Brandon Flowers doesn’t just see The Strokes as primary competition for his band The Killers: He’s had his eye on Vampire Weekend, too.
Flowers recently sat down for Anthony Mason’s Alchemy podcast to discuss his upcoming solo album, THRASHER, and throughout, he discussed his lengthy career with The Killers and how other bands have pushed him to be better. Vampire Weekend are one such band. “I’m always looking for something — I want to wake up tomorrow and hear something that just makes me want to go to the piano,” Flowers told Mason. “I have a little bit of competition in me… and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. So I’m always aware of when Vampire Weekend are putting something out.”
As Mason pointed out, Vampire Weekend and The Killers both operate with very different sounds — but that’s less relevant to Flowers. “It’s just kinda… ‘How’s [Ezra Koenig] doing’?,” he said with a laugh. Flowers did clarify that he “love[s] Ezra” and they share a producer; Ariel Rechtshaid, who has produced the last three Vampire Weekend albums, is also producing The Killers’ next LP. Flowers also revealed that he once played tennis with Koenig in Australia, but opts to save that story for another time.
Flowers has expressed this competitive spirit toward Vampire Weekend before, telling NME in 2020 that hearing the band’s fourth album Father of the Bride instilled more creative inspiration for The Killers’ 2020 LP Imploding the Mirage. “[Father of the Bride] really helped to propel us into the right direction and realize that we couldn’t just phone in The Killers’ record,” Flowers said. “We had to do better. I told Ezra that. I’m grateful for people like him.”
Meanwhile, Flowers also heralded The Strokes’ debut album Is This It as a significant creative catalyst for The Killers’ first LP, Hot Fuss. Discussing the record with Mason, Flowers alluded to the story of how he canned every song intended for the band’s debut except for “Mr. Brightside.” “The Strokes put out their first record, and it really had an impact on me. I mean, at first, it was really negative… I felt like life was over,” Flowers said. “The bar went from here to here,” he said, raising his hand high, “And it was like… it’s over. My life is over. But I got this one song. And it’s hanging with them. So let’s throw away everything else basically and start over.”
Elsewhere in his chat with Mason, Flowers discussed the initially poor critical reception to their sophomore LP Sam’s Town, saying that people have apologized in retrospect for “the way they treated that record.” He also reflected on 22 years of Hot Fuss, the characters that appear in THRASHER, writing a second album of “love songs”, what’s next for The Killers, more. Watch the interview with Flowers and Mason below, with the discussion about Vampire Weekend taking place at the 44:10 mark.
THRASHER, Flowers’ first solo album in 11 years, arrives on August 21st via Island Records. The project takes on a Country-Western sound; so far, he’s revealed the singles “Plans,” “Paradise,” and “Tiger’s Blood.” Flowers will support THRASHER with a 2026 North American tour kicking off on September 1st. Check out his tour dates below and get tickets here.
As for Vampire Weekend, they released their most recent album, Only God Was Above Us, in 2024.
Brandon Flowers 2026 Tour Dates:
09/01 — Phoenix, AZ @ The Van Buren
09/04 — Los Angeles, CA @ The Ford
09/05 — Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
09/07 — Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
09/08 — Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
09/09 — Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
09/11 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Butte Garden
09/12 — Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
09/15 — St. Paul, MN @ Palace Theatre
09/16 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre
09/18 — Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount
09/20 — Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09/21 — Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
09/23 — Boston, MA @ Roadrunner
09/24 — Toronto, ON @ HISTORY
10/02 — Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Music Festival 2026
10/06 — Las Vegas, NV @ Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas
10/14 — Bournemouth, UK @ Bournemouth O2 Academy
10/15 — London, UK @ Royal Albert Hall
10/17 — Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon
10/18 — Nottingham, UK @ Nottingham Rock City
10/20 — Manchester, UK @ O2 Apollo Manchester
10/21 — York, UK @ Barbican
10/23 — Glasgow, UK @ O2 Academy Glasgow
10/24 — Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy Birmingham
10/27 — Dublin, IE @ 3Olympia Theatre
