J. B, you're going to get on the golf course today?

Today is not a golf course day. Today is a workday, actually.

Today's a workday, so no golf for you, Sean?

Yeah, no, I'm going to... I'm going out. Yeah, I'm going.

By the way, I got new clubs. Oh, nice. I just got them today. I just got the new... I got the same ones that you got.

The beautiful Tidalist Irons.

The Tidalist. I should mention Tidalist.

Now, you should get yourself into some G4 apparel and really make yourself complete.

Okay. I mean, I would, but I wear the Footjoy. I love the Footjoy. You like the G4?

Yes. And the title is Clubs. If you were ever to fly to a tournament, how would you like to get there?

By the way, I don't even know if we can use in the cold open, but I just got a five wood. Anyway, welcome to Smartless. Smart. Lies.

Smart. Lies.

Look, you got a whole setup in your green room.

It's nice. I know. Believe me, it's pretty great. It's nice.

Wait a second. I'm seeing two surprise guest windows. Yeah. Oh, Listener. Listener always knows before us two other idiots. Everybody knows except me and Sean right now. We got to tell the guest.

Everybody knows except for the two dummies that week.

Dummy today. I feel pretty dumb today. I don't... Dumber than usual. Why do you feel dumb? Why do you feel dumb? No, I just don't feel like I'm going to be great at listening or talking today.

Well, Jay, do you want a couple of jokes to lighten you up.

If you have new- Here we go, Sean. Okay, my favorite is still, what did the chicken say? What did the chicken... Oh, boy. When the chicken...

No, what did the...

Do you see, guys, it's not going to be good today. What did the chicken say? What?

No, what does...

See?

I forget to. What does poultry say to a bowl of lettuce? Or no, what does poultry call a bowl of lettuce? Right. What? Chicken sees a Salad. That's so good. That's a good one. I have two more. I have two more. A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a bar. A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.

Yeah.

Then the other one is, Hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie-Wait, can we do a punchline on the first one? To butt the skeleton? That is. There is already.

He doesn't get it.

What happened?

A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.

Okay. Because when he drinks the beer, it goes, right? He doesn't end up.

Yeah. That's not even funny, though. Okay.

Well, that's different.

All right, so here's the other one. Okay. Hey, Jason, have you heard about the new movie Constipation?

No.

It never came out.

I don't like either one of them. I liked your... All right. What did… Wait, I'm trying to figure.

This is like people are joining us at rehearsal.

We clearly don't rehearse. I apologize already to our guests.

You know what I was saying? Jason, I was thinking about you the other day, and it occurred to me. You see people have fancy houses where they talk about, I went to this fancy place, and you think about some billionaire, and they have this fancy I said, Yeah, that's impressive. If you feel like less than because you see them, just imagine that no matter where they went, they had to take a shit. They just took a shit there.

Yeah, that's pretty much all they did.

Their beautiful mansion, and it was just them in the small Smallest room in that house with the door closed, looking for the fan, and then taking a shit.

Yeah, what's the name of that? There's a book called that, right? Everybody Poops?

Everybody Poops.

Tell me that book. All right, this is going on too long. It's too insane. I feel like Regis and Cathy Lee. Let's go.

I know. It's true. Now, listen, I do want to get to our guests because you know how I get when I get really excited about a guest. You know how I get when we get to talk about music with guests. I get very excited. Well, these fine gentlemen are no exception. I have been a massive fan of these guys since their debut record, and in fact, their debut single, which, by the way, is a single that has remained in the UK. It holds the record for the longest time on the UK charts over like seven years on the UK charts. It's a song we all know and love. And then since then, they've just released banger after Banger, incredible album after incredible album. I've seen them in concert multiple times. They're incredibly gifted, gifted, gifted songwriters, performers, singers, drum, everything extraordinary. Guys, it's none other than Brandon flowers and Roni Vinuci of The Killers, The Killers, The Killers.

I was just talking about them the other day. Oh, my God. Look at that.

Good morning. How cool is this?

Dude, this is crazy. Look at that.

This is crazy.

How great is this? Hi, guys. You guys look very much alive. Not killers at all.

How are you?

You guys are very much on tour right now.

Yeah, they're both in hotel rooms. Yeah, that's right.

You just literally rolled out of bed.

I mean, we've just disrupted. You probably have a really good system in place, and we've ruined it.

I definitely have a routine that is being disturbed right now.

Where are you on the planet?

We're in Austin.

Austin Tech. Okay. Austin. Tennessee. That's a great state.

No, no, no. J. B. Boys, we're so excited to have you on this show. I mean, I've had the good fortune of meeting you guys and talking to you a few times, which It was a thrill then, and it's a thrill now. I'm such a fan. I think the first time I saw you guys was on a sketch show. I think it was 2006. Brandon, am I right about that?

We played earlier than that.

You played earlier? So I said the second time?

Yeah, probably. If it was Samstown was our second record, we would have done.

Yeah. Wow. Okay. So it was the Sam.

I guess that's wrong. But I remember meeting you, and I think that was maybe after our third time.

Was it really?

Can I tell the story of No. At the after-party?

Yeah, please do.

So they always have an after-party on the sketch show, and Will's there, and he's got a hockey player with him, another fellow citizen of Canada.

Shani, probably. Brenda and Shani. Yeah.

I guess quintessentially, what all Americans do, I say, Hey, my tour manager is from Toronto. I know you're from Toronto. Yeah, good figure. They all know each other. Yeah. So his buddy rolls his eyes and he's like, Americans think we all know each other's. I go and I grab my tour manager and he's like, Oh, what area of Toronto are you from? Oh, what street were you on? Farnum Avenue? Yes. They both live It's on the same street. Oh, get out.

