"The Killers"

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View important disclosures at acorns.com slash smartless. JB, you going to get on the golf course today? Today is not a golf course day.

Today is a work day, actually.

Today is work day, so no golf for you, Sean?

Yeah, no, I'm going out.

By the way, I got new clubs.

Oh, nice. I just got them today.

I just got the new, I got the same ones that you got.

The beautiful Titleist irons.

The Titleist, I should make it.

Now, you should get yourself into some G4 apparel

and really, you know, make yourself complete.

Okay.

I mean, I would, but I wear the foot joy.

I'm sorry. Now, you should get yourself into some G4 apparel and really, you know, make yourself complete.

Okay.

I mean, I would, but I wear the foot joy.

I love the foot joy.

You like the G4.

Yes.

And the title is clubs.

The title is clubs. If you were ever to fly to a tournament, how would you like to get there?

By the way, I don't even know if we could use it in the cold open, but I just got a five wood.

Anyway, welcome to Smartless.

Smart. Smartless.
Smart. Smart.
Smart. Smart.
Smart. Smart.
Look, you got a whole setup in your green room. It's nice.
I know. Believe me, it's pretty great.
It's nice. Wait a second.
I'm seeing two surprise guest windows. Yeah.
Oh, listener. Oh, we got a double.
Listener always knows before us two other idiots. Everybody knows except me and Sean right now.
everybody knows except for the two dummies that week. Oh, dummy today.
I feel pretty dumb today. I don't, um, dumber than usual.
Why do you feel dumb? No, no, I just don't feel like I'm going to be great at listening or talking today. Well, Jay, do you want a couple jokes to lighten you up? If you have new, new, new, my.
Here we go. Here we go, Sean.
Okay, my favorite is still what did the chicken say? What did the chicken... Oh, boy.
Oh, and the chicken... No, what did the...
No. Do you see, guys? It's not going to be good today.
What did the chicken say? What? No, what does... See? I forget, too.
What does poultry say to a bowl of lettuce? Or no, what does poultry call a bowl of lettuce? Right. What? Chicken Caesar salad.
That's so good. That's a good one.
I have two more. I have two more.
So a skeleton walks into a bar and orders a bar. A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.
Yep. Okay? And the other one is, hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Can we do a punchline on the first one? About the skeleton? There is. There is already.
He doesn't get it. What happened? A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.
Okay. Because when he drinks the beer, it goes, right? He doesn't have that.
Yeah. That's not even funny, though.
Okay. Well, though okay well that's different alright so here's the other one okay hey Jason have you heard about the new movie Constipation? no it never came out I don't like either one of them I liked your alright what did wait I'm trying to figure out this is this is, it's like people are joining us at rehearsal.
This is, we clearly don't rehearse. I apologize already to our guests.
You know what I was saying? You know, Jason, I was thinking about you the other day and it occurred to me, like, you know, you see people have like fancy houses where they talk about like, oh, I went to this fancy place and you think about some billionaire and they have this fancy thing. And I said, yeah, you know, that's impressive.

And if you feel like less than because you see them,

just imagine that no matter where they went,

they had to take a shit.

Yeah.

They just took a shit there.

Yeah, that's pretty much all they do.

They're a beautiful mansion.

And it was just them in the smallest room in that house

with the door closed, looking for the fan,

and taking a shit.

Yeah, what's the name of that? There's a book called that, poops everybody poops yeah tell me that book all right this is going on too long it's too insane i feel like regis and kathy lee let's go i know it's true but i now listen i do want to get to uh our guests because you know how i get when i get really excited about a guest and you know how i get when we get to talk about music with guests. I get very excited.
Well, these fine gentlemen are no exception. I have been a massive fan of these guys since their debut record and, in fact, their debut single, which, by the way, is a single that has remained in the UK, holds the record for the longest time on the UK charts, over 300, like seven years on the UK charts.
It's a song we all know and love. And then since then, they've just released banger after banger, incredible album after incredible album.
I've seen them in concert multiple times. They're incredibly gifted, gifted, gifted songwriters, performers, singers, drummers, everything extraordinaire.
Guys, it's none other than Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vannucci of The Killers. The Killers.
Oh, I was just talking about them the other day. Oh, my God.
Look at that.

Good morning.

How cool is this?

Dude.

Look at that.

This is crazy.

How great is this?

Hi, guys.

You guys look very much alive.

Not killers at all.

Hi.

How are you?

You guys are very much on tour right now.

Yeah, they're both in hotel rooms.

Yeah.

That's right.

You just literally rolled out of bed.

I mean, this is, we've just disrupted your, you probably have a really good system in place, and we've ruined it. I definitely have a routine that is being disturbed right now.
Where are you on the planet? We're in Austin. Austin Tech.
Austin. Tennessee.
That's a great state. JB, no, no, no.
JB, Boys, we're so excited to have you on this show. I mean, I've had the good fortune of meeting you guys and talking to you a few times, which was a thrill then and it's a thrill now.
And I'm such a fan. And I think the first time I saw you guys was on a sketch show.
Yeah. And I think it was 2006.
Brandon, am I right about that? We played earlier than that. Oh, you played earlier? So I said the second time? Yeah, probably.
If it was Sam's Town was our second record, we would have done, yeah. Wow, okay.
So it was the Sam's. I guess that's wrong.
But I remember meeting you. Yeah.
And I think that was maybe after our third time. Wow.
Was it really? Can I tell the story of part and at the after party yeah please do so they always have an after party on the sketch show and um and we and will's there and he's got a he's got a hockey player with him and another fellow citizen of canada shanny probably brendan shanahan yeah yeah and so i what america what i guess quintessentially what all americans do i say oh our tour my tour manager is from toronto i know you're from toronto yeah and they all know each other yeah so so his buddy his buddy rolls his eyes and he's like he's an americans think we all know each other i go and i grab my tour manager and he's like oh you know what area toronto are you from? Oh, what street were you on? Farnham Avenue? Yes. They both lived on the same street.
Wait, Brendan, I can't believe you remember Farnham Avenue. Well, our tour manager is still with us.
But he doesn't still live on Farnham. He doesn't still live on Farnham.
I think his parents might still live on Farnham. My sister still lives on Farnham.
He still lives on Farnham. Wait, wait, his parents still live on Farnham? Still there.
Yeah. No way.
And my buddy Paul lives on Farnham as well. And my sister does.
The listener has probably pulled over their car because they're so fascinated right now. They don't want to miss a minute of it.
The gist is, you all know each other.

