Brandon Flowers has spoken to NME about revisiting his formative years to give more of himself away than ever before on new solo album ‘Thrasher’, as well as tackling the “loneliness epidemic” for an incoming “sister record” and what’s next for The Killers.
The frontman of the Las Vegas band will release his third solo album this Friday (August 21), drawing from his early childhood years and country music like Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings that his father would play to him while driving around rural Utah.
It carries the Americana thread launched by The Killers’ classic 2006 album ‘Sam’s Town’ and picks up where their last record, ‘Pressure Machine’, left off with its “South Western” leanings.
And why now, at the age of 45 and with such a vivid songbook already under his belt, is Flowers getting so personal.
Recorded in country music’s spiritual home of Nashville, ‘Thrasher’ sees Flowers reunite with longtime producers Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado, as well as team up with guitarist David Rawlings, pedal steel player Bruce Bouton, and 85-year-old Charlie McCoy (the harmonica player who featured on all four of Bob Dylan’s Nashville records).
As Flowers revealed to NME last year, ‘Thrasher’ is the first of two new solo albums – with this one more narrative ahead of a more “romantic” follow-up.
Flowers added: “I see it as an answer to the loneliness epidemic. It is a problem that I’m seeing where we’re separating ourselves. Those beautiful things that make us human are getting lost.
The greatest joys of my life have been those moments – just being a young man and dating, falling in love, whatever it was. That’s what keeps the world turning.”.
Brandon Flowers. CREDIT: Chris Phelps.
Check out the rest of our interview below, where Flowers looked back on his childhood, opened up about the power of country, his life as an artist and a father, and teased a new Killers record in the works.
NME: Hello, Brandon. What is it about these memories and your early years that marry so well with an album like ‘Thrasher’.
Brandon Flowers: “I think I just have a great memory. I carry around these stories, and it’s become my job to tell them. It’s a big responsibility. There’s a song about my sister on the record called ‘Miss America’, and you don’t want to mess it up.
You want to do justice to her experience. It goes back to age and the care that I can put into it. I didn’t have access to that or to the words before. My abilities weren’t there.”.
Doing your sister justice is quite a burden. Is she cool with it.
Take us back to the time where this record is set. What was life like at home.
Was there an element of intentionally hiding that at first in The Killers’ songs to focus on the glamorous Vegas side of the band? Or is it more about only being able to process it now.
Brandon Flowers performs with Lucy Dacus at Newport Folk Festival. Credit: Rob Loud.
Growing up in Nephi, how did you imagine your future.
You’ve spoken a lot about how you were shaped by Pet Shop Boys, Oasis, The Smiths and New Order, but what was your music taste like in your formative years.
Is it strange to see the worlds of pop and country smashing together so much nowadays then now that country is on trend.
What do you think it is about country music that allows you to do that.
And it’s a true American art form as well.
Why do you think there is this hunger for country music at the moment.
Tell us about the all-star cast of musicians on this album.
You sing about Elvis driving a Tesla. Do you think he would.
How much should we read into this dream.
They’ve retroactively called the ‘00s the ‘indie sleaze’ era because it was so wild with people partying in the last age before you could film everything on a phone.
Brandon Flowers ‘Thrasher’ artwork. CREDIT: Press.
Does age and fatherhood change your ambition as an artist and the way you think about the work.
Do you see yourself as a Mick Jagger-style lifer.
Does country music give you more longevity away from the constraints of The Killers? Do you imagine being in The Killers when you’re 75.
September will be 20 years of ‘Sam’s Town’. With there being something of a thread between ‘Sam’s Town’ and this record, will you be doing anything to mark the anniversary.
The Killers performing live. CREDIT: Chris Phelps.
Is there a new album from The Killers in the can.
And that’s the full band working together again.
Which version of The Killers will hear on the next album? More neon arena rock than Americana.
Brandon Flowers releases ‘Thrasher’ on Friday August 21 via Island Records, before a headline tour of North America, the UK and Ireland kicks off in September. Visit here for tickets and more information.
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Informação baseada em material público de NME, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