Wait, Brandon, I can't believe you remember Farnum Avenue.

Well, our tour manager is still with us.

But he doesn't still live on Farnum.

He doesn't still live on Farnum. I think his parents might still live on Farnum.

My sister He still lives on Farnam. He still lives on Farnam. Wait, his parents still live on Farnam? Still there. Yeah. No.

They're still there.

Wait. My buddy Paul lives on Farnam as well.

And my sister does. The listener has probably pulled over their car because they're so fascinated right now. They don't want to miss a minute of it.

The gist is you all know each other.

We all know each other. I remember that moment, too. That was so crazy. What I'm going to propose now for you and Ronny right now is maybe we do a special live, just a small event concert on the street in Farnum, me introducing you guys, and we just do it for the people of Farnum. Just think about it. Don't give me an answer now.

Stop the back of a truck.

Ronny, can you keep it down? Listen, I have Ronny here for you guys. When you first performed on there, where were you in your careers? And was that a pinnacle of like, Oh, my God, I think I made it. And what did that feel like?

I think it's been a steady incline of just like, How did we get here? And we've just been enjoying the ride ever since. I mean, the very first one, it just keeps... Something keeps happening. We keep busy. We know what an opportunity this is. But your first record, though, you guys came out with a bang, and it's been...

You've had the good... I'm not going to say good fortune because you're really talented and you guys make good music, but you've luckily struck a chord with people every step of the way. And that's got to feel good because you got to feel like we're in touch with what's going on in a way. Is that something that's real?

Yeah. I think our goal has There's this constant evolution, and you watch. Not every step that we've taken has been right, but you can see us really trying to find what the core is and what we're going to represent. And you see this evolution within each album. I think people have just... We've been lucky enough that we've been able to take people along with us where they've been going through that same experience.

I always wonder about that with musicians because you have probably... Well, you certainly have more autonomy than anyone in TV or movies in that there's a script that comes before the actor does their thing or the director does their thing. With musicians, with groups, you can do whatever you make the album about whatever you want, make it sound, and you got to hope that the audience that has been with you thus far, it will be appealing to them as well. How much do you factor in what you think they want? How much do you let that affect your creative process? I'm sure some bands a little bit and then some not at all. Where do you guys sit on that?

I think we have to like it first. Anything that comes out. We have tons tons of cutting room floor stuff for whatever reason, just their lost dogs or orphan songs or ideas.

But if it sounds good to you, no matter whether it's got a country vibe or an acid rock vibe or a jazz vibe, because you guys, I'm sure your musical taste will evolve over years, and you guys have to stay in sync with one another, but then also try to stay in sync with that other band member, which is the audience.

Yeah. Yeah, it's a balancing act. I think we used to just throw all sorts of songs on a single album, and we've just been lucky that they've had some congruent line between all of them. Now, I think we're getting more into the body of work idea where it has a focus.

You've created a bank with your audience that even though it might sound a little bit different or a little bit more It's challenging to tap your toe to, don't worry about it. We got you and we've proved.

I don't think you guys ever run the risk of having a song that you can't tap your toe to. I will say that much. But I was going to say, J. B, you're right that when you talk about the other member of the band is the audience, there's some story that I heard about you guys a long time ago, and maybe you can talk about this, that when you guys were maybe writing Hot Fust or something that you wrote a record and you threw it out. Is that true? Do you talk about it as much as you're comfortable talking about that? Is that a true story?

That's our most recent endeavor.

Was your most recent record?

Your most recent record, you tossed in the trash.

Wait, you finished it and then just threw it out.

We began down a road that was a more synth-heavy road. We realized I just personally didn't want to make this music anymore, and Roni didn't want to do it either.

No way. As opposed to the instrumental stuff?

No, just didn't want to make... I didn't want to fully commit to a whole synth pop record.

I would have bought that in a second.

But what would be the opposite of that? You're talking to an idiot here.

Okay, so the opposite would be maybe more a rock and roll record.

Got you. But what is that process? You're what? You're working on your fourth song, and you're in the studio, and you're rehearsing, and you look at each other and just go, What the fuck are we doing, man?

Everybody else just breathes like, Thank God you said it, because I didn't want to say it.

That's got to be horrible.

It's complex because there's this place in our hearts for this music. We were influenced by it, but we are getting older, and we also know what it feels like to write a great rock and roll song. And so we thought maybe that you make a faster album, maybe while you're on the road, because you're dealing with computers more with synth music and keyboards. And then it just wasn't... We weren't getting the gratification out of it that we would get when you're writing great.

Because you're right. I was in a synth pop band in college, and I played the keyboard.

You have to see a picture.

We do have Sean. Sean, by the way, play for these guys, if you can find it. Play that song that you played us before, just so they can...

Oh, yeah.

Well, there's three songs. Before we end today.

Yeah, well, I'll have the... I'll Bennett and Rob dig it and Rob digup. There's actually three hit songs.

You guys might want to put it on your since.

We'll rip those off, too.

Yeah, you can rip those off now.

You might take that back.

I used to play the keyboards in this band called Sounds From The Stairs.Thanks.The Keyboards.

Hey, did you ever play keytar, Sean?

No, almost, though.

I'd love to see. Sean, I've seen you play, and you play beautifully. It was so impressive because I saw the Netflix special, and I was so surprised. I did not know you had in your pocket.

Oh, thanks.

It's incredible. Classically trained.

Jason, I sat down and played for Jason Bateman.

