-Welcome to the show.
-Thanks. Thank you.
-I'm so very, very happy you're here.
-Taking a chance on me. -I'm taking a chance on you.
I think this is going to work out really well for you.
-This is my first American couch.
-Oh, well, congratulations.
So I want to start with this.
I did not realize the origin of your band
was that you guys actually found each other via a classified ad?
-Yeah. It sounds -- its sounds old fashioned.
-Yeah. -Like where did you get
your instruments, at the Five-And-Dime?
-Yeah. -But that was in this century.
It wasn't that long ago. -Yeah.
-Things have progressed so fast.
-You know, the thought of saying,
"I'm going to be in a rock band" and sitting down at a diner
with the classifieds seems -- -Yeah.
-You're right, like 100 years ago.
-There were these two magazines, free weekly magazines in Vegas,
and they had at the back of them at each one there was
a classified section, and I would kind of scour through.
At the end of each ad,
they would put what influences you had.
And, so, I would just look at the band names,
look at the band names.
And there were a lot of new metal
and a lot of stuff that I wasn't really affiliated with.
At least I didn't affiliate myself with.
And then I saw the Beatles
and I saw Smashing Pumpkins and Oasis.
And I thought, "That's close enough for me."
-Yeah. -And that was how I met
our guitar player, yeah, Dave Keuning.
-That's fantastic. And I will say, like,
there's something really bold about having a classified ad
for a band which is so great that he did it and saying,
"I'm going to put Beatles in there."
- Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-You know? -It's an obvious one, I guess.
-So you guys -- What was your first show like?
How many people did you play for?
Did you feel like it was working right away?
-No. I mean, it wasn't. [ Laughter ]
We played an open mic night at a café
that was across the street from UNLV, the college.
And we just took -- you know, we had our slot,
and we played three songs.
And I was -- I say this and people don't --
you might think I'm just making it up.
But I was looking for a spot on the floor to throw up.
[ Laughter ]
I just didn't think I was going to make it through.
I was just totally open after that gig
to having another singer.
And then it just ended up, you know, by default,
I became the singer. Yeah. -That is -- it's very funny
to think of The Killers as a café band.
[ Laughter ]
And then -- do you remember what your three songs were?
Like, what did you do? -Yeah.
We did a cover of -- from a band called Travis
that we were into. -Sure.
-It was called "Side," a great song.
-Mm-hmm. -And "Under the Gun"
and "Mr. Brightside." -Now that's crazy to me
that you had "Mr. Brightside" for your first show.
-Yeah.
-That seems like really a very good song
for your very first show. [ Laughter ]
-I had never -- I had never heard it with
a beat at that point.
And that was -- -You had written it --
-We didn't have a drummer yet. -Okay, I got you.
-And, so, I still remember playing it at a drummer's house.
We went to his house and he had the drums set up
in his living room and I was on bass
and Dave was on guitar and I remember the hairs
on my arm standing up.
It was the first time I'd heard it, you know, with a beat.
And it was an incredible moment for me.
And I didn't know it was going to grow into what it's become
since, but I knew that it was good.
-Was it -- you say you never heard it with a beat before.
Did you -- do you also get nervous when you meet a drummer
and he hasn't heard the song yet either when you're like,
"Hey, I need you to play the drums for this."
Is that -- within, like, other musicians,
do you feel the nerves of them something?
-You know, it's exciting.
You never know what you're going to get or if you're going to see
eye to eye with everybody.
But we've been lucky and we've had a few moments
where we've tapped into the universe,
and it has just been exciting.
-You, obviously by the art on your box set.
You guys care very deeply about your Vegas roots.
[ Laughter ]
There's no doubt about where you're from.
Would you have said that what your sound was
was a Vegas sound? -It is.
You know, we take all these influences that you've had
over your life. You can't help but take it in.
And then we funnel it through the strip, I think.
And I think that's what we sound like.
-Uh-huh. -Especially on our first record.
I think you take a lot of these British influences,
and then there's this shimmer
and pizzazz to them that those guys
weren't quite bringing from across the pond.
-[ Chuckles ] Yeah, and then did you --
Was Vegas, did they embrace you early on in your...?
-No. -No?
[ Laughter ]
What do you think their hesitation was
as far as owning you as a Vegas band?
-We wore makeup and -- a lot of makeup was happening.
-Okay, good.
- I was really into the New York Dolls.
-Yeah, okay, there you go. -A great New York band.
And so I gave that a shot.
So we would go to Walgreens
and pick up eyeliner and eye shadow and lip gloss
and stuff like that on the way to the bars
that we were playing at. -That's -- I mean, they do --
Walgreens, always, they do it best. Yeah?
[ Laughter ]
-I did not look great in it. -Yeah.
-I wasn't good at it. -Yeah.
I mean, I think everybody comes from Vegas has, you know,
more than -- if you grow up in the suburbs,
there are so many interesting jobs for young people.
You cleaned golf clubs?
-I scrubbed clubs. -Scrubbed clubs?
-Yeah. -You were a club scrubber.
-Yeah. Scrubbin' clubs.
-That doesn't seem like one of the better jobs
at a golf course.
-No, I mean, there were caddies,
and then there are the pros in the pro shop that were, like,
selling, you know, khakis and things like.
And I would -- I would wait for the guys to finish
and we'd clean their clubs and then clean the golf cart
when they were finished.
And it was just all about --
I kinda grew to love these kind of jobs.
Hustle and bustle and you'd feel your pocket filling, you know,
filling up with cash.
And I sort of thrived on it. -Yeah.
And was there a moment where you realized,
"Okay, you know what?
I'm going to try music and leave all this."
-I met a guy at the first golf course we worked at.
His name was Trevor. He was eccentric,
and he was from Olympia, Washington.
And he had the audacity to think that he could make short films
and start a band and I had never thought of that before.
And so it just opened up a whole new world to me.
I mean, I owe a lot to him.
-Do you -- -I can't find him.
-You can't find him? [ Laughter ]
-The last I heard, he was in China.
-Oh, wow. -And I can't --
Trevor, if you're out there, man.
[ Laughter ]
I love him. I owe so much to him.
-That's great. I hope we air in China.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]