Now that The Killers have released one of the best albums of 2008, you'd think lead singer Brandon Flowers might say his dreams - or at least most of them - have come true. But he's got loads more, and they're pretty huge.
Like being bigger than U2. The Killers have opened for the Irish mega-stars, and Flowers and Bono have even shared the stage together. But in an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Flowers says it's not enough - he wants to knock U2 off their pedestal.
"They're unbelievable but they're getting old," says the 27-year-old Flowers. "I feel like it's time."
Flowers, like many of the all-time greats, is a fascinating fellow with a bagful of contradictions and obsessions. He talks about his son, and how he's "growing up somewhere right now and he doesn't see me. That is wrong." Yet, at the same time, he admits that he can't wait until The Killers are selling out the Wembley Stadiums of the world.
"I've tasted the blood," he says. "We've had amazing gigs, where we can do no wrong. I can't explain but it's life changing. And now I just want that every night."
The impossible dream?
Beyond leapfrogging over U2, Flowers has one more overarching dream, and true to form, it's a biggie: "To write the best song of all time. I do believe it's a possibility. I'm a believer."
Comments like these might strike some as a tad pompous, but Flowers and company have displayed nothing but amazing growth since their debut in 2004 - the kind that backs up the moxie. Besides, you have to aim for the stars to hit the moon.
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Click here to read the full interview.
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Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.
"I'm like, I'm freaked out right now. I'm scared. I feel like I'm drowning on stage and I feel like I'm failing”: SZA on that misfiring Glastonbury headline set
“It sounded so amazing that people said to me, ‘I can hear the bass’, which usually they don’t say to me very often”: U2 bassist Adam Clayton contrasts the live audio mix in the Las Vegas Sphere to “these sports buildings that sound terrible”