Apparently making a cheesy and laughably pretentious disc like "Sam's Town" has not sated Killers frontman Brandon Flowers' desire to take himself too seriously. He is now using the last refuge of the scoundrel, patriotism, to kick at his betters. Perhaps Flowers was hoping to destroy Green Day the same way the Dixie Chicks tanked their career by yapping at a concert in front of foreigners about the President. Flowers is quoted in an interview complaining:

"You have Green Day and 'American Idiot'. Where do they film their DVD? In England. A bunch of kids screaming 'I don't want to be an American idiot'. I saw it as a very negative thing towards Americans. It really lit a fire in me."

Oh no, so much for Flowers to worry about here: Let's hope Green Day doesn't inspire the Brits to sail over here and retake their Colonies, or worse, send over another British Invasion of groups like in 1964, to come to push American rock like the Killers off the charts.

The truth is that both commercially and artistically, Green Day leaves our local heroes in Nevada's desert dust. Green Day fans aren't Dixie Chicks fans either. Duh. Fans would never expect Green Day's blast of politics to be watered down for export. Green Day have worked discontent with the American status quo into its music since the '80s. And, fans of the Killers catchy few singles, if forced to choose, probably like Green Day better anyway. Besides, Flowers should now also go back to get offended at lots of rock history like, say, the Clash kicking off their first U.S. show with "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A." (Then the Clash, those ungrateful foreigners, went on to have hits over here!)

And Flowers should hear (just rent the DVD, Dude) what was said at Woodstock about our country and its leaders and an unpopular war. Of course, maybe that was OK because it was heard by Americans (if you could call  hippies that) and some fellow traveler British bands (like the members of the Who and Graham Nash).

Another thing Flowers said, by the way, is "Sam's Town" would be among rock's great discs. Instead, his band, for all the buzz, has made a classic sophomore slump. Meanwhile, Flowers little verbal tantrums have proven that rather than being the next Bono (as he intended), he is instead becoming nothing more than another whiny Rivers Cuomo (without the hooks).

The Killer's new disc is the talk of Vegas and it seems in the national reviews the group's Vegas origin is writ large in minds. Typical is the review of "Sam's Town" in Allmusic.com: "Every time it tries to get real, it only winds up sounding fake, which means it's the quintessential Vegas rock album from the quintessential Vegas rock band."

I too have called The Killers quintessent ially Vegas in a review of a 2004 concert. Anyway, I'll be giving their latest a listen over the weekend and share my thoughts with you next week on "Sam's Town." But for now let's note that while the disc is named in celebration of the gritty old casino Sam's Town, the band recorded it far away from there in the luxurious, brand spanking new studio at the Palms. Sure on a metaphorical level you could say there is something a bit hypocritical or fake in that; but realistically while Sam's Town may have an RV park and a bowling alley it does not have a recording studio.

photo by Anton Corbijn