Dave Told Me
My friend, Eunice, joined me at the Galaxy Theater in Orange County to have a conversation with Dave Keuning, the guitar player of The Killers

By Lara Khajetoorians
From livemagazine

LARA: Why am I so anxious?
DAVE: I don't know.
LARA: Cause I'm a dork. (laughter) Do you have any pre-show rituals?
DAVE: Um, we just well like 2 minutes before the show, we just huddle up, talk to each other and, you know, cuddle a bit and then we come out.
LARA: Awesome. What is the weirdest rumor you've heard about yourself?
DAVE: The weirdest rumor?
LARA: yes.
DAVE: There's a lot floating around, actually, I haven't checked the website.
LARA: You should check it, it's scary.
DAVE: God, I don't want to know the weirdest rumor, you tell me.
EUNICE: Well this isn't a rumor, but it was said,wasn't it too early for a Strokes cover band?
DAVE: Well, that's not a rumor, that's just a really stupid comment. Everybody's been compared to the Strokes. Oh, they're the punk version of the Strokes. Oh, they're the Jamaican version of the Strokes. Oh It's like, no they're completely different bands. We're a different band.
LARA: Yeah you are.
DAVE: It's painfully obvious how different we are. We have 1 guitar player and they have 2. Our singer plays the keyboards. They don't have any keyboards, we've got 4 people and they've got 5, not to mention that our music doesn't sound alike.
LARA: I completely agree. When I read that review in a magazine, I was pissed. It didn't make sense. I honestly believe that some reporters don't know what the hell they are talking about.So, did you grow up in Vegas?
DAVE: No, I'm the only one that didn't. I grew up in IOWA.
LARA: Cool. Why'd you move to Vegas?
DAVE: I was trying to find people to in a band in Iowa and it wasn't happening and I wasn't having much luck. So after 2 years of working and basically wasting my life, I had to go somewhere, so I went to Vegas. I didn't know where to go, and that's where people go when they're lost.
LARA: Where they go to find themselves.
DAVE: It's a strange place. That's why it's full of weirdoes.
LARA: Yeah, I used to live there.
DAVE: Okay, see, there you go. (laughter)
LARA: What's your song writing dynamic? Your process?
DAVE: It's uh. It used to be different when it started out. It used to be, when Brandon and I met, we just wrote. We'd get together everyday after work and write songs in my room. And then we were the Killers with another bass player and drummer. It was still mostly Brandon and I. Then Ronnie and Mark joined. We started practicing in Ronnie's garage. It became more of a process with all of us together in the garage. We came up with these songs. A lot of times Brandon would come up with something on the keyboard at home and bring it in. Then we'd put drums, bass, and guitars to it, and finish it that way. Or we'd just come up with it in practice, something totally new. Those are the 2 different ways. We either come up with it in practice or Brandon comes up with something at home and brings it in. Now I just with we more time to be in a garage somewhere, cause it's really just. No wait, now we have a tour bus. We have our guitars and there's a keyboard with speakers in there, so we might write a little bit more. It's the first time we've ever had a tour bus, but we've never got time for it anymore. It's like sound check and then we're done. We play. We never write much on the road except in our heads. We come up with ideas in our heads and try to remember them and try to play them, turn them into songs.
LARA: Do you usually add the lyrics at the end or?
DAVE: Well Brandon usually, he's always singing ideas right away, but he never writes them down, and he usually doesn't remember them. He usually just writes them like the day before he records them.
LARA: Amazing
DAVE: He writes all the lyrics, of course. We hardly ever make a song with lyrics first. Somebody Told Me was the only one that we put the lyrics first.
LARA: Really?
DAVE: All the others, we come up with the lyrics, like at the last second.
LARA: That's awesome. So, I saw you open for Morrissey in April and had no idea who the Killers were. You were amazing. Now, all of a sudden it's like you guys have exploded. How does it feel?
DAVE: It feels pretty good right now. There's been a lot of work up to this point, and we've had headaches, but I think now, it's like the best it?s ever felt. We?re getting along pretty well and we?re writing a lot of good new songs. It?s like, I think, to be honest, when we first started touring, it was a complete lifestyle change. We got really cranky and hated each other for a little bit. Now we're used to it. It's getting better. Now we've got a tour bus, so we're comfortable, not, you know, sitting next to each other in a van. Things are going really good now; we've been touring since November, mostly in England. Then we started touring in America in March,March, April, and May and a little bit off and on in the summer and now we started the big tour 2 days ago in San Diego, and then we'll take a week off and then we go to Europe and come back and do more US touring. For the rest of the year, we're going to be in the US.
