The Killers: they say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. But for chart-busting, arena-packing, world-touring rock band the Killers, that couldn't be further from the truth. Here, singer Brandon Flowers talks with the original showman about his group's anthemic new album, the orthodoxies of indie rock, and why daring to be dashing is no crime

ELTON JOHN: One thing that I love about the Killers is that you guys are vehemently supportive of your hometown, Las Vegas. A lot of people say that Vegas is a transient city and there's no soul there. But that idea is not borne out by people like you, who come from here. Is there a particular point you wanted to make about that?

BRANDON FLOWERS: Well, I think we've gotten a lot of what we are from Las Vegas, whether it's wanting to put on a show or the bigness of our performances. People say that our music is glitzy and glamorous at times--I think that comes from having grown up in Las Vegas. Our new record, Sam's Town (Island), in particular is us expressing how much we love the city, because we spend so much time away from it these days. None of us even had a passport before we signed a record deal, so it was basically a case of absence making the heart grow even fonder.

EJ: What is Sam's Town?

BF: It's a casino just off the Strip. It's a locals kind of place and it's named after a guy called Sam Boyd, who was one of the founding fathers of the modern Las Vegas. So it has some sentiment for us, being from here.

EJ: Sam's Town sounds very different from your first record, Hot Fuss [2004]--in a way, it sounds more American. When Hot Fuss first came out, a lot of people commented that it sounded very British, which it did to me, as well. But there's a huge Bruce Springsteen influence on this album, isn't there?

BF: Yeah, there is. It was nice for me to fall in love with something the way I did with Bruce Springsteen's music. We were in the middle of touring behind Hot Fuss, and I just started listening to Springsteen and began to feel something that I hadn't felt since I was 13 or 14 years old, when I really got into music. It started off with Born to Run [1975] and then I went backwards through his first couple of albums, The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, and Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. [both 1973], and then I listened all the way up through the '90s. I didn't realize how good he was.

EJ: Is that because you never really listened to Springsteen before?

BF: I think I took him for granted because his songs were on the radio so much.

EJ: The other thing I noticed about Sam's Town is that even though it's only your sophomore album, it sounds like you've been playing together for years.

BF: Well, I think we've grown so much simply from touring. In 2004 we played something like 280 shows in 365 days. So we've been working, and I think it's made us stronger. We just feel really confident.

EJ: There's nothing like playing with a band when you are really gaining momentum and gelling and beginning to find yourself. That's what comes across on the record. You're bringing an extra keyboard player with you on tour this time, right?

BF: Yeah. He plays guitar, too.

EJ: And you're still playing that funny little keyboard?

BF: Yeah, the MicroKorg.

EJ: I'm obsessed with it. It's like the Chihuahua of keyboards. [both laugh] It makes the most wonderfully cheesy sounds.

BF: Oh, yeah. It's a bit of an adjustment getting used to the keys, because they're so small.

EJ: I've never been able to play it because my fingers are too fat. [Flowers laughs] So, what are you going to do with the show this time around? I'm asking because the Killers are a very fashion-conscious band and I think that the visual element is a big part of a rock concert for the audience. I'm not talking about pyrotechnics, because that's not what the band is about, but when you walk onstage and people say, "Oh, my God, they look fantastic," it really sets you up for a great show. Not a lot of American bands seem to make as much of an effort on that aspect of things.

BF: I think that kind of happened when grunge came along. The performance should be about the songs--I love that you said that because that's the way we approach it. But as a member of the audience, you've had your ticket in your hands for two weeks, you go to see a show, and you want to see a show. You're going to see Elton's sunglasses and what he's wearing.

EJ: I couldn't go onstage in a T-shirt and jeans. Dressing up is part of the process for me. It's a way of revving up for the actual performance. I was never a big fan of grunge anyway--apart from Nirvana, who really had some great songs. But the anti-aesthetic of it was very calculated.

BF: Like you said, I think people want to believe that grunge people or indie people just get up there and play their hearts out, but it is calculated. Dressing down is a conscious choice. So why should people who do that get more credit than a band that likes to dress up and put on a show? That's why I'm not ashamed to be signed to a big record label. Their agenda is to sell records and I'm not afraid of that, because I want people to hear our songs. But we do care about our integrity and we want to protect that. Of course, it's getting harder and harder as the years go by, but I think we're happier about how we're being perceived because we work hard to stay in control of it.