Hard Rock Calling Highlights on Sky Arts 23rd July

Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 1 HD will broadcast highlights from Hard Rock Calling, where The Killers headlined on the Friday night) tomorrow night (23rd July) from 10pm. Click the link below to watch a short clip Mr. Brightside.

The programme will be repeated on Sunday morning at 10am on both channels.

Source: Sky Arts

Live Nation pre-sale for Orlando Calling

The Live Nation pre-sale for Orlando Calling starts today (Friday 22 July 2011) at 10:00AM local time. The password is Lyrics, and the link is here. Good luck all.

The Killers to play Orlando Calling

The Killers have been confirmed as headliners on Saturday 12 November 2011 at Orlando Calling at the Citrus Bowl Park, Orlando, Florida. More information and tickets are available at their website.

Brandon Flowers, Super Bock Super Rock: Videos

16 July 2011: Super Bock Super Rock Festival, Lisbon, Portgual

Only The Young

NME Review of Big Talk (scan)

Interview with Ronnie Vannucci from Spinner

Big Talk’s Ronnie Vannucci Has a ‘Hard’ Time Escaping Killers’ Shadow for Solo LP

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Posted on Jul 12th 201 by Theo Spielberg

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Jeff Gros

Ronnie Vannucci is probably best known as the drummer for the Killers but the man has got plenty more tricks up his sleeve besides banging the skins. Vannucci has just released his first solo record under the sobriquet Big Talk. The eponymous album was produced by Joe Chicarelli (the Strokes, My Morning Jacket) and mixed by Alan Moulder (the Killers’ ‘Hot Fuss’ and ‘Sam’s Town’).

Not straying far from the synth-rock brand of music the Killers peddle, Big Talk throws out epic hooks, anthemic riffs and ’80s-style feel-goodery with effortless conviction. At times Vannucci sounds uncannily like bandmate Brandon Flowers. However, he also tries his hand at dirty Spaghetti Western tunes (see ‘No Whiskey’) as well as Wilco-ish alt-country rock (‘Girls at Sunrise’) with the same tangible delight of exploration he demonstrates simply by stepping out from behind the drums.

Spinner recently caught up with a breathless Vannucci, who had just “finished a jam,” to discuss the album and the Killers’ future.

What inspired you to step out from behind the drums?

Man, I’ve been telling everybody that the genesis was just boredom. But the more and more I think about it there are probably other components to that. Honestly, a large part of that was trying to stop cold turkey from a certain taste that you’ve acquired. You’re on the road nine years, you’re going 100 miles an hour, you don’t get to slow down. And all of a sudden, BOOM, everyone says, “Hey man, why don’t we take a break?” and I’m like “Yeah!” And then like two weeks into it I was going f—ing crazy, creatively wanting to get to some places. I did a couple things but I just thought this is maybe a good time to take a nice big swim into “Lake Me,” see what’s in there. So I started messing around with old ideas and coming up with new ideas, and that’s basically what became the Big Talk record.

Did you play all the instruments on the album?

Yeah. And then Taylor [Milne] who plays lead guitar, that’s him goofing around in the background right now. Taylor was a big part of this as well. I brought the songs in but he really helped me, he kind of stood in my corner. He’s got such a great attitude, a positive attitude. It’s not like I have a s—-y attitude but sometimes if you’re up your own ass for too long you lose objectivity. You don’t think anything is good anymore, you think the crap is the good stuff and you just sort of deride the whole scenario. He really helped in that way, not only with his musical skills, but the comradery was really nice.

Also Matt Sharp from Weezer and the Rentals played bass on a couple tracks and then Ted Sablay played bass on a couple as well. I tried to bring it in, you know, pop open a bottle of whiskey, invite some friends over and see what happens. It was very real and very organic. I didn’t even know I was going to make a record before getting into it.

Has fronting a band changed your musical process or approach?

Well, no … I guess in some ways. It’s not something I’ve really thought about as far as the songwriting thing goes. It’s just changed my perspective a little bit. In that way I guess it’s changed the way I think about a song. Playing drums, I always tend to think about the live aspect and about how it’s going to translate, how it’s going to be fed to the minds and brains of people who are listening. I’m still very much a listener too and I want to be happy when I hear something. So to answer your question, yes because I’m thinking more dynamically. I’m thinking “Oh f—, I’m the dude up front who has to deliver this.”

Where did the band name come from?

I started tossing around a bunch of different names and you kind of start out as a joke. I wanted to call it Big Talk because, at least in my mind, this is a very fun side project. Having been fortunate to have been in a bigger rock band, you get used to seeing people being overly hyped. I was just thinking it would be a nice play to call it Big Talk because this is probably the closest thing to not being hyped, but here I am giving an interview to AOL. It’s one of those names that’s so bad it’s good again.