LARA: How does it feel to have many 16 year olds in love with you and wanting to marry you? (laughter)
DAVE: Don't think it's so much 16 year olds as it is 25 year olds.
LARA: Okay, okay, I'm 25 and I love you too. (laughter continues to ensue)
DAVE: No, it feels good for anyone to like us. I don't care if they're 25, 12, or if they're 88. We?re really happy that people like the music. It feels great.
LARA: Awesome. What is your craziest tour experience?
DAVE: Craziest tour experience?Oh my. This is our craziest tour experience. When we played in Toronto, we played Montreal then Toronto. We played to 2 gigs in Canada. The next day we were driving to Detroit, crossing the border. We stopped, got some food, ate, and then went to this little gas station where we could wash the van. So, we washed the van and attached to this big van was a trailer. We didn't know until we were already in there, that we weren't supposed to bring in anything that long. So, we brought it in and then, you know that laser powered arm, that thing that knows where your car ends. You see, it was an automatic carwash.
LARA: Right
DAVE: So, the thing just went to the very end and went ;kkkrrkkk; And I was standing outside and I saw the whole thing. It was just bad. It didn't even fit in the car wash. There was a sign that said no vans allowed, and the car wash made this really awful noise, then it stopped. We got jammed the van and had to, like, back it out. We bent it, and we had to get the thing back. Needless to say, we broke the carwash. It took us 20 minutes or so to just back out of the thing, cause the arm was in the way. To make a long story short, the guy that was working there said he called his manager and he was on his way. Just as we were backing out, the manager pulls up. He said, ?if I were you, I'd pull the vehicle to the side of the road, right now!' and he ran into the car wash. We saw him just looking at it, swearing and yelling. Well, you know, we're not outlaws, but we had a show to go to, so'we just left. (laughter ensues)
LARA: Jeez.
DAVE: We floored it and headed for the border. We got out of Canada. We love Canada though. PLEASE PUT THIS IN THERE. We LOVE CANADA. It was just one guy in Toronto who doesn?t like us. (yes, we are all laughing)
EUNICE: He's probably the one writing all those bad things about you guys wanting to be the Strokes.
DAVE: Look, you know, we had a show to go to, and we were running late. So, we headed for the border and got across the border.
LARA: Your priorities were right on.
DAVE: These people chased after us in their car. They got in their car and started driving after us.
LARA: Jeez.
DAVE: We made a left turn before they could get there. There was a car in between us that stopped in the lane, so they blocked them in for us. Then we got on the highway and got out of the country.
LARA: That is awesome.
EUNICE: You didn't offer to pay for any damage?
DAVE: No! It was gonna be a lot of money and they were probably insured anyway. It'd all work out great.
LARA: That is awesome! That is WHY they have insurance?that is pretty crazy.
DAVE: We?re going to be in Toronto soon'but don't tell them that.
LARA: When you are on tour and not performing, what do you do?
DAVE: Uhm, watch movies. I really never get to watch movies in the theater while we're on tour. So, I like to go to the movies when we are not on tour, or sleep, or you know, spend time with my girlfriend or friends that I have in Vegas, and maybe see my family, but that's rare. I don't really get much time off, and when I do, I'm in Vegas, I don't really get back to Iowa much. My time off goes by really fast.
LARA: I can imagine. It must be really hard to maintain your relationship.
DAVE: It is. It's tough.
LARA: Does your girlfriend ever meet you on tour?
DAVE: Mine is with me right now.
LARA: Oh really?
DAVE: She's been with me for a couple days. She'll be with me for 3 more days, then after that, I won't see her for 4 weeks. I've only been with her for a couple months. The others have been with their girlfriends a long time, except for Mark. He's got a new girlfriend too, kind of.
LARA: Kind of?
DAVE: Well, he's known her for a while.
LARA: That?s cool. New relationships are exciting.
DAVE: Yeah.
LARA: I think they are, that is until the honeymoon phase wears off.
DAVE: No they aren't. Okay, yeah they are.
LARA: Now that you are signed, and your dreams are becoming a reality, is fame what you hoped it would be, everything you wanted it to be?
DAVE: Getting signed?
LARA: Yeah, getting signed, gaining fame and being recognized, hearing yourselves on the radio. Is it everything you hoped it would be?
DAVE: It's not what I though it would be. It's never what you think it is. It's um, I don?'t even know if we're famous, or whatever you want to call it. It doesn't feel like it. What's the best way to put it?...I don't understand why people ask that question.
LARA: Well, you've played some pretty big shows out here and festivals in the UK.
DAVE: Yeah.
