The Killers were an interesting chat. I talked backstage after soundcheck with bassist Mark Stoermer and guitarist David Keuning, and after we'd officially finished the ten questions segment, they ended up chucking a whole bunch of additional information at me that I didn't really initiate from the formal interview, but was nonetheless quite interesting. So read on, this extended ten-questions-bonus-interview-thing.

(Cord Magazine's questions are in blue. Artist responses are in grey.)


Right. Okay well that's the end of the specific questions. We've got a little set of ten fairly quick questions, slightly unrelated that we ask everybody.

DAVID KEUNING : All right.

What do you guys do on your downtime between recording and touring?

D : Like, at home in Vegas?

Sure, or even when you're just on the road like sitting in a hotel room, waiting for stuff to happen.

D : Sometimes we just play Frisbee. That's like pretty much all we have time for.

Vice of choice.

D : What of choice?

Vice. It doesn't have to be something that… like some people are really into coffee.

MARK STOERMER : Oh okay. …drinking…

It doesn't have to be anything that we'd send the cops after you for.

D : Well, I like sushi. Mark doesn't like sushi.

You're in a good city for sushi.

M : Yeah I think food in general. We're bad at snacking.

D : Snacks!

M : We're gonna be the Fat Killers pretty soon.

Right. That can be your thing... you can have sandwiches on stage. Favourite city or venue to play in.

M : Vancouver. Hahaha.

I'll ask you that later tonight.

D : It's probably different for both of us. I really like New York, but honestly I'd like to play the Joint in Vegas. We played it once and it's been about a year and a half since we played it. We're hoping to go back again this year sometime.

M : Um, I really like New York too. And I'm looking forward to San Francisco. We haven't played there before.

What issues and aspects of the world most concern you these days?

D : Of the world? Um.

(silence)

D : Global warming?

(laughter)

That counts. Anything to add there?

D : Got anything Mark?

M : Not concerned really. In general we're not that political of a band with any stance.

D : We care, don't get us wrong but…

M : We care. But we don't have a definitive political stance.

D : We're actually all pretty different within the band. Democrats and Republicans.

M : We wont say who's who.

What was your favourite Saturday morning cartoon?

D : Mine was Muppet Babies.

That one we haven't gotten yet!

D : I wish they'd make more episodes.

I used to watch that a lot. Did you have one at all?

M : Yeah… I forgot the name. Teddy Ruxpin.

(laughter)

Awesome. Did you have the stuffed…

D : I thought he was creepy.

What the doll?

D : Yeah! It was odd…

With the eyes that move around…

D : Oh god!

I'm a girl, so I had Cricket. The little girl.

D : The girl version?

Yeah.

D : Oh man that's even weirder.

Yeah and you could put a Michael Jackson tape in her back and watch her rock out. What did you guys want to be when you were growing up, besides musicians?

D : Baseball player.

M : I wanted to be a lawyer.

A lawyer! That's a little bit of a change.

M : It's kinda similar. No…

(interruption briefly by label rep Stephen McGrath popping in to inform us that soundcheck is starting soon)

Interview question you could care less to ever hear again.

D : That you wouldn't have?

Yeah.

D : Sorry we're slow.

That's okay.

M : What's it like growing up in Vegas, but I can understand that.

D : Yeah we get that a lot… we understand why people want it, because, like, I'm not from Vegas. I moved there four years ago. Everyone else actually grew up in Vegas, so I understand that it's very… not living there, it seems really exotic and like what the hell is it like to live there? Everyone wants to know, but…

Right.

M : It's hard to answer, like what was it like growing up somewhere else? What was it like growing up here?

D : It is weird though, in Vegas.

M : It's normal if you're from there.

D : It's normal if you're from there. If you're from the Midwest, like anything's wild. That's where I'm from.

If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be and what would you hope to accomplish?

D : Keith Richards.

M : What would you accomplish?

D : I would play a couple shows.

(laughter)

Okay that works. Yourself?

M : I dunno, I'd trade places with a record executive and drop all the crap.

Very good. Okay a shark and a bear fight. Here are the rules.

D : A shark and a bear?

Yup. The shark is in a pool just big enough for him to exist. The bear is on a rock in the middle of the pool that's just large enough for him to stand on. Neither's been trained, neither's been fed for a few days. They fight to the death. Who wins?

D : The shark. Because he's gonna circle the bear and just take… He's gonna jump out and bite him in the back and take pieces out of him. The bear, you just basically told me he has nowhere to go.

M : I think the bear would win because he could grab him and pull him out of the water…

D : And chew him up?

M : The shark's kind of defenseless once he's out of the water.

D : That's true. That's a good point. Once that shark makes the wrong jump, he's gonna get caught.

M : Then again, the shark can't get really close…

It always spawns big debates.

D : Yeah it's an interesting question. One of the more interesting ones we've got.

