuning is the designated oddball — he's so spacey that he's actually saving money to book a trip on Virgin's first commercial space flights. His eyes sometimes appear to be moving in opposite directions, and he insists the band's "Born to Run" homage, "When You Were Young," sounds nothing like Springsteen. ("He's so weird, but he's so good," says Vannucci.) With his Brian May curls, Keuning also has the most old-school-rock look of the four — he keeps his hair long because he wasn't allowed to in his various pre-Killers day jobs. "Every day, I'm just thankful I don't have to get up and go to Banana Republic at six in the morning and open boxes of clothes," he says.

The combination of Flowers' brashness with the group's tendency to overreach somehow makes his band all the more fascinating. His most famous lyric — "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier," from the Hot Fuss song "All These Things That I've Done" — is unforgettably catchy, but also a baffling non sequitur. The ungrammatical chorus of "Human" ("Are we human, or are we dancer") is just as impenetrable. Flowers is irritated that people don't quite seem to get the lyric, and that fans were unhappy with the song's dance beat. "It's supposed to be a dance song, it goes with the chorus," he says. "If you can't put that together, you're an idiot. I just don't get why there's a confusion about it."

Flowers knows he's inviting more mockery with a key song on the new album, the Bowie-esque "Neon Tiger," which reads like a self-aggrandizing fable. "Took to the spotlight like a diamond ring. . . ./Don't you let them tame you/You're far too pure and bold," Flowers sings, with maximum drama. But recently Flowers got some reassurance from one of his heroes: He talked with Bruce Springsteen backstage at an L.A. arena. "I was scared to death, with all the dust that was kicked up about Sam's Town," Flowers says. "And he just eased my mind and gave me such a boost of confidence. And he was — he's perfect. He's unbelievable, you know? He was way nicer than he needed to be. He talked about how undeniable the first record was. And I brought up my concerns about it all, and, you know, he said he dealt with the same thing with Bob Dylan."

In New York, the Killers walk onstage at Hammerstein Ballroom in front of thousands of superpsyched fans, from 10-year-old kids to boogieing housewives. Toward the end of the show, Flowers stands on the monitor speakers and spreads his arms in a messianic, Bono-esque pose, as the crowd shouts along with the coda from "All These Things That I've Done": "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier." Flowers lifts his microphone stand with his right hand and pumps it in the air to Vannucci's beat. He repeats his line, again and again, with as much passion as he's got: "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier." It sounds great. And for a moment, you could almost believe it means something.

[From issue 1068/69 — December 25, 2008]

• More from Issue 1068-69
• The Killers Kick off Day & Age Tour
• Review: Day & Age