Sean, do you want to join our band?

I knew where this was going. That's what I'm telling you. I'll join your band.

I can't believe you're getting in the killers before me. We made news. No, I can't do anything, but I'm still mad about it.

I'm going to turn you guys into synth pop, guys. That's the last thing I do.

You were the missing link. The record could have come out.

I know what you mean, though, about playing. Because I would play the the keyboards and try to really be into it. A drummer can really be into it naturally because, right, Roni? Because your body's moving anyway to the music. But when you play keyboard, you have to watch exactly the keys you're playing. You can't really move your body to rock out during the music. You just have to stay stiff and play while the craziness is happening. You know what I mean?

A lot of what?

A lot of neck pops.

Yeah, not neck pops. Right. I would be playing like crazy. I'd be jumping around dancing. Then when it got to solo, I'd stop and really focus on the keyboard, the keys I was playing. Then as I was done, I'd go back into playing, back in and jump around.

You can't do that. Fuck, you can't. You just got fired in the killer show. At the end of all these things that I've done where you're like, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, You can't do that on no synth.

This move from synth back to rock and roll, now you're talking to the old, the grandpa and me, too. Listen, I'm a big radiohead fan, and they went to a while ago, and I went with it, and I guess I'm still with it because they know better than me what good music is, and so I get with it. You like them despite what they're doing?

Yeah, I'm an easy way.

Despite what your ear is telling you.

You're going to have to listen. I love those, too.

But I listen to all this music that my kids listen to, and no one is playing guitar anymore. There's no drums anymore. I know I sound like the old man on the lawn, but do you see it starting to go back to... I get nostalgic about a band as young as the White Stripes or the Black Keys or these rock and roll bands. I'm not even going back to AC/DC or Led Zeppelin, but where are the instruments? We're talking to them. Yeah, I'm excited that you guys are going back to that.

We've only been around 20 years. From when we started, rock radio was a different a completely different animal. There are fewer and fewer stations. This homogenization started to happen where they started to incorporate... All of a sudden, you started hearing beats and things that were influenced by maybe more hip hop. And now it's almost unrecognizable as Rocket anymore.

Yeah. And that's a good... And, Ron, speak to a little bit as a drummer, what's it like living in a world where so many beats are created created on a computer? Like, I would say, here's the drummer in our band, and he's standing by a MacBook.

I think there's a careful, maybe a classy balancing act, at least At least for me, I've seen people who are so good at their instrument, drums, that they actually sound like they've been manipulated in a computer. It's interesting, all the There are different things you can manipulate inside a computer and things, but I don't think it'll ever replace the blood coursing through somebody's brain and body to produce a sound or an expression.

Is that where you guys got to? Was that part of the decision? When you were saying you weren't into it, was it literally that? You're like, We're not feeling connected to the music?

Partly, you can't. There's an amazing thing that I'm now reflecting on the magic moments that we've shared, is me, I'm responding to the way that Roni plays, and part of it is how loud it is and how it's powerful and it's physical.So.

It forces me. Ron, you just say sorry. If we're in a room, I got to sing a certain way.

I can't be timid. You're not going to hear me. There's something about those dynamics that have helped us become what we are.

Can I tell you something, Brandon? The beat's bigger than you, and I get it.

Now, a word from our sponsor.

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It's interesting you bring that up, Brandon, because the way you guys... First of all, your arrangements on all your studio albums are amazing, and I've seen you live as well. It's just amazing. But the mix, the way you guys do it, and it's a testament to your voice, because I know that no matter what you do and playing with how you're hearing yourself, it's really tough because... Yeah, Roni, you should be sorry. You're very loud. And all the instruments in your band, the rhythm section, you really feel it. I mean, you guys come out and really in guitar and everything, and that's tough to break through that, I bet. I mean, that's a skill to be able to... Because you do sound very front and center, even though the band is also very be full at the same time. The mix is... I want to compliment whoever mixes your records. But it is tough to do. Again, so I saw you guys play at this concert that this guy had, and you played, and there were about 200 people there. And Paul McCartney was in the crowd, maybe 200 people. And Brandon, you go, you said something like, Hey, we want to sing Helter Skelter, but Sir Paul McCartney, I see you out there.

Would you do us the honor of coming and singing with us? Paul McCartney got up and sang Helter Skelter with these fucking guys, and it was unbelievable. I came backstage. You remember after I came back, you were in that little room and I said, How are you feeling? You were just buzzing. I go, How are you feeling? You go, I just sang Helter Skelter with Paul McCartney, man. That's pretty cool. Do you remember? I mean, you obviously remember that.

Yeah, it was so wild, man. It was an even more surreal moments was before he came up, you're singing and you look over and he has his cell phone out and he's filming you and it's like singing along to smile like you mean it. I was just like, What is happening? It was one of the most wildest things.

The other thing that with bands needing to tour a lot more now as a way in which to monetize what you guys do, since album sales changed a long time ago and now touring is a huge, huge part of what you guys do, I would imagine that switching back to a more instrumental thing as opposed to a synthesized thing makes playing stuff live easier, more exciting for the audience, since you're not just hitting a button for the drum sounds. You actually need a drummer and drum kit out there. Yes, it just makes for a better experience if the music is not synthesized, right?

Oh, yeah. I mean, even songs that don't have a lot of synthy bits, we've tailored for live. We have this dichotomy between being a live band and a studio doing things in the studio. And oftentimes we just had tunnel vision where we're just we We forget about the live aspect sometimes. And and we just go with this experience of recording. And then we're like, Okay, well, how do we dial this in for a live experience? And that could be, it's not just sounds, but it's tempo, too. Oftentimes, we'll speed stuff up, or sometimes we'll slow stuff down.

