Brandon Flowers reveals why The Killers scrapped new album

30 August 2023, 19:34

The Killers
The Killers recently shared a new single. Picture: Anton Corbijn

By Jenny Mensah

Frontman Brandon Flowers revealed why he decided to ditch the songs they've recorded so far because they're too similar to their past.

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Brandon Flowers scrapped The Killers' material halfway through recording because he felt it wasn't evolved enough.

The band recently unveiled Your Side Of Town, their first new music since 2022 standalone single Boy and the frontman revealed they've been in the studio working on much more.

Flowers told The Sunday Times newspaper that he and Ronnie Vannucci Jr have recorded songs with producers Stuart Price and Shawn Everett, but they've decided to ditch the songs them because they didn't want to make the same type of music they were 20 years ago.

The Las Vegas rocker revealed: "Halfway through recording I realised, ‘I can’t do this.' This isn’t the kind of record... I don’t think you’ll see us making this type of music any more.”

Instead the Mr Brightside rocker plans to move away from the sound of the band's 2004 debut album, Hot Fuss, which helped make The Killers one of the biggest bands in the world.

"I’m as proud of Hot Fuss as you can be for something you did when you were 20, but I’m not 20," he added. "So I’m thinking about the next phase of my life.

“It is a conflict. It is just, well, at what point do I make that change? Who in the band wants to do that too?

"No matter what, there will always be people who look at me and just think of Somebody Told Me. And I get that. But I’m interested in evolving.”

Looking at The Killers' latest track, which sees the band ditch guitars in favour of a synth-heavy single, it's fair to assume the band are sticking to this ethos.

The Killers – Your Side of Town (Audio)

Taking to social media to share the single's artwork, the band shared a post, which read: "Hello everyone,

"With much excitement we present you with Your Side of Town. It's got the ghosts of a lot of the synth music that inspired us over the years. And yet, somehow, feels completely our own. Now it's yours!

"Turn it up."

This weekened saw The Killers headline Reading and Leeds Festival and treated fans to a set packed with their classic hits, including Mr. Brightside, When You Were Young and All These Things That I've Done.

Their set at Reading saw them invite fan and drummer Ozzy up to the stage to help them perform their For Reasons Unknown track.

Encouraging the drummer, who is from Neston near Bath, to pick up the tempo Flowers joked that he should think "more cocaine than marijuana".

The Killers will play two more dates on this side of the pond at Boucher Road Playing Fields in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Electric Picnic in Stradbelly, Ireland before heading back home for North American dates.

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