There are no limits to the ambition of Brandon Flowers and his band, the Killers — yet in person the singer, songwriter and devout Mormon is a fearful man.
"Las Vegas was a great preparer," says Brandon Flowers of the town where he formed his band the Killers. "Really, being a Mormon in Las Vegas prepared me for the lion's den. It is sin city. The things that go on, the lights, it's the ultimate rock and roll stage. Without Las Vegas, I would be a wreck."
The Killers are one of the great groups of modern American rock: a tight unit rich with hooks, style, passion, imagination and the commitment to go truly stratospheric. This week they released their third album, Day and Age, and it's another belter, a highly-strung, disco-meets-new-wave synth-pop epic. But, like many great groups, the Killers are constructed out of conflict and tension, built on the fault lines of their singer and lead songwriter, the walking contradiction that is Brandon Flowers.
A devout Mormon from Nephi, Utah, with a fascination for the earthly pleasures of the neighbouring city of Las Vegas, Nevada, Flowers wants his band to be the biggest in the world. He has, he confesses, "a drive bordering on obsession". He talks about bumping U2 off their pedestal. "They're unbelievable but they're getting old. It feels like it's time."