We slow it an ultimately.Do you ever speed stuff up just to get out of there sooner? No. Because I just did this show on Broadway where I played the Rapsody, and I was like, I'm fucking tired, and I would play it twice as fast.

I like that.

Because you had a dinner date. You guys miss Sean. He was on Broadway this year. He wanted Tony, by the way. Hold for applause. God. We'll add the applaud.

His was spelt T-O-N-I-E, though.

Yeah, it was different. Oh, yeah. No, it wasn't what you think of the Tony Awards. The lineup. But he played, and he played every night to end the show on piano. He's, like we talked about, an accomplished pianist. He had to do it Every goddamn night. Yeah, Sean, you said that some nights you would just jam through it.

The cast would be like, Was that like? Because it's usually like 8, 9 minutes. They're like, Was that four minutes? I was like, Yeah, I'm tired. I to go home.

What do you do when you get out there in front of thousands and thousands and thousands of people and you're just not feeling it? Yeah. What do you do? Do you just wait until you do because you got other bandmates that can maybe carry the water for a song or two?

It's rare. I don't know about Roni, but it's rare that I'm not excited, that the juices don't just start flowing. I still get the butterflies before. It's almost up to the audience. There will be moments where you come out and you think you're just so ready and they aren't meeting your expectations. Yeah. That's when it can be... Those are the times it's a struggle, but I never feel like, Oh, another gig. I never feel like that.

Because every audience, It takes on a collective energy, and sometimes, like you're saying, it's a less than energy. Don't you just get really pissed off at them and want to take it out on them, and you can't?

I'm going to say they don't. I'm going to answer. I bet they don't.

No, we can't take it out on them. We got to be professional.

When's the last time you got...

Do you guys see a lot of live music yourself? Do you guys go to concerts and experience what it's like as an audience, too, and let that inform your performances?

Oh, yeah. Especially on tour, if we're touring with somebody, it's always helpful to get out there. It helps get the blood moving a little bit. Oh, we're going to be doing that in an hour.

In an hour?Yeah.

Well, yeah.

No, I mean, watching somebody before you play or something.

Who are you guys touring with right now? Who in the last year? I don't want to put you on the spot.

It's okay. We did a ton of shows with Johnny Mar from the Smith.Oh.

Yeah.oh, my God.

I love Johnny Mar.I love Johnny Marr of the Smith, JB. I love the Smith.

Well, you know what?

You have to get your hand off your pearls, Will.

One of the great...

Will, take them off the pearls.

One of the top three One of the top three guitar stuff all time. One of the top three guitar stuff all time. Oh, yeah.

Do you like the Smith? I love The Smith.

Yeah, no, you know what we did? We did one or two Smith songs we would do every night with him. Yes. No way.

What songs?

I just saw a video of you guys. Sean, shut up.

Shut the fuck up, Sean.

What songs did you guys do with The Smith?

We did This Charming Man with him is how we first... I love it. Sean? We did Please, Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want.

It's the greatest song I've heard.

Listen, this one. How deep do you go with The Smith?

We I go very. I'm sure. That's what I've heard.

We did What She Said.

Oh, my God. Yes, I know what she said.

You almost put two hands on your pearls just said.

Like, Fully Punk Rock Smith, what she said. We did Stop Me if you think you've heard this one before.

Stop me, stop me. Stop Stop Me.

You know what's wild? They broke up before they toured that. That's on the last album.

Hang on, is that not louder than Bombs?

No, Stop Me is on Strange Ways. Here we come.

Strange Ways, here we come.

We're up there and we're about to play it, and he tells me, I've never played this with a singer.

No way.

I was like, this is so amazing. That's weird. Yeah, you're up there singing Stop Me with him, and it's the first time he's done it because it was meant to be with Morrissey.

That's crazy.

Were they a big... Who are your big influences? I've always wanted to know because you guys have...

Definitely Smith. That's so cool.

I can hear it now that you say that. I guess I can hear some of it.

Last night, we were singing some early Depeche Mode.Oh.

Here they come.

Don't get me started. Yeah.

Brandon and I, we melt. We like that band.

Yeah, they're incredible.

They're incredible. Now, there's a lot of stuff that is-What other bands? I want to hear what other bands. I'm sorry. I just want to hear what other bands they liked.

Okay. It was New Order and the Smiths and the Cars.

Guys, it's like we're family. You guys should stay here.

Sean, you need to change? Sean, go change.

You're saying everything I love.

Were you guys influenced at all by any like '90s indie bands, too?

Yeah. I'm a little bit younger. When that stuff was happening, I was just... A lot of it was a little bit heavy for me. My brother was older than me, and he had passed on this other stuff to me.

But I think Roni was definitely- Roni, what were you- Echo and the Bunnymen, Susie and the Bunches.

That's earlier, but yes, for sure.

That's '90s, isn't it?

Roni, were you like... I'm like a pavement, built to spill guy. Sure. Yeah.

All these guys, Dinosaur Jr, Sebido. Oh, my God. All these guys.

Oasis came around for me.

Oasis. Yeah.

Yeah. '90s. Did it take a minute? Did Oasis take a minute for you, Brandon, or were you right into it?

It took me a minute, and then I became obsessed. I would consider it an Oasis tattoo when I was in it. Did you really? I'm so I'm thankful I didn't do that.

Instead, you went with SoftCell, I heard, right? Just on the small of your back.