We all know each other.

I remember that moment too that was so crazy

and what I'm going to propose now for you

and Ronnie right now is maybe

we do a special live

like just a small event concert

on the street in Farnham.

Me introducing you guys and we just do it

for the people of Farnham. Just think about it.

Don't give me an answer now.

Ronnie, can you keep it down? So listen, I have a running for you guys and we just do it for the people of farnham when you just think about it don't give me an answer stop the back of a truck yeah ronnie can you keep it down so listen yeah i have it on for you guys um when you first performed on there where were you in your careers and was that a pinnacle of like oh my god i think i made it and what did that feel like i think it's been a steady incline of of just like uh sort of like how did we get here yeah And we've just been sort of enjoying the ride ever since. I mean, the very first one, it just keeps, you know, something keeps happening.
And we, you know, we keep busy. We know what an opportunity this is.
But you guys came, but your first record though, I mean, you guys came out with a bang and it's kind of been you've had the good i'm not gonna say good fortune because you're really talented and you guys make good music but you've luckily kind of struck a chord with people every step of the way and that's got to feel good because you got to feel like we're kind of in touch with with what's going on in a way is that something that's real? Yeah, I mean, I think our goal has always, there's this constant evolution and you watch, not every step that we've taken has been right, but you can see us really trying to find what the core is and what we're going to represent. And you see this evolution within each album.
And I think people have just, we've been lucky enough that we've been able to take people along with us or they've been going through that same experience. Yeah.
I always wonder about that with, with musicians is because you have, you have probably, well, you certainly have more autonomy than anyone in, uh, in TV or movies in that, you know, there's a script that comes before the actor does their thing or the director does their thing. Or with musicians, with groups, you can do whatever you want, make the album about whatever you want, make it sound.
And you've got to hope that the audience that has been with you thus far, it will be appealing to them as well. So how much do you factor in what you think they want? How much do you let that affect your creative process? I'm sure some bands a little bit and then some not at all.
Where do you guys sit on that? I think we have to like it first. Anything that comes out.
We have tons of cutting room floor yeah uh stuff um that for whatever reason just you know they're they're lost dogs or orphans orphan songs or ideas um but if it sounds good to you no matter whether it's it's got a a country vibe or an acid rock vibe or a jazz vibe like because you guys i'm sure your musical taste will evolve over years um and you guys have to stay in sync with one another but then also try to stay in sync with that with that other band member which is the audience yeah yeah it's it's a balancing act i think we used to we used to just throw all sorts of songs on a single album and we've just sort of been lucky that they've had some sort of congruent line between all of them. Yeah.
And now I think we're getting more into the body of work sort of idea where it has a focus. And you've created a bank with your audience that even though it might sound a little bit different or a little bit more challenging to tap your toe to, don't worry about it.
We got you and we've proved. I don't think you guys ever run the risk of having a song that you can't tap your toe to.
I will say that much. That's nice.
But you guys, but I was going to say like, JB, you're right that like when you talk about their like the other audience member is, I mean, the other member of the band is the audience. There's some story that I heard about you guys a long time ago, and maybe you can talk about this, that when you guys were maybe writing Hot Fuss or something that you wrote a record and you threw it out, is that true? Do you talk about it as much as you're comfortable talking about that? Is a true story that's uh our most recent endeavor oh it was your most recent record your most recent record you tossed in the trash we well what you finished it and then just threw it out we began down down a road that was a more synth heavy road okay and we have we realized um this i you know i just personally didn't want to make this music anymore and ronnie was ronnie didn't want to do it either and so as opposed to as opposed to the instrumental stuff no just as opposed no just didn't want to make didn't want to fully commit to a whole like synth pop record i would have bought that But what would be the opposite of that? You're talking to an idiot here.
Okay, so the opposite would be maybe more a rock and roll record. Gotcha.
But what is that process? So you're what? You're working on your fourth song, and you're in the studio, and you're rehearsing, and you look at each other and just go, the fuck are we doing, man? Yeah, and everybody else just breathes like, thank God you said it because I didn't want to say it. Oh, that's got to be horrible.
It's complex because there's this place in our hearts for this music. We were influenced by it, but we are getting older and we also know what it feels like to write a great rock and roll song.
And so we thought maybe that you could make a faster album maybe while you're on the road because you're dealing with computers more with synth music and keyboards yeah and then it just wasn't we weren't getting the gratification out of it that we would get when you're writing yeah because like you're you're right i was in a synth pop band in college and oh boy i played the keyboard to see a picture and i have to do have sean by the way play for these guys if you can find it, play that song that you played us before Oh yeah, well there's three songs Before we end today I'll have Bennett and Rob dig it up There's actually three hit songs You guys might want to put it on our stands We'll rip those off too You might take that back I used to play the keyboards in this band called Sounds From The Stairs. Thanks.
The keyboards. Hey, did you ever play keytar, Sean? No, almost, though.
I'd love to see it. Sean, I've seen you play.
You play beautifully. It was so impressive because I saw the Netflix special, and I was so surprised.
I did not know you had that in your pocket.

Oh, thanks.

Yeah, yeah. It's incredible.

Classically trained.

He is.

Yeah, Jason, I sat down and played for Jason Bateman.

Sean, do you want to join our band?

I knew where this was going.

That's what I'm telling you.

I'll join your band.

Whoa.

Okay.

I can't believe you're getting in the killers before me.

We made news.

No, I can't do anything, but I'm still mad about it.

