It was late 2002. Brandon Flowers (yes, it is his real name) had been dumped by his one previous group, a synth-pop outfit named Blush Response, when he refused to move with the rest of the band to L.A. Cruelly ditched, but inspired by seeing Oasis play (incredibly, the Brothers Grim had made it all the way to Vegas in one piece) he saw that his life needed more guitars. When he clocked Dave Keuning's small ad in a local paper naming that band as an influence ' and what with Oasis not exactly factoring in the pasty Vegas music scene ' he took it as fate that they should be together. 'He was the only person to reply to my ad who wasn't a complete freak', remembers Dave, fondly. 'He came over with his keyboard and we started going through song ideas straight away. I had the verse to 'Mr Brightside' and he went away and wrote the chorus. That was the first song we wrote together and remains the only song that we've played at every single Killers show'.