The Killers Q &A

by Robert Frezza
Static Noise
http://www.staticnoise.net

Sam’s Town is the new album from Las Vegas’s The Killers. The band missed the States so much while on tour in Europe for their last album, that they dedicated their entire new album to America, so to speak. Thus, the Americana themed Sam’s Town was born. I recently spoke to Killers drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. on the eve of their album release for Sam’s Town.

StaticNoise: Rolling Stone gave you two stars and Entertainment Weekly gave you a grade of C+ for Sam’s Town. Thus, the reviews have been mixed. Are you choosing to read either or neither?
Ronnie Vannucci: You know what – I don’t know – I just – I just kind of got friends who are journalists, but I also know how one person’s opinion can kind of send those shock waves, be it negative although it can still have an effect.  So, I kind of know both sides and tell you the truth, I like having the mixed reviews because telling me that we’ve done something a little bit, out of bounds, is a little bit unusual and I’m glad that we’re doing that.  I’m glad that we’re trying new shit, because I think that’s where a lot of the reviews are coming from.  It’s also coming from – well at least a lot of the negative reviews, which I’ve heard about – I know my mom called me and she said, the Review Journal at home, which is a big newspaper at home, kind of laid into us.  Anyway, I mean, if we were doing the same shit, I think it wouldn’t be satisfying to us in any way.  We’ve done it before and so, we’re trying new stuff.  We think its great people have their opinions and I respect their opinions if it has merit and if it’s written well. I was really surprised by some articles – seemed like they were written by a jealous little 14-year-old teenage boy or something.  It just was really, really – it really blew my mind that some of these people who, in my opinion, are kind of you know, shoddy journalists, get jobs at these –these newspapers or magazines that have such notoriety.

SN: Who are the major influences for the Killers and do they switch from album to album?
RV:  No, I think we been getting that a lot lately – that question in a couple different ways, but the main word here, like your time, that’s time spent on the road to develop as a band, people you know, musicians and songwriters.  And also, time to actually you know make a record that’s what I’d like to think is a, you know, a very well-balanced version of The Killers. Sam’s Town was a demo tape that we, we would go write a song on a Monday and then on Saturday, go up to Berkley and make this song to a CD and get it mixed and all that very quick.  So that we could have songs for people to listen to and to get gigs with and stuff.  And so, we showed record labels that the music – they’re just like this is – this is great, we could put this out – we ended up using it and proud of it and everything and it’s got a certain amount of spontaneity and stuff like that, but it’s a very – it’s a very quick and perhaps not as well-developed as what we’d have – what we would have liked to do.
To answer your question, I mean, the influences have been really, really, across the board, because I think – you know, everybody in the band likes to listen to fairly different music, but we also, we come together on the – on a few classic bands idea that really wasn’t premeditated or talked about, we’d sit around the table and discuss, but we always just wanted to be able to bridge all those – those gaps that are in pop music today. We wanted to bridge the gap between integrity and being an important band, but still being, accessible and still be noticed on the radio and shit.

SN: In terms of rock music, Brandon Flowers said that this album will keep rock music afloat. What do you think of the rock scene as of right now? Do you think the market is being saturated with pop-emo bands right now?
RV: Well, you know – you know, rock music changes all the time.  It’s got to and you know,
everybody’s got their opinion and people got to understand that you know, we’re a young – we’re a
young band, not really broken in on the whole being careful what we say. As far as (Brandon) speaking highly of our record saying it’s the best album in 20 years and stuff like that.  When you’re in there and you’re in the studio, which is – he said that, I was right next to him – and you just get done listening to what you laid down and you – loving – you’re just hearing something that you’re really, really pleased with what you just did.  It’s like winning your football game or whatever you like to do.  You know what I mean?  It’s just like it’s important to you and it’s very near and dear and so you want it to speak highly of it – for all we know it might be the best you know, record in 20 years and stuff.  OK, as far as the state of the union in rock and roll, I’m no aficionado on that.  I’ve got bands that I like that I think are worth a shit and bands that I think are just kind of ho-hum, you know, but, I’m – you know, that’s just my opinion, I’m not like into like competition or anything like that, I mean, if a lot of bands play music for a lot of different reasons and you know, I can’t claim to know all the reasons why some of these – what we call emo bands, do what they’re doing. 

You know, shit it’s on the radio, some people are buying it, so something’s good about it. Nobody gives (Sunny Day Real Estate) any worth and they’ve kind of started that shit and there’s a couple bands that kind of made it shit, but I mean, there’s a lot of great bands out there that kind of you know, didn’t get their due.

SN: Where do you see the Killers’ career headed in the future?
RV: Besides hookers and coke and all that good shit, it is to be important in the way that we have to squeeze out a couple pups, have some kids and their friends are getting into classic music – your classic, you know, rock and roll and you know, they come upon us.  And they’re just like, now that’s a great band.  To be recognized as one of those bands – a classic band, I guess is the ultimate goal and hopefully we’re still – you know, we’re still kicking around and getting along and you know, raging with the hookers and coke still.  But, you know, I do think we’ve got something really, really special and I hope it gets some notice and it gets regarded you know.  Really a lot of special bands out there that you know, don’t get their due and haven’t gotten their due and you’ve got to do some serious research and kind of get into it.  Whatever, you know, it’s just – we just want to be a band that’s around for 25 years or 30 years – no more then 30 years, but you know, a long time.