Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 21

Brandon Flowers Releases 10-Track 'Thrasher' After 11 Years, Confronting Fame and Opioid Loss

Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 21

Brandon Flowers Releases 10-Track 'Thrasher' After 11 Years, Confronting Fame and Opioid Loss

Q: What dark hometown tragedies and questions about fame pushed Brandon Flowers to abandon his stadium-rock persona for a gritty Nashville sound?

Brandon Flowers was pushed toward *Thrasher* by a mix of private grief, small-town decline and a mounting unease about what fame has cost him. The darkest material came from Nephi, Utah and his family: the sudden death of his brother-in-law, which inspired “One of Us”; the opioid crisis that scarred his hometown; and memories of a sister trapped in an abusive relationship, reflected in “Miss America.” He has said these were stories he was not ready to write earlier in his career but now felt compelled to face directly. At the same time, Flowers was questioning the value of the life that made him famous. On the album he imagines asking Elvis Presley whether success is worth the personal price, and in interviews he has openly wondered how much longer he wants to keep doing this and why. Conversations with his three teenage sons also sharpened that self-examination, making him think harder about how his career looks from his family’s point of view and what touring and public life have demanded of them. That is why he stepped away from the polished stadium-rock persona associated with The Killers and into a more stripped, live-in-the-room Nashville sound. Recorded at RCA Studio A with veteran country players including Bruce Bouton and Charlie McCoy, *Thrasher* let Flowers tell stories about childhood, loss, work, faith, ageing and place in the musical language he says feels closest to “my father’s music” and to the truths he now wants to sing.

1 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Aug 21

Eleven years after his last solo album, Brandon Flowers has issued the 10-track 'Thrasher,' his third solo record and first during The Killers' current break.
Nashville's RCA Studio A shaped the album's country turn, with Flowers recording 23 songs in three weeks alongside veterans including Bruce Bouton, Charlie McCoy and Margo Price.
Songs on 'Thrasher' draw on his Utah upbringing, Las Vegas casino work and family loss, while 'Miss America' targets the opioid crisis that he says devastated classmates in his hometown.
Flowers also uses the record to question whether fame delivers happiness, citing conversations with his three teenage sons and contrasting his career with his father's simpler life.
The Killers are still planning another record, he said, but Flowers will take 'Thrasher' to Royal Albert Hall this autumn as he leans into an older, more country-rooted phase.

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bbc.co.uk1h ago

Brandon Flowers Releases 'Thrasher,' Reflects on Fame and Opioid Crisis

With his raw country album Thrasher dropping this week, will Brandon Flowers' deeply personal reinvention forever alter the iconic sound of The Killers?

What dark hometown tragedies and questions about fame pushed Brandon Flowers to abandon his stadium-rock persona for a gritty Nashville sound?

Can the voice behind Mr. Brightside truly capture authentic country grit, or is his new Nashville-recorded solo project just another Vegas illusion?

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bbc.co.uk1h ago

Brandon Flowers Releases 'Thrasher,' Reflects on Fame and Opioid Crisis

Brandon Flowers Releases 10-Track 'Thrasher' After 11 Years, Confronting Fame and Opioid Loss

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