I had the same thing with Oasis, where I was like, at first Oasis, I was like, I don't know, and then became obsessed with them, too. They were so rad. Sorry, Jason, I cut you off 50 times because I'm geeking out with this.

No, it's Sean. Go ahead, Sean.

Oh, I have a thousand questions, if I may. Yes, go ahead. First of all, we talk about live shows. I always ask whenever musicians come on, what's your best, worst live show experience? Story, the thing that went wrong the most?

Well, there's the opposite situation where there were two things that really happened at this. We did a stadium run last year in the UK, and we were in Manchester. And two things happened. A girl made a sign wanting to play drums on one of our songs, and brought her up. And when I was back there, I was like, Do you know the song? She just watched me because I jump on guitar for a second. And she told us that she wanted to do something brave because her best friend... She's 16 years old, maybe. Her best friend is going through cancer, and that's a brave thing for her to go through. And she said she wanted to do something brave. So I learned this song. I said, Get on up there. And she was excellent. She That's great. She totally knocked it out of the bar. And it was one of the best gigs maybe of the year. It was this huge soccer stadium.

Wow.

How long ago? This was last year, last spring. Is that one of us? But the other thing that happened was, and Brandon stopped the show, he sees this guy crowd surfing from the front of house, which is where the mixing board, our sound guy lives.

He's like 80 years old.

As he gets closer, you see that there's this old fella just riding the wave. And he was like, What the fuck?

They dropped him.

They dropped him. He dropped.

Brandon stops the show. This is real on his head.

Brandon stops the show because it looks like you just saw a feet and then you didn't see the guy anymore. So we stopped. Brandon checked on him to see if he was okay, and he popped up in a fit of joy.

And he hugged me. I went down and hugged him.

What did he say to you? You asked, Hey, are you all right?

I go, What are you doing? And he said, I'm enjoying myself.

The next day in the papers, all the headlines read, Crowdsurfing Pensioner. That's hysterical.

I love if that would become a thing at Killers concert that old dudes will just crowd surf. That becomes the thing that happens.

I once did some stage diving in Vancouver.

You did some?

I did some, yeah.

In Vancouver?

Yeah. The stage is only a couple of feet tall, but I actually had to jump up to get onto the people's hands.

Was Andrew originally scared? Did he see you?

It was a huge I'm.

Listen, they get me fired up. They get me fired up. Sorry, Sean, you were going to say?

Were you wearing your short shorts?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was left of them? Please go ahead, Sean.

You fell out of the cage. You were dancing.

They left it unlocked. It wasn't smart. Sean, you were saying? Yeah, yeah.

Killed Sean.

All right. Well, guys, I have a question.

Go ahead, Sean.

But to that point, I used to work in the entertainment committee in college, and we would get... I was in towards seven people.

Coming out of the shocker department. What nerdy shit did you not do? Let's just get to that.

God damn. President of the Entertainment Committee, Sean Hayes calling.

No, I was in the Entertainment Committee in college, and there was seven of us, and we were in charge of which band.

Stop fucking saying that.

Yeah, we're past it.

Of which band were coming to the college, Illinois State University, one of the best universities in the world. We got the B-52s, and I remember NXS came, and people were like, What's Inx? They didn't know the name. Then it was like, Who else? Red Hot Chili Peppers, all these people. It was Pearl Jam. Pearl Jam was playing, and people were stage diving and body surfing. I'm maybe 70 pounds. I'm supposed to block the crowd from getting to the stage. I saw them coming and I just would run. I was the worst.

I'm the entertainment committee, not security committee.

I had my little badge on. Hold it. Did you have a badge? Anyway, my question is, how did you guys meet?

He's the best. He's the best, guys. Is he not? Award-winning interviewer, Sean By the way, Roni and Brandon, you guys probably don't know this.

Sean was once nominated for-Best Host. For best Host of a podcast.

On a podcast that's co-hosted by... It's three people. They singled him out. They wanted to give him a singular award because his questions are so damn good.

Because of questions like that. How did you meet?

How did you meet? And then what's a funny story that happened live?

Hey, but we all enjoy the best stories. You're right.

How did you meet?

We actually met in a We got to go fast because it looks like Roni has a business meeting. Me and our guitar player met through the classified ads in Las Vegas.

No way. Is that true?

Yeah, so probably the last band to form that way. Wow.

You and Scotty met... It's right. Scotty met the back of the paper. Was it Sean? Yeah, Craigslist.

It was a Craigslist. Wait, so you met in the Classifieds, and then-We had a different drummer and a different bass player for a while.

They were not-In into it. They weren't...

They weren't the right fit.

Yeah, they weren't the right fit. Sure. One night we were playing an opening. Were we opening for... What was her name?

Oh, Anne's Band. Roni. Anne-murrie?

Anne-murrie's Band. Roni was filling in. Anne-murrie. Roni was filling in for this girl, and he happened to see us. Roni has a way of just cutting right the chase, and he just said, You guys would be good if you had a real drummer or something like that. I love that.

The rhythm section needed help.

Rhythm section.

And so instantly, just before we knew it, we were in his garage, and And then we added it.

But I wasn't trying to shoehorn my way in. I actually, I recommended a couple of drummers that just, again, weren't the right fit, like much better drummers than myself.

But did you recommend them knowing that they were not going to be the right fit so that they would have to go to you, Ronny Beyons?

No, I was on this trajectory. I was like, I must finish school so I don't end up homeless. And I was just doing that. But the songs they had, even at the time, even the songs we don't even play anymore, were just like calling me. I was familiar with it already. I knew where they were coming from. And I think that was part of the problem with the other rhythm section is the other two guys had no idea where Dave and Brandon were going or headed, and they were just just going through the motions.

