White Summer Flowers Biography
In 2001, Brandon Flowers was abandoned by his first band, a Las Vegas synthpop trio known as Blush Response,[4] after he declined to move with them to Los Angeles. After seeing Oasis play at the Hard Rock Hotel during the band's The Tour of Brotherly Love, Flowers realized his calling was to be in a rock band and began searching for like-minded musicians. He eventually came across an ad posted in a Las Vegas newspaper by Dave Keuning, a 25 year-old guitarist who had moved to Vegas from Iowa a year earlier; the pair shared similar musical influences and soon began writing songs together in Keuning's apartment. By the end of 2001, they had recorded a demo at Kill The Messenger Studio in Henderson, Nevada; the demo featured four tracks including early versions of "Mr. Brightside" and "Under the Gun". Local drummer Matt Norcross played drums on the demo while Dell Neal, who was Keuning's roommate at the time, covered bass on two of the tracks. Keuning and Flowers played their first live show together at an open mic night at the Cafe Espresso Roma in Las Vegas in January 2002; the pair, joined by Neal and Norcross, began playing numerous venues around Las Vegas where they would also hand out free copies of their demo.[7] The Killers brought a unique style to the small Vegas music scene which was predominately filled with punk, nu metal, and rap bands, one local reviewer stated "The Killers, thankfully, don't come across like any other band in town" and described their sound as a mix between the "pop styles of British music and the lo-fi fuzz of modern indie rock.".[8] However, The Killers, whose early live sound was also described as erratic, had, by the summer of 2002, fired drummer Matt Norcross and replaced him briefly with Brian Havens, who also was eventually fired. Bassist Dell Neal later left the band due to personal reasons.[7]
Drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. and bass player Mark Stoermer were members of other bands who regularly played on the same bills as The Killers, both were eventually persuaded to join Keuning and Flowers and by November 2002, the band's current line up was complete. The four of them began practising in Vannucci's garage as he was the only member who owned a house. They would also sneak into the band room of UNLV (where Vannucci was studying percussion) at night to practice. The band claimed that they wrote much of the debut album Hot Fuss during these sessions including the hit single "Somebody Told Me".[9]
In 2001, Brandon Flowers was abandoned by his first band, a Las Vegas synthpop trio known as Blush Response,[4] after he declined to move with them to Los Angeles. After seeing Oasis play at the Hard Rock Hotel during the band's The Tour of Brotherly Love, Flowers realized his calling was to be in a rock band and began searching for like-minded musicians. He eventually came across an ad posted in a Las Vegas newspaper by Dave Keuning, a 25 year-old guitarist who had moved to Vegas from Iowa a year earlier; the pair shared similar musical influences and soon began writing songs together in Keuning's apartment. By the end of 2001, they had recorded a demo at Kill The Messenger Studio in Henderson, Nevada; the demo featured four tracks including early versions of "Mr. Brightside" and "Under the Gun". Local drummer Matt Norcross played drums on the demo while Dell Neal, who was Keuning's roommate at the time, covered bass on two of the tracks. Keuning and Flowers played their first live show together at an open mic night at the Cafe Espresso Roma in Las Vegas in January 2002; the pair, joined by Neal and Norcross, began playing numerous venues around Las Vegas where they would also hand out free copies of their demo.[7] The Killers brought a unique style to the small Vegas music scene which was predominately filled with punk, nu metal, and rap bands, one local reviewer stated "The Killers, thankfully, don't come across like any other band in town" and described their sound as a mix between the "pop styles of British music and the lo-fi fuzz of modern indie rock.".[8] However, The Killers, whose early live sound was also described as erratic, had, by the summer of 2002, fired drummer Matt Norcross and replaced him briefly with Brian Havens, who also was eventually fired. Bassist Dell Neal later left the band due to personal reasons.[7]
Drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. and bass player Mark Stoermer were members of other bands who regularly played on the same bills as The Killers, both were eventually persuaded to join Keuning and Flowers and by November 2002, the band's current line up was complete. The four of them began practising in Vannucci's garage as he was the only member who owned a house. They would also sneak into the band room of UNLV (where Vannucci was studying percussion) at night to practice. The band claimed that they wrote much of the debut album Hot Fuss during these sessions including the hit single "Somebody Told Me".[9]
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