The Killers Member Hints At Quitting Band: ‘They Don’t Know Me’

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The Killers are set to premier a new track tomorrow, Monday January 14, on Apple’s Beats 1 radio station with Zane Lowe at 12:00pm EST/ 9:00am PST (5:00pm in London). It’s rumored that it could be a song called “Land of the Free” for charity, as it isn’t expected to be part of their sixth album.

It is unknown is guitarist Dave Keuning and bassist Mark Stoermer, who bailed out of touring for 2017’s Wonderful Wonderful, appear on the track, though it appears unlikely. Keuning, who only played on half of the songs on Wonderful Wonderful and did not show up for the photoshoot for the album, hinted that that he could be leaving the band permanently as he releases his debut solo album Prisism.

“I was writing all these ideas for songs,” the guitarist says with a sigh about the Wonderful Wonderful sessions in a new The Times interview. “I had shown them to the Killers, but they always fell to the bottom of the pile. So I felt, well, may as well do something. And it was fun to realize I could have complete control over them, after having very little control in the Killers. I wasn’t planning on singing, though. I had to step up on that one.”

When asked to describe the characters of his fellow band members, he replies elusively: “That’s a complicated question.” He says they haven’t got to know one another as well as they should — “I certainly feel they don’t know me” — because they were thrown together as strangers before suffering the best and worst of one another on a tour bus. “Brandon has a lot of determination,” he says, offering at least one character summation. “He’s a frontman for sure. But the dynamic between us is hard to describe.”

“I miss the shows badly. I miss the fans badly. Not touring was the hardest decision of my life. But I could not commit to a year and a half of being gone. After a couple of weeks I miss home pretty bad. It was fun in the beginning, but after five years or so I missed my bed, my books, having a normal life. You’re on stage and it’s amazing. Then suddenly you’re in a car, stuck in traffic, thinking, ‘Did that just happen?’ And you’re always tired because most of the job is going from the hotel to the bus to the plane to the ferry. It stops being fun.”

As to whether he is actually still in the Killers or not, Keuning says: “I don’t even think I know. As of now, I am in the band. I am sending demos, offering ideas. It is too early to know if they will stick. I won’t do any touring any time soon.”

“All I ever wanted was to play guitar in a successful band, but it took its toll in more ways than one. Mentally, physically, doing the same thing over and over again . . . I needed balance back in my life.”

Keuning and Stoermer performed live at The Smashing Pumpkins’ 30th anniversary show in New Jersey last summer, but haven’t performed live with The Killers since the Vegas Strong benefit show in December 2017.