LARA: And all the response I've seen and heard is positive.
EUNICE: Do you like playing the bigger venues?
DAVE: We like bigger places. We like both, like last night at the Troubadour in Hollywood, was great. And the festivals, when there are thousands of people'it's really comfortable up there, almost more comfortable than in a smaller venue. We try to write really big sounding songs.
LARA: Cool. So, where do you see yourself in 5 years?
DAVE: Hopefully we'll have at least 2 albums out. No maybe, hopefully, 3 albums out. Hopefully we're still touring. I hope we're still together. We're going to stay in Vegas. We're not going to move.
LARA: That's good.
DAVE: And, we'll probably be working on a new album'in 5 years. We'll be working on album number 4.
LARA: That would be awesome. What would you call it, if you had to name it right now?
DAVE: No idea'I would call it, uh. Man, I don't know.
LARA: Who came up with the title'Hot Fuss'
DAVE: We all just kind of threw around words and that stuck. Because it?'s not like it's an expression people use everyday. So, it just stuck. It's perfect.
LARA: Nice. Oh, by the way, I wanted to tell you that Mr. Brightside is my favorite song.
DAVE: Yeah?
LARA: It's like my most FAVORITE song ever.
DAVE: Wow. Really?
LARA: YES.
DAVE: That means a lot to me, because I just remember coming up with that, the first part of it in my closet.
LARA: Wow
DAVE: It was the guitar part. I wrote the verse first. I had the verse and the music and the guitar parts, obviously. I thought it was really good, recorded it on a little 4-track recorder and then, that was even before I met Brandon. That was like the first song I gave him, completely instrumental. He came back with vocals and made up a chorus, and I was like, 'oh my god, it's so good now, I can't believe this.' That was our first song we wrote.
LARA: Wow.
DAVE: So, it's really nice to hear you say that.
LARA: Yay. Oh and by the way, we were so happy that you played 'Indie Rock and Roll,' last night. You never play it anymore out here. Is it true that your label told you not to play it in the US cause Americans wouldn't like it or whatever?
DAVE: Not really. They just sort of didn't want it on the album in the US. We couldn't decide. For some reason I like the number 11. A lot of great albums have 11 songs, and time-wise it felt right. So, we couldn't decide between 'Change Your Mind' and 'Indie Rock and Roll' A lot of people like really love 'Change Your Mind' So, we put that one on in America and the other in the UK. To be honest, we kind of regret it now. Maybe''Indie Rock and Roll'' would have been better here in the states, cause 'Indie Rock and Roll,? means something different in the UK anyway. It's kind of a weird song to be on the album over there, but at least it's out there. I kind of wish now the record had 12 songs, maybe ''Indie'' or maybe ''Under the Gun'' That was also one of the first songs, and I kind of wish it was on the album now. Um, you know, whatever, we needed a B-side, that was part of it too.
LARA: I think I have almost all of your songs. I don't know, but I think I do. There's like 20.
DAVE: Is there?
LARA: Yeah, there's about 20.
DAVE: My god, what do you have? (laughter) How could there be 20?
EUNICE: Some she made up.
DAVE: There's only 11 on the album, 12, if you add ''Indie Rock and Roll''
LARA: Then there's ?Under the Gun?
DAVE: 13
LARA: Then there's?
DAVE: ''Let You Go,'' is 14. ''Ballad of Michael Valentine''
LARA: 15, then ''Desperate''
DAVE: You have ''Desperate''
LARA: Yup
DAVE: Do you like ''Desperate''
LARA: Yes I do.
DAVE: Jeez.
LARA: I told you, I'm totally a fan.
DAVE: What else do you have?
LARA: ''Untitled,''
DAVE: We actually have a title for it, ''Show You How,'' the one with the answering machine.
LARA: Nice.
DAVE: What else?
LARA: ''Waiting for Love''
DAVE: I love that song. You like that one?
LARA: I like it.
DAVE: I wish we would have finished it. That's probably the worse recording that's out there, as far as, it was really sloppily done. We were just in a garage and we just hit record, and now everyone's got it.
LARA: Like me!
AVE: What else is there?
LARA: ''Replaceable'' and, shit what?s the other one? All I know is, I bought HOT FUSS and then I have all these B-sides. I just put them everything on 1 CD, to have the complete Killers album. And it came out to 20 tracks.
DAVE: Oh my god!
LARA: Oh yeah and number 20 was the Morrissey cover.
DAVE: You can buy that one now. It's a B-side, ''Why Don't You Find Out for Yourself''
LARA: You can?
