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The Band

Brandon Flowers -Vocals Keyboards
David Keuning -Guitar
Mark Stoermer -Bass
Ronnie Vannucci -Drums

It was late 2002. Brandon Flowers (yes, it is his real name) had been dumped by his one previous group, a synth-pop outfit named Blush Response, when he refused to move with the rest of the band to L.A. Cruelly ditched, but inspired by seeing Oasis play (incredibly, the Brothers Grim had made it all the way to Vegas in one piece), he saw that his life needed more guitars. When he clocked Dave Keuning’s small ad in a local paper naming that band as an influence and what with Oasis not exactly factoring in the pasty Vegas music scene, he took it as fate that they should be together.

“He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn’t a complete freak, ” remembers Dave fondly. “He came over with his keyboard and we started going through song ideas straight away. I had the verse to “Mr. Brightside” and he went away and wrote the chorus. That was the first song we wrote together and remains the only song that we’ve played at every single Killers show.”

So far so romantic, then. The early core of the band was cemented and their amazingly previously-unused moniker appropriated from a New Order video. The premise of said promo was to represent the perfect band  with the greatest song as well as model good-looks and youth on their side – to represent Barney & Co. That band was called The Killers. “It gave me the ambition that our actual band should be as perfect as their fictional band,” says Flowers. And so began our heroes’ journey…

After trying out a couple of different bass players and drummers, Brandon and Dave met Ronnie Vannucci, a photographer at the Little Chapel of Flowers and student of classical percussion at UNLV, and Mark Stoermer, who was making ends meet as a medical courier (blood, urine, the odd body part  all glamour). In between these couldn’t-make-it-up day-jobs (Brandon, for the record, was a bellhop at the Gold Coast Hotel; whilst Dave garnered valuable training for his current all-the-ladies-love-an-axeman dilemmas whilst enjoying trysts with lady-shoppers at his Banana Republic job) the newly-complete Killers set to writing what we can assuredly state to be one of the most exciting debut albums you’ll have heard in a very, very long time.

Word soon spread further afield about The Killers. The band came to the attention of London-based independent label Lizard King, and they made their way over to the UK for their first ever gigs outside of Las Vegas (for some of the band this was even the first time they’d needed a passport) and a limited edition release of “Mr Brightside”in September 2003. Those lucky enough to catch these first London shows came away pretty much unanimously enamoured (”A head-mashingly brilliant arsenal of tunes. Right now, few bands are a safer bet than The Killers”, glowed NME), while the group’s subsequent appearance at New York industry fiesta CMJ in October saw a swarm-sized buzz surround the band and a worldwide (ex-UK) deal inked with Island Records.

Next came the album Sam’s Town. Though not quite as popular as the first album (what could be?), it featured the 2 memorable singles When You Were Young, and Bones. The band then released a compilation album Sawdust, which offers a mishmash of covers, and collaborations.

2008 saw the much-anticipated Day & Age, The Killer’s 3rd studio album, hit the shelves. The Killers were back to their best, with a strong and creative record. The quirky lyrics of the first single from the album, Human, had everyone rushing to find out about the journalist Hunter Thompson; Brandon Flowers mentioned he was the inspiration for the ‘are we dancers’ line.  This year, 2009 The Killers joined the much anticipated “New Moon” soundtrack with the song “A White Demon Love Song”, the all original, all exclusive soundtrack has been raking the charts and album sales.

THE KILLERS LIVE IN MANILA

WHEN:  JANUARY 31, 2010 (Sunday)

WHERE:  SM MALL OF ASIA CONCERT GROUNDS, PASAY CITY (behind SMX)

TIME: Gates open 6PM, Concert starts at 7pm

VIP: P 5,550.00- available at all Ticket World and Ticketnet outlets. SRO.

GOLD: P 3,950.00 – available at all Ticket World and Ticketnet outlets. SRO.

SILVER: P 1,550.00 – available at all Ticket World and Ticketnet outlets. SRO.

BRONZE : P    550.00 – available at all Ticket World and Ticketnet outlets. SRO.

For inquiries, call:

World Wide Womb – 5686908 / 3840239 / 8972472

Saga Events – 7277765 /  4803208 / 721.3931

Ticketworld - 8919999

Ticketnet - 9115555

RAJO!

Tags: concert, Fashion Insider, music, rajo laurel, Robby Carmona, the killers