Are you embracing the Killers’ shadow or trying to escape it?

I’m trying not to use the smoke of it too much, or the steam of it. I really want to see what this does. There is so much bulls— going on and there is so much superficiality that I wish I could just go up about this anonymously. That’s another reason why I gave it a band name as opposed to my given name. I want to just see what it does without the steam of those big machines, without the red carpet and stuff. I just want to see if the songs hold up, just to see. That’s a hard thing to escape.

Did you ever ask Brandon how to navigate the solo project?

Not really specifically. We had a couple conversations about just going out and doing some gigs and about how in his experience the solo thing is nerve-wracking at first. It was like starting over again. A lot of his stuff was not as high-tempo or high-energy as [the Killers] so he’s got to deliver in a totally different way and you don’t have the same guys behind you and it’s a different thing.

Hopefully mine is up-tempo enough that I can get away with it, up-tempo enough to keep me in that rock zone. So far I’ve been having a good time with it. It’s just going to be different when a bunch of eyeballs are looking at me. If nothing else this is just a personal challenge for me. I’d probably be doing this if I weren’t in a band. I was doing this when I was 12 years old.

What’s the status on the Killers’ fourth album?

We’re doing pretty good actually. We’re about a month and a half in. We’re doing these writing schedules where we do a month on and a month off. So right now in July it’s the month off. So I’m taking advantage of that time off and doing shit with Big Talk. Then August we’ll write. We basically write in a room, just band-in-a-garage style for 16 hours a day, writing and recording stuff then going back and listening to it, sifting through the rubble and making songs. I’m really excited about it. Sometimes when you have stuff in your head you can’t sleep, so I wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning with these new tunes in my head and I can’t shake ’em. We’re all really excited to get the next batch out. We have no date or anything set, we just want to make sure it’s good and take our time with it. Not too much time.

Is it hard finding a balance between the two projects?

I think it’s finding its balance now. I think the balance between the dudes is fine. Creatively, I feel that there’s enough of a difference there to find the balance. I have stuff that just would be better suited for Killers’ songs and stuff that would be better suited for what I’m doing as well, and then I have stuff that’s sort of like game-show music.

Are you going to try frontman duties outside of Big Talk?

Oh no, I haven’t thought about that. The whole frontman thing kind of came by as a way of kind of writing these songs. The objective was not to become a frontman — it was just to write songs and to see if I could do it. It was almost a secondary matter.

Side projects in general come with a certain set of expectations from fans — do you think about that? Do you care?

The expectation is to think about my first band the Killers. Anything you do affects the look and the reputation of the band so you don’t want to put s– out there, which is why I sort of kept quiet about the whole thing. I actually think it’s good now — I’ve got a little more confidence. At first it was tough. You don’t want to give your band a bad rep. Anything you put out has to be worth a s—.

Stay tuned, we’ll see how this goes. If it goes well, then we’ll kick it in the pants.

Source: Spinner

Brandon Flowers Eden Review from Gigatude

Brandon Flowers at Eden Sessions 2011

Charismatic frontman of The Killers, Brandon Flowers has achieved great success since branching out from the band. Even before hitting the stage, the crowd were chanting and cheering for him. He cleverly orchestrated it to look like he was coming on stage several times by dimming the lights and bringing the music down, the crowd would explode into rapturous applause, and the music would suddenly return.

When he finally hit the stage, there was crowd singalongs as he opened the show with his understated track, On The Floor. Next up was an awesome cover of Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes which I thought was one of the best song of the night. His version of Mr Brightside was my personal favourite. I do wonder why Brandon has gone solo though as his music is close enough to The Killers’ own tunes to make me wonder why a solo album was necessary. Although unconfirmed, there are rumours that Brandon took songs he wrote for The Killers’ next album, and released them as his own solo album Flamingo. Whether that is true or not, I am unsure.

 

See full review, pictures and videos at Gigatude

Brandon Flowers: Eden Sessions – Videos

Crossfire

Magdalena

Bette Davis Eyes

Jilted Lovers and Broken Hearts

Read My Mind

Losing Touch

Crossfire (reprise)

 

Playing With Fire

 

Was It Something I Said?

 

Only The Young

 

Only The Young and Mr. Brightside

NME Interview with Brandon from T in the Park (video)

NME spoke to Brandon Flowers yesterday at T in the Park and asked him about the future of The Killers, a potential new solo album, Big Talk and playing at Eden. You can watch the video here.

Brandon Flowers Tilburg Review from NU

Zanger The Killers vermijdt spontaniteit

Laatste update:  7 juli 2011 00:42 info

TILBURG – Na enkele succesvolle tours met zijn band The Killers is zanger Brandon Flowers momenteel op soloavontuur. Dat dit spannend is, spreekt voor zich, hoewel de Amerikaan zich er goed doorheen slaat in de Tilburgse 013. Al zijn er nog enkele hindernissen.

