Brandon Flowers slams Brian Wilson

[Billy Castillo]

http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.ns...ns%20drugtaking

THE KILLERS frontman BRANDON FLOWERS has hit out former BEACH BOY BRIAN WILSON for hiding behind a haze of drugs to appear more creative.

And the MR BRIGHTSIDE singer, 23, refuses to go down the same stimulant-addled route as Wilson, because he fears drugs turned the singer into a self-obsessed egomaniac.

He fumes, "It bothers me that I'd be more credible to certain people if I had a drug problem.

"Why? That's bulls**t. I'm not interested in drugs because I've seen what they can do.

"Take Brian Wilson. I don't want to be like him.

"What does it matter today that he wrote GOOD VIBRATIONS? The man goes round talking about himself."

07/06/2005 21:42

Edited June 11, 2005 by Billy Castillo

[Ananas]

The guy who thought he had a patent on 80's influenced rock is calling someone else a self obsessed egomaniac? If I think about this too much the irony might implode my brain.

[Billy Castillo]

Yep. Pretty sad considering how much he ripped off Simon LeBon. I admit to liking a few of their songs, but c'mon...

[apsham]

That really came out of no where and was totally uncalled for, for Flowers to say that.

[SeanDMan]

I hold Dan single handedly responsible for the Killers, and my hatred for him will likely never relent.

As if their overplayed and undeveloped music wasn't bad enough, they have huge fucking egos. Awesome. Please get in a plane crash so we can have a big memorial where people cry and quote poetry and then I only have to hear your crap once a year on that anniversary.

And stick with one hairstyle, asshole.

[Skummy]

Wow, it's a good week for people slagging off established songwriters, ain't it?

I find this hilarious, to be honest, Brandon Flowers will never be even a fraction of what Brian Wilson is, even if Brian does have "Smart Girls" and "The Spirit Of Rock & Roll" lurking in his back catalogue.

[ClaRK! Kent]

Whoa.

I guess you can see where Brandon is coming from re: the effect of drugs, because they did fuck Brian Wilson up beyond all recognition - the book that he wrote in the 1980s and then forgot that he'd written, the 8 years in his house, etc - but to call him an egomaniac is a bit harsh.

I saw the Brian Wilson 'Smile' tour last year, and he was nothing if not pleasant and humbled throughout, and in the interviews I've seen of his then he seems fairly laid back and down-to-earth for a man who has written some of the best music ever and also gone on a crazy decade-long drug trip.

I like the Killers, but that shot was one too far. It seems like Brandon's feeling a bit threatened by the Bravery and is just saying any old 'shocking' thing to get back into the NME, these days.

[ROC]

Beeblebrox pretty well summed up my opinion. I like the band, but that's just a stupid statement to make, being in a band that's not too original anyways...

[Billy Castillo]

Whoa.

I guess you can see where Brandon is coming from re: the effect of drugs, because they did fuck Brian Wilson up beyond all recognition - the book that he wrote in the 1980s and then forgot that he'd written, the 8 years in his house, etc - but to call him an egomaniac is a bit harsh.

I saw the Brian Wilson 'Smile' tour last year, and he was nothing if not pleasant and humbled throughout, and in the interviews I've seen of his then he seems fairly laid back and down-to-earth for a man who has written some of the best music ever and also gone on a crazy decade-long drug trip.

I like the Killers, but that shot was one too far. It seems like Brandon's feeling a bit threatened by the Bravery and is just saying any old 'shocking' thing to get back into the NME, these days.

←

[zero]

The Killers are fucking prissy drama queens. I liked them... until I met them and wanted to slap them in the face. They're dramatic, bitchy, egomaniacal, and just plain rude.

Oh, and when they play live, if you look really closely it's like you timewarped to 1985 and are watching A Flock of Seagulls. Fuck the Killers... all of them. I just pray their next album tanks and the fad dies.

[Billy Castillo]

What happened when you met them? I'd like to hear this story...

[Hobo]

Didn't Brian Wilson have some sort of psychological problem or was it all drugs?

Nice to know some guy I've never heard of from a band who I'm only vaguley familiar with is insulting a legend like Brian Wilson. I'd doubt he and The Killers will last 1/10th as long as Wilson has in the music industry.

[Billy Castillo]

It was both. The drugs were a way of him coping with severe bi-polar disorder. His problems now stem from him being (illegally) prescribed psychoactive medications back in the 80s that basically fucked up his nerve endings and made him appear at times as if he had a stroke. The condition is called Tardive Dyskenisa (sp?). He also suffers from auditory hallucinations.

[zero]

What happened when you met them? I'd like to hear this story...

←

It was just ridiculous drama. I'm put in charge of the meet and greet with these guys and I've got 30 people standing outside the concert venue dying to meet these guys. It was all set up, we're doing a soundcheck party (winners get to watch the band soundcheck), followed by a meet & greet, followed by the band cutting a few liners for the station (like "hey this is brandon flower from the killers, you're listening to Zero's Radio Station, shit like that), and then that's it. Well their tour manager comes out (who was the most disorganized idiot known to man) and says he doesn't know when we're doing the meet and greet. I ask when does the band start soundchecking.

"Oh, they've been doing that for the last fifteen minutes."

