THE KILLERS - Fussy-Whipped

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Though released way back in 2004, the hype surrounding The Killers' appropriately titled Hot Fuss debut is yet to die down. ROBERT PENNEY discussed a wide range of topics with bassist Mark Stoermer, including Live8 and the Pink Floyd influences on album number two, being sued by an ex-band member, the controversy surrounding a new song and the early days spent playing transvestite bars in heavy make-up.

As the first band to ever make it out of Las Vegas, the Killers were possibly the most unlikely success story of 2004. Every magazine article couldn't resist a clichéd reference to man-eating tigers or, at the very least, flashing neon signs. Having grown up surrounded by bright lights and a 24-hour lifestyle, Mark Stoermer admits that it's only now he's realised how very different other cities in the world are. Though they (thankfully) never aspired to be the next Wayne Newton, Vegas culture undoubtedly seeped into their pores during those early days as The Killers played transvestite bars in a glitzy stage get-up.

"It's just what we are willing to do for the show!" laughs Stoermer. "Make-up was just something we were doing for fun. Now only occasionally will Brandon [Flowers] or David [Keuning] still put it on. All of us have worn it on stage at least once. At one time we even had a New York Dolls thing going on."

Although the group have dropped the heavy eye shadow, controversy still surrounds them, but now it relates to the lyrics of new song Where Is She? As the band began to test the tune out on the road, suspicion grew that it was written specifically about a girl in Scotland who went missing.

"I know about the controversy but I don't know too much about the lyrics because Brandon wrote them," admits Stoermer.

"It kind of created a little thing, but I think Brandon mentioned that it was at least inspired by the murder in Scotland though people were still offended by it. Lately we haven't been playing that song live and I'm not even sure it'll be on the next record. Not necessarily because of the controversy, we think it just needs work as a song."

Perhaps the most surreal problem the band have faced was when their ex-drummer attempted to sue after claiming to have written the band's hit Mr Brightside.

"It just kind of died out because he didn't have a leg to stand on," says Stoermer. "David had a guitar riff on a demo and handed it to Brandon who made up the vocals for it. Our early drummer just played on some early demos, he had nothing to do with the writing except for playing the snare on the two and four which every drummer in the world does!"

Having spent November and December writing, rehearsing and jamming, the band plan to enter the studio in January to record the next album. If all goes to plan, the record could be finished by March and hopefully be on the shelves in June or July.

"There are a couple of songs that allude to Pink Floyd. We have a new song called Daddy's Eyes and, to me, that sounds like it could almost be off Dark Side Of The Moon. We were all watching the making of last year (Classic Albums - The Dark Side of Moon), and started getting back into Pink Floyd. I was really into that album as a teenager, and then I put it away for a while. Coincidently, Pink Floyd had the reunion show at Live8. Everywhere you look it's Pink Floyd again! We aren't intending to have too much of that sound or anything, but there is at least one or two songs that remind me of it."

Pink Floyd also shared a stage with The Killers for Live8 in London last year. Aside from being touched by the personal invitation from Bob Geldof, Robbie Williams paid his own personal tribute to the band by inserting The Killer's lyrics "I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" into a line from one of his own songs.

"I didn't hear it but I heard about it. I didn't even see Robbie Williams there!" recalls Stoermer. "It was weird because when we were backstage it was hard to see, because only a certain amount of people were allowed on stage to watch. Otherwise you had to watch it on a big screen TV. So during his performance I was elsewhere and somebody told me that he squeezed that in there (laughs)! It was a shame we were only allowed to play one song but we can't complain though because we were guests and it was a charity event and was more about the cause than how many songs we played. We weren't too worried about that, but we were the only band that played one song and we had to share Snow Patrol's gear (laughs)! The vibe of the concert was pretty laid back. It was weird seeing Paul McCartney running around with an entourage of ten people and seeing David Gilmour just standing around chatting. Everywhere you looked were big stars that you admired or had just seen everywhere. Everyone was in a pretty good mood though and were just there for the cause.

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