Brandon Flowers on when The Killers first met Noel Gallagher on the 2005 NME Tour

8 December, 2023

Brandon Flowers of The Killers and Noel Gallagher. Credit: Harry Durrant and Gus Stewart via getty

Brandon Flowers has shared the moment in which The Killers met Noel Gallagher on the 2005 NME Tour along with the impact Oasis had on him.

Flowers spoke to Zane Lowe on his Apple Music Radio show in celebration of their new greatest hits album, ‘Rebel Diamonds‘, which was released today (December 8). While on the show, The Killers’ frontman recounted the time in which he met the former Oasis member while on the NME tour in 2005 alongside Bloc Party, The Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs.

Lowe brought up the moment in which Killers drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. joined the band, adding that great drummers are the difference between great songs and careers.

“It’s true”, said Flowers. “That’s something I was not aware of. I was green when we first started, I was only 20 years old I was using a fake ID to play in the bars that we were playing in and I did not quite appreciate what everybody needed to bring to the table for us to be a success and for to us to have staying power.”

He then went on to say that someone who knew the importance of a great drummer was “someone like Noel Gallagher” and shared the moment when he met Gallagher.

“We were doing the NME tour and we were playing at Brixton Academy or something and we heard that Noel’s gonna come to show, he was probably there to see Franz Ferdinand or Kaiser or somebody but he’s coming and after the gig, we finish and here he comes, you know, This is one of my heroes, he walks in the door and I am just so excited,” began Flowers.

He continued: “He walks straight past me, straight to Vannucci and it was just, I was like oh shit, we better keep an eye on what Oasis’ drummer is doing, but yeah he was a huge fan of him right away.”

Lowe went on to discuss how during their early shows, it felt like everyone was watching Vannucci Jr. more that they were watching Flowers on stage. “It felt like he was stage-ready and you were finding your feet,” the Apple Music DJ said.

“He was definitely more seasoned,” said Flowers. “He’d been in a lot more bands and toured and this was my first real band and you know, people ask me why I sing the way I do and it’s because he’s on the drums. I gotta keep up with him.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Flowers explained the impact that seeing Oasis had on him before creating The Killers. “I’ve talked about seeing Oasis at the Hard Rock in Vegas as a joint and I wasn’t a huge fan yet, I became a big fan later but I got in just in time to see the encore and I saw ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ and up until that point I was all synth-pop, and I have never experienced anything like that.”

He continued: “People were hugging and shouting you know and just singing along. That song and experience made me instead of looking for another synth geek, I wanted to find a band and I wanted to respond to that.”

In other news, Flowers recently teased the idea of intimate shows for the 20th anniversary of ‘Hot Fuss‘.

Elsewhere, The Killers announced a handful of extra dates and their opening support act for their ‘Rebel Diamonds‘ greatest hits UK and Ireland arena tour.

The Killers added four extra dates in Dublin, Manchester, Glasgow and London to their celebratory 2024 tour due to exceptional demand during early ticket pre-sales. Visit here for tickets and see all dates below.

The Killers 2024 ‘Rebel Diamonds’ UK and Ireland tour dates are: 

JUNE 
12 – Dublin, 3Arena 
14 – Dublin, 3Arena
15 – Dublin, 3Arena 
18 – Manchester, Co-Op Live
19 – Manchester, Co-Op Live
21 – Manchester, Co-Op Live
22 – Manchester, Co-Op Live  
25 – Glasgow, Ovo Hydro
26 – Glasgow, Ovo Hydro
27 – Glasgow, Ovo Hydro

JULY
4 – London, The O2
5 – London, The O2
7 – London, The O2
8 – London, The O2 

In other news, The Killers recently said that they scrapped their planned new album because it didn’t feel “authentic”.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper Flowers and co said the new sound “just didn’t feel right” and they decided to stop making the album they’d planned.

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