Are you fucking kidding me? So they fucked us out of our soundcheck party which had been cleared for months with the record label and the band because the band "doesn't want people to hear them soundcheck because it's not them sounding their best." Well what the fuck did you agree to it first place you stupid cunts? Finally I take my anxious listeners in to meet them right as they're doing a quick run-through of one of their songs so the listeners got a sorta soundcheck party. Then the band tries to run off stage without coming out and hanging with the listeners, meanwhile, in an attempt to distract me while they're trying to get out of the meet and greet, their manager tells me we're not allowed to hang banners in the venue (another thing we had cleared months ago) and they're not going to cut liners, and we're not going to be allowed to do stage announcements after the opening act.

Again, all things that had been cleared months ahead of time and were still good to go the day before the show. At this point, I'm busting this tour manager's balls to get the band back out to meet my winners and they finally crack after I keep harping on them about it. But they're still telling me no liners, no stage announcements while the band is signing autographs for the listeners (while not saying a word to any of the listeners, acted like spoiled children). So at this point I'm fucking fed up and I call my boss, the program director (who decides if the Killers get airplay in Cincinnati Radio), he talks to the tour manager for a good twenty minutes and they tell me now we're going to do liners, but still no stage announcements. So once they finish autographs, I get some member of the band, I don't even remember who, it wasn't Brandon, to do liners. I was very nice to the guy the entire time, very appreciative that he would give us a couple ten second liners. He finishes up, I extend my hand as a thank you, he smirks in my face and walks off without shaking my hand. Cocksucker. I never had any direct clashes with the band, and their tour manager was with me all the way until he asked him to do liners, so I know he wouldn't have had a chance to say I'm an asshole. The band member just treated me like shit because he was a bitchy prick. And I wasn't even being an asshole up until that point, I was just being steadfast in getting the things done that were promised to us. Now, after that band member treated me like that, I became an asshole, I'll admit that.

That's when I called my boss back and gave him the complete rundown, that's when he called the record label and sat on the phone with them about getting our stage announcements done. This happened at around 4:30, we didn't get the stage announcement issue resolved until right after the opening act went off stage at 9:00. It took their camp almost four hours to say, "yeah your DJ can go on stage for twenty seconds and thank the 1500 people your radio station pretty much single-handedly put in this venue." Little backstory, when it comes to the Killers, our radio station made them a household name in Cincinnati. We played 'Somebody Told Me' long before top 40 radio got their hands on it, the other rock station in town doesn't even play the Killers at all. So we were pretty much playing the Killers about eight months before anyone else in town. The minute the concert was announced, we hyped it non-stop and once it sold out, we were the only station in town with tickets. We made the show seem like THE concert of 2005, because in reality, it pretty much was. We introduced the Killers to Cincinnati, we play them more than anybody, we play singles besides 'Somebody' and 'Mr. Brightside,' and we hyped their concert as the biggest thing to hit Cincinnati since Pete Rose. Our name was on their tickets as our station "Presents The Killers" and they repay us by completely fucking us on every single thing we had agreed on. Sure, we got most of it in the end after we went to the record label and told them how badly their people were trying to fuck us.

By comparison, we just had Sum 41 in town last week and we had the show set up pretty much exactly like we did for the Killers: Banners in the venue, soundcheck party, meet and greet, liners, stage announcements. Everything went off completely perfect and the band's people even helped make it better. Instead of just a soundcheck party, they bought pizza for all the listeners to eat while watching them soundcheck. Instead of just signing autographs at the meet and greet, they took pictures with everybody, instead of just cutting liners for the station, they gave us an autographed guitar to give away and asked us to hang out with them after the show, and instead of the headache of deciding whether or not we could do stage announcements at all, they let me get on stage and do announcements after Unwritten Law and mere seconds before Sum 41 came on stage.

So yeah, fuck the Killers.

[TMM]

Wow, sheesh, I may have just lost some respect for the Killers there. Still love their music though

Was it the band being pissy or 'their people'? Or both?

[zero]

Wow, sheesh, I may have just lost some respect for the Killers there. Still love their music though

Was it the band being pissy or 'their people'? Or both?

←

Both... their people moreso than them, but it seemed like they were the kind of band that makes 'their people' be assholes for them. But the band were assholes enough for everybody on that particular day.

Louis XIV opened for them though and we got to hang out with them after the Killers did their meet and greet. They were amazingly nice guys and great to the listeners. 'Their people' were also incredibly organized and courteous, unlike the Killers.

[therockbox]

I don't even remember who, it wasn't Brandon, to do liners. I was very nice to the guy the entire time, very appreciative that he would give us a couple ten second liners. He finishes up, I extend my hand as a thank you, he smirks in my face and walks off without shaking my hand.

Edited June 11, 2005 by The Rock Box

[Billy Castillo]

Damn...Zero, that is one fucked up story. I had a similiar experience with Rob Thomas several years ago, only being one of the fans there, not working in radio. But anyway...now I see just how fucked up it was for Flowers to say that. Esp. considering how Brian does a meet & greet with his fans after the concerts. The one I went,though, he really didn't due to him being sick (hell, he was coughing several times during the concert, and even sneezed a couple of times), but at least acknowledged us.

[The Third Dukes]

Am I the only one who thinks Brandon Flowers isn't worthy of tying Brian Wilson's bootstraps? C'mon! Wilson and the Beach Boys are LEGENDS! I dare you to listen to stuff like "Surfin USA" and "Good Vibrations" and not instantly like it.

Somebody told me

You had an ego

Bigger than my ego

That I had in Febru-

Ary of last year

You have no potential

And now confidential-

Ly we all wish you'd shut up and shut up and...

[tristy]

If Flowers wants to talk shit about Brian Wilson, I don't see why he can't. Free country and all.