DAVE: Yeah. It's only out in England, but you can order the single, ''All These Things That I've Done''
LARA: I love that song. It's just timeless. Like some of the U2 songs on Joshua Tree.
DAVE: Yeah, it has that feel. We like it too.
LARA: How does it feel to be so big in the UK and not as well known here?
DAVE: We wish we were that big here. Maybe someday we will be. America is such a big place, and everyone has so many different tastes. There,s the whole country music thing. That,s not even really popular in the UK. There,s so many different areas, that it takes a while to get big here. We,re touring as much as we can, but there,s still lots of places we,ve never been to. That,s part of why it takes so long. Three pretty good UK tours, we,ve pretty much seen the whole country. There the towns are close to each other, like an hour. America is all spread out and you are hours away from the next big town. So, touring is really easy over there and it,s easy for music to spread. If you,re good, you,ll catch on like wild fire.
LARA: Well, we,re trying to our part to spread you,wait, that didn,t sound right. (laughter, much laughter)
DAVE: Thanks. We,re gaining over here. We,re on MTV now, which is a big help.
LARA: What,s your favorite city you,ve visited?
DAVE: Germany was great. Hmmm,my favorite place. It,s probably Japan.
LARA: Why Japan?
DAVE: I just always wanted to go there and I finally got to go. Everyone was really nice. It was just a completely different country, more different than Europe. Europe is different, but then Japan is like really different.
LARA: How was touring with Stellastarr,?
DAVE: It was great. That was our first tour. It was a lot of fun. Those guys are really good friends with us still.
LARA: Are you excited to play Vegas, the House of Blues?
DAVE: Yeah. We haven't been back in a while, so it will be a really insane show. It's sold out already.
LARA: Do you have any other goals you want to fulfill and see happen?
DAVE: We just want to be around a long time and put out a lot of good albums. We love writing songs and playing music live. I want to get back into the studio. It'll take another year at least for another album. We want to be remembered as one of the great bands. I know it's really early to say something like that. But, you know, it's a long-term goal to have.
LARA: It's a great goal to have. I have no doubt.
DAVE: We don't want to be a fad or anything like that.
LARA: I really don't think The Killers will be a fad. I might be a little biased, but I really don't think you'll be a fad?.By the way, you guys have such different performing styles, and it's so entertaining to see you live. First of all, Ronnie is the greatest drummer I've ever seen. He's so animated and passionate. And Brandon, he's so great with his hand gestures, like he feels what he sings. Then Mark is just there playing his bass. It seems like nothing affects him, he steps forward and then he steps back. He's so cool. Then you, always flipping your hair?
DAVE: Well, it always gets in my face!
LARA: You are so passionate too when you play, like you make love to that guitar.
DAVE: Wow. Yeah.
LARA: None the less, it makes it so interesting and fun to watch you guys. I love it. There's no uniform. It's like 4 different personalities on stage.
DAVE: Yeah, it definitely is.
EUNICE: What are bands or CDs you're currently listening to?
DAVE: I can't speak for the other guys, but I just got The Hives new album, Simple Minds greatest hits, Pet Shop Boys. I got their greatest hits, even though I like all their stuff, Sigur Ros, and I've also been listening to the Cure's new album.
LARA: The Cure is amazing.
DAVE: Yeah, I saw them at Coachella. They were the best thing I've ever seen.
LARA: If you could have 1 book, 1 movie, and 1 CD on a deserted island. What would you choose?
DAVE: One book'.not much of a book reader. So, it would be?'man I don't know. One book. No, let's start over. One movie, I'd bring Star Wars, Episode 4, actually I'd a box set of all 6, if that's allowed. I should have said Cast Away, right? (laughter ensues) No, the one book would be'The one CD?
LARA: Yup.
DAVE: That's a tough one. One CD'I guess the first Sigur Ros album, because 'd never get sick of it, and it's going to be boring on the island anyway. I guess if I could bring one book, it'd be Catcher in the Rye, because my brother gave it to me as a gift and I still haven't gotten around to reading it. And I hear it's really good.
LARA: So did I.
DAVE: I have, like no attention span when it comes to reading. I don't like to read. I get bored after 2 pages.
LARA: At least you can read.
DAVE: Yeah.
LARA: That's it. I don't have anything else to ask. I know that in a few hours I'll beat my head against the wall because there was so much more, but oh well.
DAVE: That's it? Thanks. It was the best interview I've ever done, none of the same questions? I have to agree, it was fun talking to Dave. I've seen the Killers live now, 10 times. For those of you who haven't seen them live or heard their album Hot Fuss, what the hell are you waiting for? The day will come when we will be hearing of All the things they have done