I'm going to turn you guys into synth pop. Guys last thing you were the missing link the record could have come out i would i know what you mean though about like playing like because i would play the keyboards and like try to really be into it like a drummer can really be into it naturally because right running because you're just like your body's moving anyway to the music but when you play keyboards you kind of have to watch exactly the keys you're playing so you can't really like move your body to moving anyway to the music.
But when you play keyboards, you kind of have to watch exactly the keys you're playing.

So you can't really like move your body

to rock out during the music.

You just have to kind of like stay stiff

and play while the craziness is happening.

You know what I mean?

A lot of what?

A lot of neck pops.

Yeah, not neck pops.

Right.

So I would be playing like crazy.

I'd be like jumping around dancing.

And then when it got to my solo, I'd stop and really focus on the keyboard, the keys I was playing. And then as I was done, I'd go back into playing, back into jumping around.
But you can't do that. Fuck, you can't like bang, like at the end of like all these things that I've done where you're like bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, you can't do that on no synth.
So this move from synth back to rock and roll, now you're talking to the old grandpa and me too. Listen, I'm a big Radiohead fan.
They kind of went to synth a while ago, and I kind of went with it, and I guess I'm still with it because they know better than me what good music is, and so I get with it. You like them despite what despite what they're doing yeah despite what your ears tell you you're gonna just listen I love those too but but I I but you know I listen to all this music that my kids listen to and it like no one is playing guitar anymore there's no drums anymore there's no and I know I sound like the old man on the lawn, but can it, do you see it starting to go back to, I mean, I get nostalgic about a band as young as, you know, the White Stripes or, you know, the Black Keys or like these like rock and roll bands.
I'm not even going back to ACDC or Led Zeppelin, but like, where's all, where are the instruments? We're talking to them. I'm, yeah yeah i'm excited that you guys are going back to that there was a we've only been around 20 years and in those from from when we started rock radio was a different a completely different animal and it's it's there are fewer and fewer stations and they started to just this homogenization started to happen where they started to incorporate, all of a sudden you started hearing beats

and things that were influenced by maybe more hip-hop,

and now it's just, it's almost unrecognizable as Rocket anymore.

Well, yeah, and that's a good, and Ronnie, speak to a little bit,

as a drummer, what's it like living in a world

where so many beats are created on a computer, you know? Like I always say, here's the drummer in our band and he's standing by a MacBook. Yeah.
You know? Yeah. I think there's a careful, maybe a classy balancing act.
At least for me, I've seen people who are so good at their instrument, at drums, that they actually sound like they've been manipulated in a computer. It's interesting, all the different things you can manipulate inside a computer and things, but I don't think it'll ever replace the blood coursing through somebody's brain and body to produce a sound or an expression.
And is that where you guys got to? Was that part of the decision where you just like, when you're saying you weren't into it, was it literally that? You're like, we're not feeling connected to the music? Partly. You can't, there's an amazing thing that I'm now reflecting on, the magic moments that we've shared, is I'm responding to the way that Ronnie plays, and part of it is how loud it is and how it's powerful and it's physical.
So it forces me. Ronnie, did you just say sorry? If we're in a room, I got to sing a certain way.

I can't be timid.

You're not going to hear me.

And so there's something about those dynamics

that have helped us become what we are.

Can I tell you something, Brandon?

The beat's bigger than you, and I get it.

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And now back to the show. It's interesting you bring that up, Brandon, because the way you guys, first of all, your arrangements on all your studio albums are amazing.
And I've seen you live as well. It's just amazing.
But the mix, the way you guys do it, and it's a testament to your voice because I know that no matter what you do and playing with how you're hearing yourself, it's really tough because, yeah, Ronnie, you should be sorry. You're very loud.
And all the instruments in your band, the rhythm section has, you know, you really feel it. I mean, you guys come out and really, and guitar and everything, and that's tough to break through that, I bet.
I mean, that's a skill skill to be able to because you do sound very front and center even though the band is also very full at the same time the mixes i don't i want to i want to compliment whoever mixes your records uh but you do it is tough to do and i've seen again i've so i saw you guys play at this at this concert that this guy had.

And you played, and there were about 200 people there.

And Paul McCartney was in the crowd, maybe 200 people.

And Brandon, you go, you said something like,

hey, we want to sing Helter Skelter, but Sir Paul McCartney,

I see you out there, and would you do us the honor of coming and singing with us?

And Paul McCartney got up and sang Helter Skelter with these fucking guys.

