By Ali Ikram
This week Killers frontman Brandon Flowers released his debut album Flamingo in the US.
It contains many songs he actually wrote for his band who are on a break at the moment.
Flowers will happily admit Flamingo is the solo record he would rather not have made but when his band decided they wanted an indefinite hiatus he had little choice.
"That's where my devotion lies; it's just that a couple of the guys wanted to take a long break and I wanted to keep the ball rolling," he says.
The Killers came out of their cage six years ago and did just fine selling 15 million albums but they were seldom off the road and came to a point at the beginning of this year where it was take a break or break up.
At the same time he was dealing with his mother’s death from brain cancer, the devout mormon – who's not yet 30 – says it's all there in the music.
"I also have two sons and I feel like the joy I get from the kids almost overshadows the grief I had from losing my mum," he says.
Flowers sounds a bit like he's pining for his old band but the fans are happy with what they have heard; Flamingo going straight to number one in the UK where it was released last week; helped by the video for first single ‘Crossfire’ with flowers rescued from ninjas by Charlize Theron.
Going solo, it seems, is a little bit like back to the future.
"It reminds me of the early days of The Killers and playing songs people aren't necessarily familiar with," he says.
But don't worry, The Killers aren't dead. Brandon Flowers has recently admitted he didn't put a couple of songs on Flamingo because he's saving them for the band; setting 2012 as the release date for their next studio album.
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