M : What kind of shark and bear though?

Great white shark and grizzly bear.

D : I change my mind. If you think of the teeth of a shark, you know one chunk, and the bear's gonna be pretty useless.

M : But not all great white sharks and grizzly bears are the same. There must be stronger and weaker grizzly bears and stronger and weaker great white sharks.

We're talkin' a couple of pretty badass animals though.

D : I change my mind to the bear.

M : Both healthy and…

D : (drummer Ronnie Vannucci pokes his head in the room and looks startled to see an interview in progress) Come in but just…

There's only one more question. So that pretty much wraps it up for the shark and the bear?

D : Yeah. We'll go with the bear.

Okay. We're going with the bear. Now if you could ask me one question, what would that be?

D : Um… what's your first impression of us? I don't know.

My first impression... musically, or of you guys?

M : Um… what do you think of Ronnie? (who's just walking back through the room)

(Vannucci turns around at the mention of his name and grabs me into a big hug)

Awww. Well now I'm in love with him.

R : Take notes boys… (Vannucci leaves with a sly wink at his bandmates).

He knows how to work it.

D : He does!

Okay well that's it! Thank you.

M : Thank you!

Thanks for your time.

D : Who influenced you as a reporter?

Oh we're not done yet!

D : Two questions.

It's all right, he took your question I think.

D : Who were your influences? A mix of Walter and Brokaw? Or…

Barbara Walters maybe haha.

M : You know most anchors are Canadians. Dan Rather.

Yeah a lot of them are. They have the serious sort of…

M : Tom Brokaw's not though, he's American.

D : You also have Bryan Adams... cheap shot. (chuckles)

Don't pull that one on us… he does have a nice studio here though.

M : In Vancouver?

Mmhmm. The Warehouse. I've had no journalistic inspiration though. I'm on my own.

D : Okay.

I'd love to say I went to journalism school or something and studied these people, but I didn't. I only write because I kinda have to. But I like it now.

M : Do you want to take more pictures?

Do I want to take more pictures?

M : Yeah.

Yeah. You get all smiley. Why, because I didn't take too many? I'll be taking more tonight too.

M : But that's what you like to do.

Yes, absolutely!

D : Sorry I didn't answer the questions better. I only had to give an interview one time. And it was really hard.

Oh really. This is your second interview ever?

D : No I gave an interview.

Oh gave an interview.

D : A long time ago. Eight years ago. I never wanted to do it again. It's hard.

I just started doing interviews… it is kinda tough.

(label rep pops in again and does a pantomime, leaves)

Oh, Stephen. But yeah I haven't been doing interviews that long really either myself. We started the magazine, we launched last week, online, which is what this is for, and I never really intended to do interviews myself but I have to now. It is hard but fun.

D : It's really, it's hard to write them 'cause you can only really just research other peoples' interviews and that's about it.

Well even so it's kinda like… you know, you read other peoples' interviews and there's like a minor thing that somebody touches on and you try to kinda pull something out of that. And I didn't find tons and tons of stuff on you guys.

M : What have you heard of us? What songs?

Oh I'm the worst person world with song titles. But there's the EP that you guys have from last year.

D : Oh the four song one?

Yeah.

(discussion about HMV stores. Incredulousness on their part about it being in HMV stores because it only had 2000 copies made. evening begins soundchecking in background).

D : They're selling for like $50 on Ebay which I didn't think anybody would ever buy 'til Minneapolis, and some guy there said he paid like $60 for it.

Do you think people are a little bit nuts? I mean, it's cool but it's kind of weird.

D : Yeah, really weird.

I can't imagine sitting there you know, as the time's ticking closer and people are bidding and you just sit on the computer and wait and hope you get it.

M : That's the mania that we inspire.

There you go, you're on your way to the big time when youre selling for good prices on Ebay.

M : Have you heard the new three-song? The "Somebody Told Me" one?

Stephen just played me a little bit. In his car out there.

M : That one, only one song's on the album. The album's been done since November.

Oh really. Why isn't it released yet?

M : 'Cause they wont let us… need the proper set up.

Trying to build you up first?

M : Yeah proper set up. Artwork prep.

D : Artwork was done last week.

M : Label release schedule. Half the album was made last year by this time. Half was made in March and the other half was made in November.

Wow, that's a long time to wait to release it.

M : It is.

D : It seems like we've been waiting for ever. So much for one album.

M : It was originally gonna be demos at the beginning of it. But then we got a record deal and they're like, "oh we like these demos." So all we did was remix it and do a few more songs. And that's different than some bands who turn in really good demos and they want to make an album that sounds like than the demos. So we just cut the demos instead of redoing it 'cause we liked them and they liked them.

Still a long time to wait.

M : Okay well... thank you.

Thank you!

Elsewhere

By Andy Scheffler
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : June 23, 2004.