The SPIN Interview: Brandon Flowers

Photographed for SPIN by Ture Lillegraven

The career paths of so many of the people I look up to are absolutely the opposite of ours. Depeche Mode is another band I think about. It wasn't until Music for the Masses or Violator that they got huge. Other bands that had really big first albums, like Guns N' Roses, didn't have staying power. I hope we do.

When Hot Fuss came out, were you bothered by people saying the Killers were --
Style over substance! [The Pet Shop Boys'] Neil Tennant said I only grew a beard to prove that I was more than pop. Every time I shave, I put the hair in a bag. I'm waiting for the opportune time to give it to him.

You're joking.
I'm serious. It's a big bag, too. But I don't understand how anyone could say Hot Fuss was disposable. "Mr. Brightside" isn't disposable. Is "All These Things That I've Done" disposable? Calling that song disposable is beyond me. It's a very special part of this generation.

But weren't you reaching for something on Sam's Town that you weren't reaching for on Hot Fuss?
Hot Fuss was all based on fantasy. The English influences, the makeup -- they were what I imagined rock was. I'm a dreamer, you know? So I dug into that dream and made Hot Fuss. But hearing people call us the best British band from America made me wonder about my family and who I was. That's what Sam's Town is really about. I was trying to find out who I was.

Did you?
That's what's so frustrating. Sam's Town wasn't some love letter to America or overreaching mythic thing. It was about me. I sang about Grandma Dixie and my brother being born on the Fourth of July. Guess what? My grandma's name is fucking Dixie, and my brother was born on the fucking Fourth of July, 1969. The album is very real. I was being honest on Sam's Town, and it bit me in the butt.

Was it a mistake to be honest and say you hated emo or were offended by Green Day?
I regret it. I've since apologized to most of the people I said anything negative about. Getting interviewed is so unnatural. I guess I'm too trusting. I'll talk to somebody for five minutes and feel comfortable. [Pauses, then smiles] Maybe I deserve credit for saying what other people just think.

Are you bothered by the fact that more of your contemporaries aren't angling for stardom? Even Chris Martin seems embarrassed to be famous.

Get Brandon's answer to this question, and 28 more, in the February 2009 issue of SPIN, on newsstands now!