Killers fans, your long wait is over (well, some of it, anyway). Starting right now, you can get a taste — but only a taste — of "When You Were Young," the first single from the band's much-anticipated sophomore album.
Just click here to hear it, but completists beware: It's a 40-second snippet of the song. But hey, you still get to hear it before the tune goes to radio at the end of this month (and almost three months before the band's still-untitled album hits stores).
It's the first bit of new music from the Killers since August of 2005, when they re-released their breakout Hot Fuss album with three B-sides. And it's a glimpse into the band's decidedly more "American" sounding (as singer Brandon Flowers described it) new album, which was produced by U2 vets Alan Moulder and Flood (see "Killers' Next LP Will Show Strong Influence Of ... Bruce Springsteen!?").
When MTV News spoke with Killers' frontman Brandon Flowers in early May, his band was still roughly a month away from completing the recording sessions for the follow-up to Hot Fuss, but he was already lining up potential first singles. It was a decision he and his bandmates were weighing very carefully. After all, they know just how important this single is.
"We have six possible singles, but the first one is still kind of up in the air," Flowers said. "It's a big decision, and you have to be careful with it. Of course you want people to know it's the Killers, but you also want to blow them away. It's a tough place to be right now, because the last few bands that put out a second album — bands like Franz Ferdinand or Hot Hot Heat — they seem to go away so quickly. And that's a little bit scary, but you just have to have faith in your songs."
And while "Young" is a decided change for the Killers (it sorta sounds like Bruce Springsteen backed by a wall of synthesizers), Flowers isn't worried about alienating his fanbase. In fact, MTV News asked him just what he thought fans would think of the new Killers' tunes, he was his old self: cautiously cocky — minus the whole "cautiously" part.
"I'd like to think people will like it. Because we're still entertainers, and people still want a good show," he said. "I love to write a good line or a melody, and that's important, but we're still entertainers. And hopefully we'll be entertaining lots of people."
The Killers' new album is due October 3.
[This story was originally published at 6:59 a.m. ET on 07.10.2006]
This report is from MTV News.
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