And it was unbelievable. And so I came backstage.
You remember after I came back, you were in that little room and I said, how are you feeling? You were just buzzing. I go, how are you feeling? You're like, I just sang Helter Skelter with Paul McCartney, man.
That's pretty cool. Do you remember? I mean, you remember i mean you obviously remember that yeah it was so wild man um we uh for it was even more surreal moments was before he came up you you know you're singing and you look over and he has his cell phone out and he's filming you and it's like singing along to smile like you mean it and i was just like what is happening it was it was one of the most wildest things.
The other thing that with bands needing to tour a lot more now as a way in which to monetize what you guys do, since album sales changed a long time ago and now touring is a huge, huge part of what you guys do, I would imagine that switching back to a more instrumental thing as opposed to a synthesized thing. Makes playing stuff live easier, more exciting for the audience, since you're not just hitting a button for the drum sounds.
You actually need a drummer and drum kit out there. Yes, it just makes for a better experience if the music is not synthesized, right? Oh, yeah.
I mean, even songs that don't have a lot of synthy bits, we've sort of tailored for the, you know, for live. We sort of have like this dichotomy between being a live band and a, you know, doing things in the studio.
And oftentimes we just sort of have tunnel vision where we're just we we forget about the live aspect sometimes and and we just go with like this this experience of you know recording and then we're like okay well how do we dial this in for a live experience and that could be you know it's not just sounds but it's like it's tempo too you know we'll oftentimes we'll speed stuff up or or sometimes we'll slow stuff slow it in. Do you ever speed stuff up just to get out of there sooner? No.
Because I just did this show on Broadway where I played the Rhapsody, and I was like, I'm fucking tired, and I would play it twice as fast. I like that.
Because you had a dinner date. You guys missed Sean.
He was on Broadway this year. He won a Tony, by the way.
Hold for applause. God.
And we'll add, no, we'll add the applause. His was spelt T-O-N-I-E though.
Yeah, it was different. Oh yeah, no, no.
It wasn't the, what you think of the Tony Awards. The lineup.
But he played, and he played every night to end the show on piano. And he's, like we talked about, an accomplished pianist.
And he had to do it every goddamn night. And yeah, Sean, you said that some nights you would just jam through it.
And the cast would be like, was that like, because it's usually like eight, nine minutes. They're like, was that four minutes? And I was like, yeah, I'm tired.
I want to go home. Yeah, what do you do when you get out there in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people and you're just not feeling it? Yeah.
I mean, do you just kind of wait until you do because you got other bandmates that can maybe carry the water for a song or two? It's rare. I don't know about Ronnie, but it's rare that I'm not excited, that the juices don't just start flowing.
I still get the butterflies before. And so it's almost up to the audience there there will be moments where you come out and you think it's you're just so ready and they aren't they aren't they aren't meeting your expectations and that's when it can be those are the times it's it's a struggle but i'd never feel like oh another gig i never feel like that right don't you because each each every audience for some uh takes on a collective kind of energy and sometimes, like you're saying, it's a less than energy and don't you just get really pissed off at them and want to take it out on them and you can't? I'm going to say they don't.
I'm going to answer, I bet they don't. No, yeah, we don't, we can't take, yeah, we can't take it out on them.
We've got to be professional. All right.
When's the last time you guys, do you guys see a lot of live music yourself? Do you guys go to concerts and kind of experience what it's like as an audience too and kind of let that inform your performances? Oh, yeah. Yeah.
And, you know, especially on tour, if we're touring with somebody, it's always helpful to get out there and just, you know, it helps get the blood moving a little bit. Oh, we're going to be doing that in an hour.
You're right. In an hour? Yeah, well, yeah.
No, I mean, you know, watching somebody before you play or something. Who are you guys touring with right now? Like who in the last year? I don't want to put you on the spot.
It's okay. Yeah, no, we had...
You know, we did a ton of shows

with Johnny Marr from the Smiths.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, my God, I love Johnny Marr.

Love Johnny Marr of the Smiths, JB.

You don't have to...

Get your hand off your pearls, Will.

One of the great...

Will, take them off the pearls.

One of the top three guitarists of all time.

One of the top three guitarists of all time.

Oh, yeah.

Do you like the Smiths?

I love the Smiths. Yeah, no, you know what we did? We did a Smith We did one or two Smiths songs we would do every night with them.
Yes. No way.
What songs? I just saw a video of you guys. Sean, shut up.
Shut the fuck up, Sean. What songs did you guys do of the Smiths? We did This Charming Man with him is how we first...
I love it. Sean? We did Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want.
It's the greatest. It's the greatest song ever.
Listen to this one. How deep do you go with the Smiths? I go very.
We did What She Said. Oh my God.
Yes, I know What She Said. You almost put two hands on your pearls just then.
Like fully punk rock Smiths, what she said. We did Stop Me, if you think you've heard this one before.
Oh, Stop Me, oh, oh, Stop Me. You know what's wild? They broke up before they toured that.
That's on the last album. Is that, hang on, is that not louder than Bombs? Is that? No, Stop Me is on Strange Ways.
Oh, Strange Ways, here we come, yeah. So, we're up there, and we're about to play it, and he tells me, I've never played this with a singer.
No way. So I was like, this is so amazing.
That's weird. Yeah, you're up there singing Stop Me with him and it's the first time he's done it because it was meant to be with Morrissey.
That's crazy. Were they a big, who are your big influences? I've always wanted to know because you guys have.
Definitely the Smiths. Yeah.
That's so cool. I can hear it.
Now that you say that, I guess I can hear some of it. We were just, last night, we were singing some early Depeche Mode.
Oh, here they come. Get me started.
Yeah. So Brandon and I sort of, we melt.
We like that band.

Yeah.

They're incredible.

They're incredible.

What other bands?

I want to hear what other bands. I'm sorry.

I just want to hear what other bands they liked.

Okay.

It was New Order and the Smiths and the Cars.

Guys, I mean, it's like we're family.

You guys should stay here.

Sean, you need to change.

Sean, go change.

You're saying everything I love. Did you guys get in? Were you guys influenced at all by any sort of like 90s indie bands too yeah yeah ronnie's i i'm a little bit younger and so when when that stuff was happening i was i was just a lot of it was a little bit heavy for me so my brother was was older than me and he had passed on this other other stuff to me, but I think Ronnie was definitely...
Ronnie, what were you... Echo and the Bunnymen, Suzie and the Banshees.
Well, that's earlier, but yes, for sure. Oh, yeah.
That's the 90s, isn't it? But Ronnie, were you like... A little bit.
I'm like a pavement-built-to-spill guy, like... Sure, yeah.
Yeah. All those guys, Dinosaur Jr., Sebodeau.
Oh, my God. You know, all those guys.
Oasis came around for me. Oasis, yeah.
Yeah. Did it take a minute? Did Oasis take a minute for you, Brendan? Or were you right into it? It took me a minute, and then I sort of became obsessed.
I was considered an Oasis tattoo when I was a little. Did you really? Did you really? I'm so thankful I didn't do that.
Instead, you went with soft sell, I heard, right? Just on the smaller back. I had the same thing with Oasis, where I was like, at first at Oasis, I was like, I don't know, and then became obsessed with them, too.
They were so rad. Sorry, Jason, I cut you off 50 times because I'm geeking out.
No, it's Sean. Go ahead, Sean.
Oh, I have a thousand questions, if if i if i may yeah go ahead first of all we

talk about live shows i always ask whenever musicians come on what's your best worst live show experience uh story uh like the the thing that went wrong the most well there is the there is the the the the opposite situation where um it was there were two things that really happened at this, we did a stadium run last year in the UK.

And we were two things that really happened at this. We did a stadium run last year in the UK, and we were in Manchester.