Then the first time that you guys played as a band, you were looking around going like, Oh, run.

We were like, Let's try it out. Let's see what happens. We just ended up playing hours and making up songs. Really? Right. On the first day, just playing.

And then we got really angry. By the way, we should know Jason's laughing because he knows I've done this bit for you. It's so stupid. It's good. Which is my impression of every bassist, which is when the singer makes eye contact with him. The bass gets so happy. So he's just on his own. He's like this. So he's like this. So he's just like this, plain place. He looks around. The singer looks at him and he goes, yeah.

That's when the knees stay together and he goes into a deep squat. Super happy. I've seen it. Oh, boy.

He's so stoked.

We will be right back.

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Now, back to the show.

Now, wait. Now, Roni, how crazy do you get with your set? Because I see some guys, they'll put a big fucking gong back there sometimes, and they'll put some kettle drums, and they'll put some of the xylophone that's hanging from Christmas Ornaments.Chime. Yeah, those things. You get real robust with your set up back there, or do you keep it simple?

We were doing a video. I have a gong But we were doing this video where we were basically trying to do the Pink Floyd ripoff when they were in the...

Pompei?

Pompei, the Pompei video. And nick Mason's got this awesome drum set with the gong. It just looks great in the desert. We were making this video for human in the desert.

But you guys made awesome videos, by the way, just as an aside. Yeah, it's true.

And so it I started out with that, and then I brought it on stage as almost a joke or a backdrop and everything. Now, actually, I use it.

You have one of those big funny mallets?

Yeah, big ass mallet, the size of a baby's head. But apart from that, I don't go too crazy.

No. You guys want to... Yeah.

No chime wipes.

Brandon, what were you going to say?

I was going to bring some tenderness. Some tenderness to this interview. Do you remember you emailed me about Dustland, Will? You might not remember this, but I think this is how we first talked, is that you reached out about a song of ours called The Dustland Fairytale. Yes. That was where we first, I think, connected. I think you're right. Those moments are few and far between where somebody will actually take the time to do that. I appreciate it still.

Yeah, I do remember that, man. Yeah, listen, I love music, and I've always been a fan of you guys, and I find you guys... It's funny you're talking about circling back to talking about getting into electronic music et cetera. What I've always loved about you guys, I thought a lot of your music is very Anthemic. There's always a big feel to it. You guys are big feel guys. And I love your lyrics, and I love the way Everything builds in the same way. I love the lyrics build in a way. And sometimes I don't even know. A lot of the time, I don't know what you're writing about. It's very personal, probably, and you don't explain it, but there's just something about it, and there's It's your music is the music, for me, that evokes a lot of emotion.

Will, are you crying right now?

I'm always crying. I'm always crying. Just know that. It's okay. I do remember reaching out to you. Of course, we emailed a couple of times. I don't know, man. I just really appreciate it. I just love what you guys do, and I find it very inspiring. I get really inspired by music because I can't play music.

Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

This is one of my tunes. This is one of my tunes.

Here's the neck pops.

Here we go. This is your band? Here we go. This is one of my songs.

Look at the way he pops the neck.

Someone's angry, someone's sad.

That sure stopped my tears. It's so bad.

Okay, that's good.

Oh, you're totally... Is that you singing or no? Yeah, that's me singing. You're doing Andy Bell. You're doing Andy Bell.

Total Andy Bell.

A thousand %.

Andy Bell sings his ass off. That's unbelievable. He's underrated.

For Tracy, Andy Bell is the lead singer of Erasure.

Man.

Yeah, I was like 19, I don't know how that went.

Hey, Brandon. That sounded good. I just found the email.

You ready for this? What's the time stamp on? Is it about 3:40 in the morning?

August fifth, 2009.

Does it start with You Up?

Hey, man, You Up. You Up. No, it says, Hey, man, just want to drop you a line and say, I love Dustline Fairytale. I can't stop listening to it. Hypnotic.

And then a dick pick.

Anyway, going to sleep now.

Anyway, call I'm putting my phone on. T-t-y-l. Do not disturb. God, it's taking me back. It's not. It's taking me back, right? Hang on. Just a couple more things. When you do get together, you guys feel it. You've got the right energy. You've got the right a balance, or you feel like you guys are playing off each other, and you're all working towards the same place or the same vibe. And then you start to record your first record. And look, doing that anytime we do anything, and guys, we do it as well, all of us, when you're working on something new, you're doing it in a vacuum. And other than the people who you work with, you have no sense as to whether or not People are going to like it. You're like, people might hate this. They might say this is great. What was that feeling on the first record before people knew who the killers were?

It all just started to a roll. We had garage recordings that were just us playing in my garage with two microphones and a CD recorder. And we got to the point where everybody's amps and the drums and everything sounded like it was being mixed, but it was just a room recording. And so we do that, do demos and things like that, and we didn't have any proper recordings. And there was this guy who put us in touch with a fellow who had a studio in Northern California. So we need to get you guys a proper recording. And we just went in there. We did one or two takes of each song.

You paid for the studio time yourself?

We did a spec deal with this guy. He says, I'll record this for free. I'm going to have Mark Needham, who's a famous mix engineer. He's done Chris Isaac and Fleetwood Mac and countless others. And he'll mix it, but we want a year to shop it if we do this. We're like, Shit, it's a free record. Okay, let's do it. And they put us up in budget suites in Berkeley, California. That was the first record, all those demos. They were just like, Okay, well, this will work for the first. It started out as being an ERP, and then With this little deal, a little small indie label in England called Lizard King.

