Killers just want to have fun

Brandon Flowers on honoring Cyndi and ‘bringing a little bit of Vegas everywhere’

INTERVIEW. What happens in Vegas doesn’t always have to stay in Vegas. Brandon Flowers, singer of the Killers, seems dedicated to changing the popular tourism slogan and taking his band’s Sin City showbiz aesthetic to as many people as will listen.

Selling more than 2.6 million copies of their latest album worldwide, the Killers are about to embark on the second tour of the U.S. to support “Day & Age,” which came out last November.

Do you get frustrated supporting the same album that you’ve been supporting for almost a year?
You start to become a little bit machine-like, but we’re a very well-oiled machine. We can play these songs. I mean, it’s been a lot of fun. We’ve had a lot of great shows. I feel like we’ve neglected our homeland a little bit, and there’s probably a lot of people that still haven’t seen the show. It’s a great show. It’s exciting. I love the stage setup. I feel like we’re bringing a little bit of Vegas everywhere we go. I’m always proud of that.

The venues are also bigger on this leg of the tour.
We’ve always been kind of conscious of that. We want to play where we belong, but we don’t want to get there too quickly, so we’re kind of stepping it up a little. … Our first album sold a lot and we could have gone around and played arenas but we wanted it to be more of an evolution. There was definitely talk of us playing bigger places on the first album, but I knew that I wasn’t ready. We’re starting to feel really confident, I think.

Are you keeping all of the theatrics of the first leg, like the palm trees, the bubbles, the sparks and the giant neon flag?
I think so. Hopefully a little more so. I mean, it’s in our blood, I guess. We’re from Vegas. It’s the showmanship. There’s something to be said for being able to play your songs, and if we can play them and put on a show, we might as well do it.

How many pheasant feather jackets do you have?
I have about five different ones. They’re not all the same.

I was talking with a friend about how stores like Urban Outfitters now stock well-worn T-shirts I had to work to get, and now absolutely anybody can have them. What would be your reaction if H&M started stocking jackets for men with feathers on the shoulders?
(laughs) I think I would be proud.

Can you walk down the street wearing those things?
Oh, no. I couldn’t do it.

One of the things that impressed me about your show is that you still play “Shadowplay,” the Joy Division song you covered for Anton Corbijn’s 2007 film “Control.” Although I loved what you guys did to it, I had thought you did it as a favor and just kind of forgot about it.
I was very influenced by New Order, not as much by Joy Division, but what we did for that song was we kind of tried to re-imagine it, not just how the Killers would do it, but almost how an evolved Joy Division would have done it, the direction that New Order went in, almost. So it’s really fun, and it turned out great, and every night we play it I wish it was ours, but the crowd loves it, and we’re really happy with how it turned out. Some people hate it.

Who hates it?
One time we played it at the NME Awards. I wasn’t there for this, but a guy came up to Dave [Keuning, guitarist] and said, “I think your cover of ‘Shadowplay’ is worse than from where Joy Division got their name.” And Dave sent him through the air.

It came to fisticuffs?
Yeah, but nobody got any pictures of it.

It’s almost like with the song and the “wooo” you do, you’re putting a joy into Joy Division that was never there before.
[laughs] That’s something, well, I was channeling [New Order singer] Bernard Sumner.

So were you tapped directly by New Order to do that song, specifically?
Anton Corbijn, that’s his favorite Joy Division song. It’s actually from when they were called Warsaw. He was keen on us doing that one, and we got the band to OK it. They’re all really great guys. They’ve always been good to us.

Speaking of joy, I read somewhere that you had said something about Nirvana taking the fun out of rock ‘n’ roll.
[groans] oh, yeah.

A lot of people ask you about this?
[sighs] No, it’s that they somehow made it seem like an awful thing that I said. When you write it down, it doesn’t sound very good, I know. I guess my point was just that music just hasn’t been very colorful and that’s really it.

Well, who is colorful that you’re listening to lately?
Right now I like Chairlift, and the Bronx. You know the Bronx record they made with a mariachi band?