And two things happened.

Another girl made a sign to wanting to play drums on one of our songs,

and we brought her up.

And when I was back there, I was like, you know, you know the song.

Just kind of watch me because I jump on guitar for a second.

And she told us that she wanted to do something brave because her best friend, she's like 16 years old maybe.

Her best friend's going through cancer.

And that's a brave thing for her to go through.

And she said she wanted to do something brave. So I learned this, I said get on up there and she was excellent I mean she totally knocked it out of the park and it was one of the best gigs maybe of the year, it was like this huge you know, soccer stadium How long ago? This was last year, last spring.
Is that one of those? But the other thing that happened was, and Brandon stopped the show, he sees this guy crowd surfing from the front of house, which is where the sound board, the mixing board, our sound guy lives. He's like 80 years old.
As he gets closer, you see that there's this old fella just riding the wave and he... What the fuck? They dropped him.
They dropped him. He drops.
This is real. On his head.
Brandon stops the show because it looks like you just saw feet and then you didn't see the guy anymore. So we stopped.
Brandon checked on him to see if he was okay. And he popped up in a fit of joy.
And he hugged me. I went down and hugged him.
What did he say to you? You asked him, hey, are you all right? I go, what are you doing? You know? Oh I'm enjoying myself. The next day in the papers, all the headlines read, crowd surfing pensioner.
That's hysterical. I love if that would become like a thing at Killers concert that like old dudes would just crowd surf.
Like that becomes a thing that happens. I once did some stage diving in Vancouver.
You did some? I did some, yeah. In Vancouver? Yeah, the stage is only a couple of feet tall, but I actually had to jump up to get onto the people's hands.
And was Andrew originally scared?

Did he see you?

It was a huge wham.

Oh, listen.

They get me fired up.

They get me fired up.

Sorry, Sean, you were going to say?

Were you wearing your short shorts?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Well, what was left of them.

Please, go ahead, Sean.

You fell out of the cage you were dancing in?

Yeah, they left it unlocked. It wasn't smart.
Sean, you were saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, what was left of them.
Please, go ahead, Sean. You fell out of the cage you were dancing in? Yeah, they left it unlocked.
It wasn't smart. Sean, you were saying? Yeah, yeah.
Killed Sean. All right, so.
Well, I have a question. Go ahead, Sean.
To that point, I used to work in the entertainment committee in college, and we would get, there was like seven people. This is coming out of the shocker department.
What nerdy shit did you not do? Let's just get to that. Goddamn.
President of the Entertainment Committee, Sean Hayes, calling. No, I was in the Entertainment Committee in college, and there was like seven of us, and we were in charge of which bands.
Stop fucking saying that. Yeah, we're past it.
Of which bands were coming to the college, Illinois State University, one of the best universities in the world. And we got like the B-52s, and I remember NXS came, and people were, what's Inks? Like they didn't know the name.
And then it was like, and who else? Red Hot Chili Peppers, like all these people. And it was Pearl Jam.
And Pearl Jam was playing. And people were stage diving and like body surfing.
And I'm maybe 70 pounds. And I'm supposed to block the crowd from getting to the stage.
I saw them coming and I just would run. I was the worst.
I'm entertainment committee, not security committee. Yeah, and I had my little badge on.
Hold it. Did you have a badge? Okay, so anyway, my question is, how did you guys meet? He's the best.
He's the best, guys. Is he not? Award-winning interviewer, Sean Hayes.
You know, by the way, Ronnie and Brandon, you guys probably don't know this. Sean was once nominated for...
Best host. Oh, for best host of a podcast.
On a podcast that's co-hosted by... It's three people.
They singled him out and wanted to give him a singular award because his questions are so damn good.

Because of questions like that. How'd you meet?

How'd you meet? And then what's a funny

story that happened live?

Hey, but we all enjoy

the best stories. You're right.

How did you meet?

We actually met like

in a... And we gotta go fast

because it looks like Ronnie has a business meeting.

Me and our guitar player met through the classified ads in Las Vegas. No way.
Wow. Is that true? Yeah, so probably the last band to form that way.
Wow. You and Scotty met something at the back of the paper.
Was it? Yeah, Craigslist. It was a Craigslist.
Yeah. Wait, so you met in the classifieds and then—we had a different drummer and a different bass player for a while who they were not— Into it.
They weren't— Not the right fit. Yeah, they weren't the right fit.
Sure. And one night we were playing and opening—were we opening for—what was her name? Oh, Anne's band.

Anne Marie?

Anne Marie's band.

And Ronnie was filling in for this girl, and he happened to see us.

And Ronnie has a way of just cutting right to the chase,

and he just said, you know, you guys would be good

if you had a real drummer or something like that.

I love that.

The rhythm section needed help.

A rhythm section.

Thank you. cutting right to the chase and he just said you know you guys would be good if you had a real drummer or something like that i love that the rhythm section needed help a rhythm section and and so we i mean instantly just before we knew it we were in his garage and and then but it wasn't for i wasn't trying to like shoehorn my way in i actually i i recommended a couple drummers that just again weren't the rightmers than myself.
But did you recommend them knowing that they were not going to be the right fit so that they would have to go to you, Ronnie Beons? No, I was like, I was on this trajectory. I was like, I must finish school so I don't end up homeless.
Right. And I was just doing that.
But the songs they had, even at the time, the songs we don't even play anymore, were just like calling me. It was just, I was familiar with it already.
I was just, you know, I knew where they were coming from. And I think that was part of the problem with the other rhythm section.
It's like the other two guys had no idea where Dave and Brandon were going or headed, and they were just kind of just going through the motions. So then the first time that you guys played as a band were you were like kind of doing the like looking around going like all right yeah well we were like you know let's let's let's try it out like let's see what happens and and we just ended up like playing hours and making songs songs.
Right. And the first day just playing.

And we got really hungry. By the way, you should know,

Jason's laughing because he knows

I've done this bit for years.

It's so stupid.

Which is my impression of every bassist, right?

Which is when he makes eye,

when the singer makes eye contact with him.

