Challenging Themselves And Their Fans For Album #5

The Killers

"I really wanted to inhabit my age, you know," says frontman Brandon Flowers of The Killers' latest offering, Wonderful Wonderful.

"You get to this point where there's a certain type of song that's expected of you or that people associate with you and I'm proud of that, that we have a thing, but I also love the idea of evolution, and I love bands that evolve and grew and didn't just pander to a certain audience that's going to keep buying tickets or keep buying records. And so it was sort of now or never, I feel like, and I'm really happy with the outcome and I'm proud of us for the territory we went into. But having said that, we also have songs that are very 'Killers', you know. A song like Run For Cover is kind of exactly what you want from us, I guess, and so we covered a lot of ground."

The Man was the first track to be released from the forthcoming album and was one that was certainly divisive among casual and long-time fans alike, with its '70s dance vibe and sultry lyrics. When asked if the new album, and particularly that track, were as much about challenging the listener as well as themselves sonically, Flowers is candid about his feelings on the song.

"We knew that it was new territory for us and it grew on us as well, and it's still growing. I think I like it more every day," he laughs. "I knew that it was exciting and that there were some influences finally coming out that were just waiting somehow... but I wasn't sure what people were going to think and I wasn't sure how it was going to come across live, and now I just, I love it."

It's been five years since the group's last album, Battle Born. For fans, it's a long wait. For the band though, it was a totally necessary time away.

"Part of it was, you know, giving everybody a long enough break, and so, we also we toured it for almost two years, off and on, and then we also released Direct Hits, which was like a Best Of, and we toured that a little bit and then I made a solo record and we finished a Christmas album, so there was a lot going on. I think part of it was also that we knew that we needed to do better than the last record. You know, I personally felt like that, and we were just kind of waiting for a vision, waiting for a target and then I started to see it and that's when it really started to come to fruition."

So, what was that target then?

"It was just like giving myself permission to, you know, to write about what I was going to write about and really say, 'Ok, we're going to make, you know, whatever you want to call it, a more grown-up record,' or whatever it was. It took a while to really settle into it."

Flowers has come a long way from his songwriting on their debut album, Hot Fuss, having shifted away from the fantastical — most specifically seen in the 'Murder Trilogy', comprised of Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf, Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine and Midnight Show, which is a long-running fan theory that Flowers is speaking from the perspective of an actual killer — to now writing songs that are totally cemented in reality. For this record, Flowers has reached his most personal songwriting endeavour yet, focusing on his own life and that around him, a theme that has become more and more apparent over their last few records. It's unsurprising that people all over connect to the band in such a big way due to the personal nature of Flowers' lyrics.

"For that, I get glimpses of it, but I know what it... I know what music did for my life and so... it's a big responsibility for us to make a record and we are aware of the impact that it can have and so that's why we do take it seriously. We believe in it. Sometimes we're, not lambasted for that, you know, say that we take ourselves too seriously, but it's kind of hard not to [do] that sometimes when it's had such a profound effect on you. So, I totally understand how it happens and it's amazing to be on the other side of it, and you think, This is incredible,' and I'm thankful that I'm doing some kind of good or some kind of service for people," he laughs. "And I love it, and I love working and I love it."