Foto:  Wenn

De uit Las Vegas afkomstige rockband The Killers breekt eind 2004 door met het album Hot Fuss. Daarna volgen nog Sam’s Town (2006) en het zeer succesvolle Day & Age (2008).

In amper vijf jaar tijd groeit de band uit tot een stadionact met vele radiohits. In 2010 brengt frontman Brandon Flowers zijn solodebuut Flamingo uit, wanneer The Killers tijdelijk stil ligt.

Het optreden van Flowers in Tilburg wordt voorafgegaan door een akoestische set van Travis-zanger Fran Healy. Er lijken weinig fans van de Schot aanwezig in 013, want een groot deel van het publiek kan zich niet stilhouden tijdens nummers als Writing To Reach You, Sing en Why Does It Always Rain On Me.

Het gros van de toeschouwers heeft weinig op met Travis, zoveel is duidelijk. Maar het draait vanavond dan ook om Brandon Flowers. Of stiekem toch nog meer om The Killers, waarvan de talrijke fans in de zaal hopen dat Flowers er enkele nummers van zal spelen.

Afsluiten

Hit Crossfire wordt al als tweede nummer van de set gespeeld, na opener On The Floor. Dan weet je als liefhebber al genoeg; Flowers gaat afsluiten met een hit van zijn band. Maar zover is het nog niet. Eerst brengt Flowers nummers ten gehore van zijn eigen album.

Veel van zijn eigen liedjes zijn live interessanter dan in de gladgestreken versies op Flamingo. Zonder de strakke productie van Stuart Price, Brendan O’Brien en Daniel Lanois heeft Flowers de gelegenheid meer emotie in zijn teksten te leggen en krijgt de band eveneens meer de ruimte. Spontaniteit wordt verder volledig gemeden.

Inleving

Bovendien wijken de versies nauwelijks echt af van de originele opnames. Flowers en band doen hun best deze zo nauwkeurig mogelijk te benaderen. Met succes, dat wel, maar het vergt zo weinig inleving. Het eigen repertoire van Flowers wordt afgewisseld met een paar nummers van The Killers (waaronder Read My Mind).

De matige cover van de jaren tachtig-hit Betty Davis Eyes van Kim Carnes had achterwege mogen blijven. Als toegift zingt Brandon Flowers het Killers-nummer Mr Brightside in de Jacques Lu Cont Remix, de klapper van de avond. Met krap zestig minuten is het concert aan de korte kant. Flowers had nog zeker een paar Killers-hits kunnen spelen.

ENGLISH (LITERAL) TRANSLATION:

The Killers singer avoids spntaneity

Last updaet: July 7, 2011

TILBERG – After several successful tours with his band The Killers singer Brandon Flowers is currently on a solo adventure. That this is exciting speaks for itself, although the American is good through 013 stores in Tilberg. Though there are some obstacles.

Foto:  Wenn

Derived from the Las Vegas rock band The Killers broke through late 2005 with the album Hot Fuss. They are followed by Sam’s Town (2006) and the hugely successful Day & Age (2008)

In just five years time the band growing into a stadioact with many radio hits. In 2010, frontman Brandon Flowers Flamingo from his solo debut, when The Killers temporarily stationary.

The occurance of Flowers in Tilburg is preceded by an acousrtic set by Travis singer Fran Healy. There seems little fans of the Scottice presence in 013, because a large proportion of the population can not keep quite druing songs like Writing To Reach You, Sing, and Why Does it Always Rain On Me.

The majority of the audience has little time for Travis, this much is clear. But it’s also tonight at Brandon Flowers. Or secretly do even more for The Killers, whose many fans in the audience hoping that Flowers will play some songs.

Close

Hit Crossfire is already a second edition of the set played, after opening On The Floor. Then you know enough as a fan, Flowers will close with a bit of his band. But that is not. Flowers brings first song played at his own album.

Many of his songs are more interesting live than the smoothed versions at Flamingo. Without the tight production by Stuart Proice. Brendan O’Brien and Daniel Lanois Flowers has the opportunity to be more emotion in his lyrics and the band also put more space. Spontaneity is also completely avoided.

Empathy

Moreover, the version differ a little from the original recordings really. Flowers and the band doing their best to approach as closely as possible. With success, yes, but it takes so little empathy. Its repertoire of Flowers is interspesed with a few songs from The Killers (including Read My Mind).

The moderate cover of the eighties hit Betty Davies Eyes by Kim Carnes had omitted to remain. If the Killers Brandon Flowers sings encore song – Mr Brightside Jaques lu Cont Remix in the topper of the evening. With just sixty minutes, the concert on the short side. Flowers had remained a few Killers hits play.

Source: NU