The bassist gets so happy.

Right?

So he's like this.

So he's just like this playing bass.

Looks around.

And the singer looks around and he goes,

yeah.

That's when the knees stay together and he goes into a deep squat. Super happy.
I've seen it. He's so stoked.
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Now, wait. Now, Ronnie, how crazy do you get with your set you you put like because i see some some guys they'll put like a big fucking gong back there sometimes and they'll put some some kettle drums and they'll put like some of the the the the like xylophone that's hanging from like uh christmas ornaments yeah those things and like you get like real uh real robust with your setup back there? Do you keep it simple? We were doing like a video.
I have a gong, but we were doing this video where we were basically trying to do the Pink Floyd ripoff. You know, when they're in the...
Pompeii? Pompeii, the Pompeii video. And Nick Mason's got this awesome drum set with a gong.
It just looks great in the desert. We were making this video for human in the desert.
Love that video. You guys made awesome videos, by the way, just as an aside.
Thanks. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's true.
And so it sort of started out with that, and then I brought it on stage as almost a joke

or like a backdrop and everything.

And now I actually use it.

Do you have like one of those big funny mallets?

Yeah, big ass mallet the size of a baby's head.

But apart from that, I don't go too crazy. No.
No chime wipes? Brandon, what were you going to say? I was going to bring some tenderness to this interview. Do you remember you emailed me about Dust Land, Will? You might not remember this, but I think this is how we first talked.
You reached out about a song of ours called The Dust Land Fairytale. Yes.
And that was where we first, I think, connected. I think you're right.
And those moments are few and far between where somebody will actually take the time to do that. And I appreciate it still.
Yeah, I do remember that, man. Yeah, listen, I love music and I've always been a fan of you guys and I find you guys, it's funny, you were talking about, kind of circling back to talking about getting into sort of electronic music, et cetera.
What I've always loved about you guys, I've been, a lot of your music is very anthemic. You know, like there's always like a big feel to it you guys are kind of big feel guys and i love your lyrics and i love the way everything kind of builds in the same way i love the lyrics build in a way and sometimes i don't even know a lot of the time i mean i don't know what you're writing about it's very personal probably and and you don't explain it, but there's just something about it.
And your music is the kind of music for me that evokes a lot of emotion. Will, are you crying right now? I'm always crying.
I'm always crying. Just know that.
Yeah, it's okay. And I do remember reaching out to you.
And of course, we emailed a couple times.

And I just, I don't know, man.

I just really appreciate it.

I just love what you guys do.

And I find it very inspiring.

I get really inspired by music because I can't play music.

Uh-oh.

Uh-oh.

Oh, this is one of my tunes.

This is one of my tunes.

Here's the neck pops.

Here we go.

This is your band?

Here we go.

One of my songs. Here's the neck pops.
Here we go. This is your band? Here we go.
One of my songs. Uh.
Look at the way he pops the neck. Someone's angry, someone's sad.
That sure stopped my tears. It's so bad.
Okay, that's good. Oh, you're totally, is that you singing or no? Yeah, that's me singing.
You're doing Andy Bell. You're doing Andy Bell.
A total, total Andy Bell. A thousand percent.
Andy Bell sings his ass off. That's unbelievable.
He's sort of underrated. For Tracy, Andy Bell is the lead singer of Erasure.
Man. Yeah, I was like 19, 20.
I don't know how old I was. Hey, Brendan.

That sounded good.

I just found the email.

You ready for this?

What's the time stamp on?

Is it about 340 in the morning?

August 5th, 2009.

Does it start with you up?

Hey, man.

Yeah.

Hey, man, you up.

You up.

No, it says, hey, man, just want to drop you a line and say,

I love Dustline Fairytale.

I can't stop listening to it. Hypnotic.
And then a dick pic. Anyway, going to sleep now.
Call me. I'm putting my phone on.
Do not disturb. God, it's taking me back.
Taking me back, right? So hang on. So just a couple more things.
So when you do get together, you guys feel it. You've got the right energy.
You've got the right kind of balance or like you feel like you guys are kind of playing off each other and you're all working towards the same place or the same vibe. And then you start to record your first record.
And, you know, look, doing that anytime we do anything,

and guys, we do it as well, all of us,

when you're working on something new,

you're doing it in a vacuum.

And other than the people who you kind of work with,

you have no sense as to whether or not people are going to like it.

You're like, people might hate this.

They might say this is good.

And so what was that feeling on the first record before people knew who the killers were? It's just, it all sort of just started to roll. We had garage recordings that were just us playing in my garage with two microphones and a CD recorder.
Wow. And we got to the point where we we were everybody's amps and the drums and everything sounded like it was being mixed but it was just it was just a room recording and so we had we were we do that sort of like do do demos and things like that and we didn't have any proper recordings and there was this guy uh who put us in touch with a fella who had a studio in Northern California.
So we need to get you guys a proper recording. And we just went in there.
We did one or two takes of each song. You guys paid for the studio time yourself? We did a spec deal with this guy.
He says, I'll record this for free. I'm going to have Mark Needham, who's a famous mix engineer.
He's done Chris Isaac and Fleetwood Mac and countless others. And he'll mix it, but we want a year to shop it if we do this.
We're like, shit, it's a free record. Okay, let's do it.
And they put us up in budget suites in Berkeley, California. And that was the first record, those demos.
They were just like, okay, well, this will work for the first. It started out as being an EP, and then we, with this little deal, a little small indie label in England called Lizard King.
It was the first time I had Thai food in Berkeley. Really? Yeah.
Sean wants to know if you've ever tried chin-chin. Yeah, we do the chin-chin.
Plus relative. Sean, wait, this is great.
Sean, do you enjoy Thai food? I love Thai food, yeah. I love the different sauces.
Yeah. You know, in Vegas, we have a place, Lotus of Siam.
Yeah. If you guys ever go to Vegas.
Lotus of Siam. And it's the best.
I mean, you got Night Market Song is amazing in LA, but Vegas has this one. It's called Lotus of Siam,

and it's not on the Strip,

it's off the Strip,

but it is the greatest.

