Interviewers: Jennifer F., Jesica Fowler, and Melissa Lozano |
While unpacking their tour van, guitarist Dave Keuning took a quick break to talk to us. The band was in the middle of touring with stellastarr*.
NOTE: This is one The Killers’ very first interviews before they skyrocketed into number one worldwide. A legendary interview for High Voltage, enjoy!
HV: Do you want to introduce yourself and tell your role in the band?
Dave: I’m Dave Keuning and I play guitar in The Killers.
HV: So you guys got together in 2001, right?
Dave: Yeah, like August of 2001, Brandon and I met and just started writing songs and then we just got the first bass and drummer we could find and just started playing out and about a year later we met Ronnie and Mark, the other guys, and been with them ever since.
HV: Where did the name come from, “The Killers”?
Dave: We kind of borrowed it from a New Order video, for “Crystal.” There’s a band that looks really cool in the video and they’re called The Killers, but it’s a fake band. So we thought we’d just take that and become the band in real life, sort of. We just thought it was a cool name for a band. We’re big New Order fans.
HV: How is it touring with stellastarr*, any crazy stories?
Dave: It’s been really great, they’re all really nice. You know, nice to hang out with. I’ll get back to you on the crazy stories. Can’t think of any right now.
HV: Have there been any interesting fans along the way?
Dave: Yeah, there’s been a few people who call out songs, like “Indie Rock & Roll,” that I don’t know how they even know about it, cause you can’t buy it anywhere or download it anywhere. So we’ve had a few unusual requests like that. And we’ve heard stories of people paying like $60 for our CD over the internet, which I can’t imagine people doing, but somebody did.
HV: You think it’s cool that they do that?
Dave: Yeah, it’s fine. They got it on eBay. I can’t believe it.
HV: What’s the best part of being in a band?
Dave: Not working.
HV: What’s the worst part?
Dave: The worst part? Trying to make it look like you’re having fun everyday on stage. You’d think it would be fun every day but it’s not always fun every day. And people watching, they want to see a good show, so you want to give it to them.
HV: Do you have any musical influences?
Dave: Like, The Rolling Stones, Duran Duran, The Cure, The Smashing Pumpkins, New Order, U2, all those bands are great. And Bowie, stuff like that.
HV: Are there any influences that aren’t musical?
Dave: Like, living in Vegas might be one, I don’t know. But just working with these guys, the four of us together, I think we just influence each other really, you know? Cause we all like different things, we all like different bands. And it’s kind of mixture of all four of us.
HV: Do you have any pet peeves?
Dave: Pet peeves? I’m sure I do… Sorry.
HV: Or any guilty pleasures, TV shows that people make fun of you for?
Dave: Three’s Company. I don’t know why, I just really like it. We almost dedicated the album to John Ritter but we weren’t serious about it, so, we didn’t. But I love John Ritter. I was really sad when he died.
HV: What do you want your audience to come away with after seeing your live show?
Dave: Hopefully maybe at least one song they’ll remember because of the lyrics or something, you know. We try and have our songs be memorable. And it’s great when people come up to us and remember a line. And hopefully they’ll like the show and come back.
HV: How many other jobs have you had before this?
Dave: Quite a few.
HV: What’s the worst one?
Dave: The worst job I had… Telemarketing is always bad. I did that for about a month once and I felt guilty doing it everyday, I was like “Why am I bothering these people that don’t want to be bothered and I’m bothering them and I don’t want to bother them. I don’t even like doing it.” So that was probably the worst. And I’ve worked in fast food for a couple of weeks and that was pretty horrible too. I quit, by the way. It didn’t last. Smells really bad.
HV: Did you come up with any crazy stories yet?
Dave: Oh, um…
HV: Do you guys get along [with stellastarr*]?
Dave: We get along really well with them. And we’d never met them before this tour. But we’ve been on tour with them since England, for about nine weeks now.
HV: How was England?
Dave: England’s great. I like England. And we’re going to go back in June. So, it should be good. We’re a little bit ahead there cause we’re signed on a UK label first, so we have some fans over there and no one’s really heard of us in America right now, so it’s all kinda new. [About the story] Sorry. I always think of something later, but I get nervous on the spot.
HV: That’s cool. Thanks for your time. Take care.