The Killers are a Grammy-nominated American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. Formed in 2002 and made up of Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards), Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass guitar, vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr., (drums, percussion), they released their debut album, Hot Fuss, in 2004. Their second album, Sam's Town, was released in early October 2006.
Most famous for their hit singles "Somebody Told Me", "Mr. Brightside", "When You Were Young" and "Read My Mind". Their music is based on British influences and on the music of the 1980s, particularly New Wave music, and, later, on epic 'Americana' artists such as Bruce Springsteen.
The Killers finished working on a third album, which was released on November 24, 2008 in the UK and November 25, 2008 in North America. Brandon Flowers confirmed the album's title as Day & Age in an interview with NME. They worked with Stuart Price who did the Thin White Duke remix of "Mr Brightside" and produced "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf" and "Sweet Talk". The first single from the album was "Human", although originally planned for Sawdust, it was released on September 22, with the music video released on iTunes on October 16. The band released a third Christmas single in December 2008, "Joseph, Better You Than Me". It features Elton John and Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys. Proceeds from the downloads will benefit Product Red. Day & Age became the band's third studio album to reach number one in both the UK and Ireland, it reached number six on the Billboard 200 album chart. On July 13, 2009, UNICEF, MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) and the US Agency for International Development used a shortened version of the song "Goodnight, Travel Well" in a video to promote awareness of sex trafficking.[citation needed] The Killers headline the Friday night show of 2009's Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park, London. The Killers also released a Christmas single in December 2009 called 'Happy Birthday Guadalupe', and in November 2009 their song 'A White Demon Love Song' was added to the 'New Moon' soundtrack.
After the final stretch of The Killers Day & Age tour, the band will take a short break after being on the road for the better part of six years. In late February, The Sun (a British newspaper) published the story that Flowers' mother had died after a two year fight with brain cancer. This meant a premature closing of their Day and Age tour cancelling the Asian dates. Two Australian dates in Sydney and Perth were cancelled, however both the Gold Coast and Melbourne concerts went ahead, with the Day & Age tour finally coming to a close in Melbourne on February 21 as the headline act at the Good Vibrations Festival at Flemington Racecourse.
On February 24, 2010 Rolling Stone magazine revealed that Ray Davies had chosen The Killers to contribute to a cover album of The Kinks' songs, due out at the end of the year.