I'll tell you what you need to try

next time you're in Vegas

is the Sphere.

Why don't you guys go play the Sphere?

That place is incredible.

It's great.

Oh, did you already go?

Yeah, I went to that U2 show.

Yeah.

Unbelievable, that venue.

Man, it looks insane.

Just the pictures.

What do you guys think of Vegas,

like living there? You don't live there, Ronnienie brandon you do right i i moved i moved away too and so you did yeah so yeah three of us were born were born there you ever run into kimmel you ever see kimmel over there when you're in vegas ronnie went to the same high school as jimmy really jimmy's a lot a lot older he's a lot full stop he's a lot no i think that's that was the end of his sentence Jimmy's a lot, a lot older. He's a lot older.
He's a lot older.

No, I think that was the end of his sentence.

Jimmy's a lot.

And he is a lot.

Yeah, he is a lot.

We can say this officially.

Kimmel is a lot.

So you went to the same, but it's a good question.

Like being from Vegas, like what Sean was asking,

like I always think that, I've actually asked this to Kimmel too,

like is it a weird place to be from it wasn't until we left yeah that's a great answer and you realize and how weird yeah and so you you you're just accustomed to seeing ads first you know billboards for strip clubs and there are slot machines when you go to 7-eleven like that's just there's my grandma's gonna be playing slots while i'm getting my slurpee like that's what that's what life is like wow and that's and you don't realize that that's foreign to other people how did you end up in northern california for the for the record did you were you guys did you guys all kind of relocate there or oh no that's just where saltzman studio no oh so that was oh gotcha yeah that's just where the record. Did you guys all kind of relocate there? Oh, I...
No, that's just where Saltzman Studios is. No, oh, so that was...
Oh, gotcha. Yeah, that's just where the studio, this guy just was high on building his brand new studio and was very eager to record somewhere.
Gotcha. So you guys have relocated out of Vegas into...
Where are you now? We're all over the place. I'm in Texas right now.
I live in Utah live in utah oh all right okay i have a question when you guys after after a show after a show is done and you played a show do you guys have like a and you're feeling that adrenaline still do you have like a routine or some kind of something you do to come down like you go out do you are like you know what i'm done i'm spent i'm gonna go right to bed or do you are you still high on the energy i devour food Do you not eat you know what? I'm done. I'm spent.
I'm going to go right to bed. Or are you still high on the energy? I devour food.
You do? Do you not eat before the show? About four. I give four hours before the gig.
Yeah. You don't want anything in your stomach for four hours before the gig because it might get a little growly? Yeah, you just feel heavy.
You know, I don't want to feel full and the acid reflux, all that kind of stuff. It hits your cords.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Jason? Yeah. Well, when you say cords, you're talking about the pants? The vocal cords.
Oh, yes. Jesus.
Did you say you lived in Utah? I did. From when I was four until I was seven, we lived in Salt Lake.
I forget why my parents were there, but I learned how to ski. Snowbird in Alta.
Wonderful. So it wasn't always.
Loved it. Yeah.
No, no, no, not at all. Beautiful state.
When I was a kid, I swear I, one of my first celebrity sightings was you. Come on.
Oh, but maybe I was there skiing when I was a little bit older. No, no, no.
It wasn't in Utah. It was like in Reno or Wendover.
I can't remember, but it was in between. It could have been Reno.
And we were checking into some place because there was like a storm or something, and we had to. And I remember being like, I was only eight or nine.
So Jason was 25. You were famous.
Well, barely. That's a kind word.
By the way, Brendan's got a very good memory, so let's

keep going with this. And I was, anyway,

I was excited because I was like, that's

him. And my

mom wasn't sure. Was it

8 a.m.? Was it 8 a.m.? And it looked like he'd

been up? Yeah. Was I

looking dejected from a blackjack

table at the pepper mill? You were?

That was me. Was he exchanging cash

with the dude behind the 7-Eleven? You were like,

you were with, you had some friends with you, but

you were like running the, you had some friends with you but you were like running the you were running the the show i remember yeah i thought i was pretty pretty hot shit did he have a did he have a motor home with some dirt bikes on it was he with leif garrett yeah i could have leif garrett on my way north he might have been with leif garrett by the way you know what's funny so you guys are are from Vegas and then you've moved all over the states and you've kind of lived everywhere but

but you got I my my impression is that you guys really you're so huge in the UK I talked I talked about it before you guys kind of in a way am I right that you guys kind of broke through first in the UK? Yeah.

