The Killers

The Killers are an American rock band from Las Vegas Nevada, who began in 2002. The members are Brandon Flowers ( vocals,keyboard ), Dave Kuening ( vocals,guitar ), Mark Stoermer ( bass,vocals ), and Ronnie Vannucci ( drums, percussion ). They draw they style from the 1980's post-punk revolution. "Hot Fuss", their first album released in 2004, was accepted with very high acclaim. The second album, " Sam's Town", was released in 2006. In 2007, they released a compilations album," Saw Dust", which contained B-sides, rarities, and new materials. The third studio album, " Day & Age", was released in 2008. The Killers have sold over 5 million albums in the United States, 4.5 in the UK, and 15 million world-wide.


In 2001, Brandon Flowers was abandoned from his first band after he refused to move to LA California. It was a synth-pop band called Blush Response. He met Dave Kuening while responding to an ad that Dave was running in a Las Vegas paper, listing for people interested in music influenced by Oasis, The Cure, U2, and the Beatles. The name "The Killers" comes from bass drum of a fictional band in the video for The New Order song, "Crystal". The Killers fired two drummers in the first year and the original bassist quit. in late 2002,
Mark and Ronnie joined the band.

Initially, the band played at small Las Vegas clubs and often played at drag shows. They sent out demo tapes to all the major recording companies in the U.S. and continuously got turned down. Finally they caught the eye of Alex Gilbert, a British representative for Warner Bros.. Although Warner Bros. didn't like the band, he took a demo back with him and showed it to Ben Durling. Ben worked at the UK Indie label called Lizard King. In 2003, The Killers signed on with the British label.

" Mr. Brightside" premiered on August 19, 2003, on DJ Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. They travelled to London and began to play in clubs where the crowds grew nightly. Word of mouth and raving reviews , were extremely positive and The Killers returned to the States. Now that they had made their mark in the UK, they were quickly signed by Island Def Jam.


They have won four NME awards : Best International band in 2005, 2008 and 2009...Best video " BONES", in 2006. They picked up two awards in the first NME Awards USA for best band and best track for " TRANQUILIZE". They have been nominated for seven Grammy's, although they haven't won yet. In 2006, they won the BRIT Award for best International band and their album " Sam's Town", won best International album.

The Killers decided to take a brief hiatus as they had been on the road continuously over the last six years. On February 24, 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine, announced that Ray Davies, has chosen The Killers to contribute to a cover album of The Kinks songs, which is due out at the end of the year. In April 2010, Brandon announced he will be releasing a solo later this year and Ronnie will be joining Mt. Desolation, along with members of Keane and Mumford & Sons, to release an album of country songs.


DISCOGRAPHY
" HOT FUSS" ............. 2004 - 2006
" SAM'S TOWN" ............. 2006 - 2007
" SAW DUST" ............. 2007 - 2008
" DAY & AGE" ............. 2008 - 2010