It was the first time I had Thai food in Berkeley. Really?

Yeah. Sean wants to know if you've ever tried Chenchen.

Yeah, we do the Chenchen.

It's close relative.

Wait, at this point, Sean, do you enjoy Thai food?

I love Thai food. Yeah. I love the different sauces.

Yeah.

In Vegas, we have a place, Lotus of Siam. Yeah. If you guys ever go to Vegas. Lotus of Ciam. You got Night Market song is amazing in LA, but Vegas has this one. It's called Lotus of Ciam. It's not on the strip, it's off the strip, but It is the greatest.

I'll tell you what you need to try next time you're in Vegas is the Sphere. Why don't you guys go play the Sphere? That place is incredible. That's great. Did you already go? Yeah, I went to that U2 show. It's unbelievable, that venue.

It looks just the pictures.

What do you guys think of Vegas? Living there? You don't live there, Ronny.

Brandon, you do, right? I moved away, too. Oh, you did? Yeah. Three of us were born there.

You ever run into Kimmel? You ever see Kimmel over there when you're in Vegas?

Ronny went He's the same high school as Jimmy.

Really? Jimmy's a lot, a lot older.

He's a lot. He's a lot older. He's a lot older. No, I think that was the end of his sentence. Jimmy's a lot.

And he is a lot. He is a lot. We can say this officially, Kimmel is a lot. You went to the same... But it's a good question. Being from Vegas, like what Sean was asking, I always think that... I've actually asked this to Kimmel, too. Is it a weird place to be from?

It wasn't until we left.

That's a great answer.

You realize how weird it is.

You're just accustomed to seeing ads, billboards for strip clubs, and there are slot machines when you go to 7-Eleven. My grandma's going to be playing slots while I'm getting my slurpy. That's what life is like. Wow. You don't realize that that's foreign to other people.

How did you end up in Northern California for the record. Did you guys all relocate there?

No, that's just where Saltzman Studio is. No.

Oh, so that was... Oh, got you. Yeah, that's just where the studio, this guy just was high on building his brand new studio and he was very eager to record somewhere.

Got you. You guys have relocated out of Vegas into where are you now?

We're all over the place. I'm in Texas right now.

I live in Utah.

Oh, all right. Okay. I live in Utah for a while.

After a show is done and you played a show, and you're feeling that adrenaline still, do you have a routine or some something you do to come down? Do you go out? Are you like, You know what? I'm done. I'm spent. I'm going to go right to bed. Or do you Are you still high on the energy?

I devour food.

Do you not eat before the show?

I get four hours before the gig.

You don't want anything in your stomach for four hours before the gig because it might get a little growly?

Yeah, you just feel heavy. I don't want to feel full and the acid reflux, all that stuff. If it hits your cords.

Yeah. Jason? Yeah. Sure.

When you say cords, you're talking about the pants?

The vocal cord.

Oh, yes.

Jesus.

Did you say you lived in Utah?

I did. From when I was four till I was seven, we lived in Salt Lake. I forget why my parents were there, but I learned how to ski. Snowbird and Alta. Wonderful.

So it wasn't always- Loved it.

No, not at all. Beautiful state.

When I was a kid, I swear one of my first celebrity sightings was you.

Come on. Maybe I was there skiing when I was a little bit older.

No, it wasn't in It was in Reno or Wendover. I can't remember, but it was- It could have been Reno. We were checking into some place because there was a storm or something, and we had to. I remember being like... I was only eight or nine, but I- Jason was 25. You were famous.

Well, barely. That's a kind word.

By the way, Brandon's got a very good memory, so let's keep going.

Anyway, I was excited because I was like, That's him. My mom wasn't sure Was it 8:00 AM?

Was it 8:00 AM and it looked like he'd been up?

Yeah. Was I looking dejected from a black check table at the Pepper Mill? That was me.

Was he exchanging cash with the dude behind the 711?

You had some friends with you, but you were running the show, I remember.

Yeah, I thought I was pretty hot shit.

Did he have a motorhome with some dirt bikes on it? Was he with Leif Garret?

Yeah, I couldn't be with Leif Garret on my way north.

He might have been with Leif Garret. By the way, you know what's funny? You guys are from Vegas, and then you've moved all over the States, and you've lived everywhere. But my impression is that you guys really... You're so huge in the UK. I talked about it before. You guys, in a way, Am I right that you guys broke through first in the UK?

Yeah.

Yeah. So that first record we recorded in Berklee was then put out by this small indie label, and that's what became our first record, Hot Fuss. Yeah.

Well, all the major American labels said no. So we went with this small label in England.

Who believed in us. Wow. These guys believe in us. So we went over there and... Go to the love. I think we did four or five shows, and the enemy was covering it, and it was just like things were starting to bloom a little bit. Then we got home two or three weeks later, and all the American labels were taking us out to dinner. We ate really well for a few minutes. We were just broke. We all still had jobs. Brandon was at the Gold Coast slinging bags, and I was taken Really? I was taking pictures at a wedding chapel on the strip, and Dave was-No way.

No way.

Yeah, that was my last job. And so everything was starting to come down a little bit. Every show we'd play, There'd be somebody from some record label.

Roni, as a photographer there, how was your chat to your subjects when you were shooting and they were really getting good shots and stuff? Would you ever say stuff like, Dynamite, Dynamite? What was your go-to chat on that stuff? Write to me. Write to me. Now, over here. I'm not even here. I'm not even here. More leg.

More leg. More leg.

Dynamite leg.

Wait, you're a photographer. You're not going to regret this. You're not going to regret this. That's a good one.