I haven’t heard that yet.
They’re kind of a heavier group, and they always had a melodic edge to them, but they went full-on mariachi and made this beautiful album and the songs are really solid and it sounds really authentic and they wear the suits, and everything. … Let’s see, what else have I been listening to? Ronnie [Vannucci, drummer] is always playing Tom Petty. We always talk about Dave Stewart and Jeff Lynne.

Really? Together? Mysterious bearded men?
I didn’t realize that Jeff Lynne was still going, but he worked on that last Regina Spekter album. Yeah, he did a few of the songs on there, and I love the stuff he did with Tom Petty.

Have you guys got any ELO covers planned?
I know that we’re going to do a covers record, eventually, and we’ll each pick two or three songs, and Ronnie will inevitably choose an ELO song.

What are you going to choose?
I can’t decide yet. My list changes all the time, but I know “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” I want to do. We’ve done it live, but it was written for a man to sing, originally. I learned this from [VH1 program] “Pop Up Video.” And it’s genius because it’s really arrogant, because this guy’s mom and dad are asking him what he’s going to do with his life and his answer is just “Girls just want to have fun.” But Cyndi Lauper really did it better than anybody else could have, but I always thought that would be a fun one. Also, I love “Stretch Out and Wait” by the Smiths. That was the first time I ever noticed something sexual in music, and it always stuck with me. I almost felt guilty when I listened to it, but I love it. It’s a beautiful song.

Do you guys ever try new stuff on the road?
Not really. I’m always writing songs, but the last couple months have been a lot of festivals so we don’t have soundchecks to mess around. We did write a Christmas song with Wild Light, that band from New Hampshire. Every year we do a Christmas song, and every year it’s a duet. And this one is going to be called “Happy Birthday, Guadalupe.” I think it’s our best Christmas song.

I’m guessing if it’s ready now you had to record the song this summer. Is it weird to do a Christmas song in July?
[laughs] It’s fun. You’ve really got to use your imagination. What I’ve noticed about the Christmas songs so far is that there’s a lightness about writing a Christmas song. There’s not a lot of pressure. You’re writing it and you’re giving it to charity. And there’s a quality about our Christmas songs that I wish we could have otherwise. I think we overthink when we’re making an album. If you go back and listen to our first one, it’s called “A Great Big Sled,” and the second one is “Don’t Shoot Me Santa.” I mean, these songs would destroy rock radio if they weren’t about Christmas.

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve always wondered what you do for vocal warm-ups.
I never took lessons for the longest time, and I finally started taking lessons.

When?
About a year ago.

Wow! That recently?
Yeah, there’s this guy in Vegas, and I can’t remember his name, I hate that. Anyway, I go to his place and go an hour with him and record it onto a CD, and then I can do warm-ups or if I’m having a day off I can do these exercises. But I basically just make a bunch of embarrassing noises.

What finally made you say, “Well, I’m a professional singer, I guess I should take singing lessons.”?
Well, yeah, I think that was it. It had just come to this realization that this is my job. I mean, I love it, and I love music, and I don’t feel like it’s my job, but this is what’s taking care of my family. And if I can do something better, I should do something better.

Did any of the other members, like Ronnie, say, “Uh-oh, Brandon’s taking singing lessons, I guess that means I should take drum lessons”?
[laughs] No, but everybody practices. And that’s something he’s done since he was a young child. This is still something that’s fairly new to me.

Here's an easy one. In one sentence, why do you do what you do?
[to himself] Why do I do what I do?

Not that easy, I guess. Sorry.
Yeah, I really don’t know why I do it. There’s always the clichéd answer that I don’t have it in me to give, you know the “it chose me” or all that sh-. Or “if I didn’t do it, I would die.” [laughs] Because I wouldn’t die, I would probably just be working at a casino. I don’t know. I just love music.

Are we human or are we dancer?
I think we’re getting closer and closer to human every day.

And that’s a good thing?
Yup.

The Killers
Tuesday, 7 p.m.
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
1000 Ocean Parkway, Wantagh
$35-$75, 516-221-1000
www.livenation.com

Friday, 7:30 p.m.
TD Garden
100 Legends Way, Boston
MBTA: Green Line to North Station
$25-$45, 617-931-2000
www.livenation.com