Yeah, so that first

record we recorded in

Berklee was then put

out by this small indie label, and that's what became our first record, Hot Fuss. Yeah.
Well, all the major American labels said no. So we went with this small label in England.
Who believed in us. Wow.
These guys believe in us. Yeah.
So we went over there and... Go to the love.
I think we did like four or five shows and, you know, the enemy was covering it and it was just like things were starting to sort of bloom a little bit. And then we got home two or three weeks later and all the American labels were taking us out to dinner.
We ate really well for a few months. We were just broke.
We all still had jobs. Brandon was at the Gold Coast slinging bags, and I was taking pictures at a wedding chapel on the Strip.
No way, no way. Yeah, that was my last job.
And so everything, um, everything was, was started to, you know, sort of come down a little bit. You know, every show we'd, we'd play, there'd be somebody from some record label.
Ronnie, how was your, how was your, as a photographer there, how was, how was your, how was your chat to your subjects when you were, when you were shooting and they were really getting good shots and stuff? Would you ever say stuff like dynamite, dynamite? Like, did you have, what was your go-to chat on that stuff? Write to me, write to me. Now, over here, I'm not even here.
I'm not even here. More leg.
More leg, yeah. Dynamite leg.
Wait, you're a photographer. You're not going to regret this.
You're not going to regret this. Right.
That's a good one. Right.
Who's that? Who's that over there? Who's that over there? It was a good job. It was a good job.
Brandon, what were you doing? You were slinging bags? I was a bellman. Yeah, I was a bellman at the Gold Coast.
Oh, at the Gold Coast. I do want to talk about this as its own little session because I know that we might, you know, we may or may not be able to use this or whatever, but you guys are potentially, maybe I've heard, speaking of Vegas, do a residency.
Is that true? It's true. Oh, I'm going.
This is exciting. We'll give you tickets.
Wait. No, of course you will.
Of course. Don't say of course you will.
Sean's in the band. He's going to be there.
Sean's in the goddamn band. I'm going to hold up a sign instead of the drummer, instead of Ronnie Yu.
I'm going to just bring my keyboard. Now, Bono kind of gently mentioned his residency there at the Sphere before it all happened.
Are we making some news here? On Smartless, yeah. Oh, yeah.
It's going to be at the Coliseum. Nice.
Oh, for real? And Caesars Palace. I saw Celine Dion there, yeah.
Yeah. And so we're really excited.
It's going to be 20 years since our first record, so we're going to play the album front to back. Oh, my God, no way.
Wow. And then we'll leave and come back and play you know eight or nine more singles or whatever like you know whatever that's really cool when does that start august is the potential it's the last couple weeks of august yeah oh my that is so exciting 2024 yeah no no no august of 23 you ding dong yes sean they're gonna they built a time machine just so they could go do this residency.
What do you... Hop aboard.
I'll totally go to that. This guy was nominated for best host of the year.
You guys, that's so awesome. How I just...
Again, I just want to follow up with how it is, you know, it's been 20 years and now you're going to do this residency in your hometown. It's got to feel kind of great.
It's really cool. Ronnie's mom worked at Caesars Palace for 40 years.
Oh, wow. What? Wow.
And I used to go, I worked at Spago as a bus boy inside Caesars Palace. Come on.
And it was where I bought, they used to have Virgin Records there, And I took every bit of money that I had and spent it at Virgin Records. It's so cool to come back.
When we were kids, there was a thing called the Omnimax, those dome theaters. Yeah, yeah, Omnimax.
And that's the original sphere. Yeah, they tore it down and that's where the Coliseum is built.
It just, it really feels like a special thing to go back there.

Oh man, that's so awesome.

Well, that's going to be pretty cool for you guys.

Yeah, I'm so happy for you guys.

I'm so happy for the audiences, for us, that we get to come and see you guys. See the way Will just got free tickets from you guys with that little comment right there?

Well, I know.

Brendan, you've still got the same email address, I'm hoping, right?

Yeah.

Okay, I'm going to hit you up.

I'll email you later today.

You guys just be cool, okay? Sean, high nickname busboy was that true okay um uh guys honestly we have once again we've taken up you guys just too much of your time we could just i could ask you guys about your music all day i've just been such a fan as you know for a long. You guys are just unbelievable talents.
And thanks for taking the time during your tour. I know you guys are tired and you're in your hotel room.
I know. Oh, it's all for sure.
We really, really appreciate it. This is a joy.
And please, please, please send me your electronic album that you threw out just so I can enjoy it. I would actually love to hear it.
I will not upload it. I will not upload it to the internet.
But what a pleasure. What an honor having you guys on this show.
It's great to see you guys again. Thank you, guys.
Nice to meet you guys. Very nice to meet you.
Bye, guys. Thank you so much.
See you. See you later.
Bye-bye-bye. Thanks for this.
Cheers. What a nice couple of gentlemen.
Will, it's about time you found some nice friends. They're good dudes, aren't they? They're good dudes.
And yeah, I did look back. Canadian level of nice.
They are Canadian level. Well, they have a lot of Canadian influence.
And I will say, I was just looking back at the email. My email exchanges with Brandon over the years are very random.
But I've always been such a huge fan. And it's true you know when you get just i don't know certain things like inspire you or whatever and you feel like i gotta let him know yeah yeah uh how great it is what they do and you know they obviously they sell millions of records and let millions of fans turn up at their shows but i don't know i think it's nice to reach out to people and say, hey, you're really great.
And what you did was really inspiring and awesome. And how lucky that he wasn't a jerk, right? It's like they said, be careful, don't meet your heroes.
Like how terrible would that have been if he was just like, yeah, great, so what? Goodbye. Yeah.
Yeah. But the opposite happened.
I like them. I feel like I've known them.
Right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anyway.

They should be called The Lovers, really.

I mean.

Did you guys like my other song?

You haven't heard that song yet.

Boy, I think I'm losing you.

Are you going over a canyon?

Hello?

Hello.

Can you hear me?

Sean.

Yeah.

Will, when you got a second, we're just doing the wrap-up.

Yeah, sorry.

Sorry. Anyway, they're such nice dudes too they're such nice normal for huge no I was gonna say for huge megastars I was reading one of my annoying emails to Brandon which was about whether my sister could go say hi to them after the show oh Oh, that's nice.
You talking about Champagne wanted to go? It's Chardonnay, sorry. Chardonnay wanted to go? Shanley.
Shanley. Shanley.
I wanted to ask them about the AI thing. Your question about the drum, can AI take over and write songs? Can I tell you something? Nobody's better at asking questions after the guest has gone than you, Sean.
You are. I'm defeated.
We're going to have another podcast called Follow Up. It's just going to be you, Sean.
Will and I, we're going to skip that one. Yeah.
Hey, guys. And I'm talking to nobody.
Hey, by the way, how do robots say goodbye? Bye. No, they use binary.
Bye, Mary. Bye.
Don't tweak your nips when you say it, Sean. He's leaning back so satisfied.
Bye. Smart.
Smart. Smart.
Smart. Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarf, Bennett Barbaco, and Michael Grantary.

Smart Less And someone else has said A phone is ringing all night Wondering with somebody's ass Isn't life a lot of you all Without feeling the torture of love

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Nine shows, April 30th through May 17th. Tollby live at Park MGM.
Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Joe Cetriani, Kenny Arnav. Rate this await.
A deep dive into the Van Halen years. Plus solo, Montrose, Chicken Foot, and more.
Tickets at Ticketmaster.com.

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It's time to finish what we started in Las Vegas residency.

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