Who's that? Who's that over there? Who's that over there?

It was a good job. It was a.

Brandon, what were you doing? You were slinging bells.

I was a bellman. I was a bellman at the Gold Coast.

At the Gold Coast.

I do want to talk about this as its own little session, because I know that we may or may not be able to use this or whatever. But you guys are potentially, maybe I've heard, speaking Vegas, do a residency.

Is that true?

It's true.

Oh, I'm going.

This is exciting. We'll give you tickets.

Wait.

No, of course you will.

Of course. Don't say, of course you will.

Sean's in the band. He's going to be there.

Sean's in the goddamn band. I'm going to hold up a sign instead of the drummer, instead of Roni Hugh, I'm going to just bring my keyboard.

Bono gently mentioned his residency there at the Sphere before it all happened. Are we making some news here?

On SmartList, yeah.

Yeah, it's It's going to be-That's the Gold Coast. It's going to be at the Coliseum. Nice. Oh, for real? And Caesars Palace.

I saw Celina down there.

Yeah. We're really excited. It's going to be 20 years since our first record, so we're going to play the album front to back. Oh, my God. No way. Then we'll leave and come back and play eight or nine more singles or whatever.

That's really cool.

When does that start?

August is the potential. It's the last couple of weeks of August?

Yeah, something like that. That is so exciting. Of 2024? Yeah. No, no, no. August of '23, you ding-dong.

They built a time machine just so they could go do this residency.

What are you...

Hop aboard. I'll totally go to that.

This guy was nominated for best host of the year.

You guys, that's so awesome. Again, I just want to follow up with how it is. It's been 20 years, and now How are you going to do this residency in your hometown. It's got to feel great.

It's really cool. Roni's mom worked at Caesar's Palace for 40 years. Oh, wow.

What?

I used to go.

I worked at Spago as a bus boy inside Caesar's Palace. It was where I bought... They used to have Virgin Records there, and I took every bit of money that I had and spent it at Virgin Records. It's so cool to come back. When we were kids, there was a thing called the Omni Max, those dome theaters.

Yeah, Omni Max.

The original sphere. Yeah, they tore it down, and that's where the Coliseum is built. It really feels like a special thing to go back there.

Oh, man, that's so awesome. That's going to be pretty cool for you guys. I'm so happy for you guys. I'm so happy for the audiences, for us, that we get to come and see you guys.

See the way Will just got free tickets from you guys with that little comment right there? Well, I know.

Brandon, you've still got the same email address, I'm hoping, right? Yeah. Okay, great. I'm going to hit you up. I'll email you later today. You guys just be cool, okay? Sean, high school, your nickname Busboy, was that true? Okay. Guys, honestly, once again, we've taken up you guys just too much of your time. I could ask you guys about your music all day. I've just been such a fan, as you know, for a long time. You guys were just unbelievable talents. It is.

And thanks for taking the time during your tour. I know you guys are tired in your hotel. I know. Yeah, for sure.

We really, really appreciate This is a joy. And please, please, please send me your electronic album that you threw out just so I can enjoy it.

I would love to actually love to hear it. I will not upload it.

I will not upload it to the internet. But what a pleasure. What an honor having you guys on this show. It's great to see you guys again.Thank.

You, guys.Nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you.Bye.

Guys.thank you, guys.Thank you so much.

See you. See you later.Bye, bye, bye.Thanks.

For this.Bye, bye, bye.

Cheers.

What a nice couple of gentlemen. Will, it's about time you found some nice friends.

They're good dudes, aren't they? They're good dudes. Yeah, I did look back.

Canadian level of nice.

They are Canadian level. They have a lot of Canadian influence. I will say I was just looking back at the email. My email exchanges with Brandon over the years are very random. But I've always been such a huge fan. It's true, when you get just, I don't know, certain things inspire you or whatever, and you feel like, I You got to let him know how great it is what they do. Obviously, they sell millions of records and millions of fans turn up at their shows. But I don't know. I think it's nice to reach out to people and say, Hey, you're really great. And what you did was really inspiring and awesome.

And how lucky that he wasn't a jerk, right? It said, be careful, don't meet your heroes. How terrible would that have been if he was just like, Yeah, great. So what? Goodbye. Yeah. But the opposite happened.

I like them. I feel like I've known them.

All right? Yeah. It should be called The Lovers, really.

Did you guys like my other song? You haven't heard that song yet.

Boy, I think I'm losing you. Are you going over a canyon? Hello? Hello. Can you hear me? Sean?

Yeah.

Will, when you got a second, we're just doing the wrap up. Yeah, sorry.

Anyway, they're such nice dudes, too. They're such nice normal for huge... We did that. For huge... No, I was going to say for huge mega stars. I was reading one of my annoying emails to Brandon, which was about whether my sister could go say hi to them after the show.

Oh, that's nice. You're talking about Champagne wanted to go? It's Chardonnay. Sorry. Chardonnay wanted to go.

Shantley. Shantley. Shantley.

I wanted to ask them about the AI thing. Like your question about the drum. Can AI take over write songs?

Can I tell you something? Nobody's better at asking questions after the guest has gone than you, You are.

I'm going to cheat it. We're going to have another podcast called Follow Up. It's just going to be you, Sean. Will and I, we're going to skip that one.

Hey, guys, and I'm talking to nobody. Hey, by the way, how do robots say goodbye?

Bye.

No, they use binary.

Binary. Binary.

Binary. You'll tweak your nips when you say it, Sean.

He's leaning back so satisfied. Bye. Smart.

Yes. Smart.

Yes.

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