The Killers' Brandon Flowers is one of pop music's reigning front men. In the years following the Las Vegas-based band's triple-platinum glam-rock debut Hot Fuss in 2004, Flowers has chilled out a bit with the eyeliner and become a father of two. The band has also come more into its own, with two albums more introspective and pared down than the first. Flowers, a little bit ingénue, a little bit bad boy, recently caught the admiring, obsessive eye of artist Elizabeth Peyton, who over the years has painted a myriad of male musicians (David Bowie, Kurt Cobain, Eminem, Jarvis Cocker, among others). The subject of recent retrospectives at the New Museum and Whitechapel Gallery, Peyton paints intimate, sweetly idealized portraits of her friends and idols using jewel-like, vibrant colors. And since Peyton's always taken photos, often using them as source material for her paintings (last year The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum even organized a survey of said photos), we asked her to shoot her newest discovery for the cover story. To our delight, she agreed. Here, Peyton interviews and photographs her muse.
In early July I was in London and saw that The Killers were playing at Royal Albert Hall. I don't know what I was doing in the mid-2000s, because I somehow missed hearing this band, but I thought they must be something special if they were playing there. And so I went. From the first song, I was blown away by the enormity of the music: It was melodic, anthemic, huge, and then there was the crushing beauty and ferocity of lead singer Brandon Flowers's voice. He was singing like his life depended on it. In a very short time every human being in that room was connected to him, on their feet, hands in the air, jumping up and down. Everyone knew every word to every song -- except me. But I've been catching up.
Brandon Flowers has a passion and individuality that is American in the best sense. His songs are about love, life, death and spacemen, and like Walt Whitman and Bruce Springsteen, he radiates joy in being alive and human.
Elizabeth Peyton: What's your favorite Beatles song?
Brandon Flowers: "In My Life."
EP: When and where were you born?
BF: I was born June 21st, 1981, in Henderson, Nevada.
EP: What are your favorite words?
BF: Conundrum, desert and Ammon -- it's my son's name.
EP: What does the title of your first album Hot Fuss mean?
BF: It comes from a very specific moment that I am not at liberty to give out.
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