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SPIN Feature: Dave Keuning On New Solo LP, Moving Forward With The Killers

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Dave Keuning is back with The Killers and has a new solo album: ‘It’s the best of both worlds’

A San Diego resident, the veteran musician performed his first-ever solo gig here at The Casbah in 2019

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Dave Keuning is not the only rock star who spent much of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown working on a new solo album. But he may be the only rock star who can credit the pandemic for reuniting him with their band — in his case, The Killers , whose worldwide album sales between 2001 and last year exceed 28 million.

Keuning stepped away from The Killers in 2017 because of touring burnout, creative differences, a desire to spend more time with his family in San Diego, and what he calls “a hundred small reasons.” The sobering irony that a historic global disease led to his reunion with The Killers is not lost on him.

“I think the pandemic kind of bought me some time,” Keuning said, speaking recently from his home in San Diego’s North County.

“The Killers had to postpone a tour, which kind of brought us back together in a way. Because they probably would have toured without me, and I would have waited for that tour to be over before we talked about doing something. So, they decided to make another record — instead of touring — and asked me to be part of it, and I said: ‘Sure.’

“The pandemic was terrible in so many ways, for so many people, but I can’t complain. Because it forced everyone to slow down. My new record got written mostly during the pandemic, and I got back together (with The Killers).”

Keuning’s accomplished new album, “A Mild Case of Everything,” will be released Friday. The follow-up to his 2019 solo debut, “Prismism,” it was recorded almost entirely in the basement studio of his Encinitas-area home.

In a far-ranging interview, Keuning discussed an array of topics. They included: his latest album; his recent return to The Killers after a three-year hiatus; the pros and cons of stardom; why he needed surgery for a deviated septum 15 years ago; and what — or, more specifically, who — inspired his scathing song “No One is Calling You a Liar,” a standout number from his new album.

“There are certainly a lot of liars to go around!” said Keuning, who (at least in song) is usually apolitical.

“But Donald Trump has to be in the Hall of Fame of liars. I have some friends and family members who are Republicans, and I want to get along with them. I just can’t understand why they believe anything he says. ... But I’d like to move on past that. He’s gone, and I just wish everybody got along. ... I don’t want to make any enemies with anybody who wants to believe him.”

An aural labor of love

Released on Keuning’s own record label, Pretty Faithful, “A Mild Case of Everything” is — apart from a few drum parts — a one-man affair. It documents his growth as a singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, guitarist, keyboardist, bassist and drummer.

“Most of the time, recording is a separate thing than playing live,” Keuning noted. “The goal is to make the record as good as you can, even if it means adding extra things. This time, with ‘A Mild Case of Everything,’ I thought: ‘How am I going to play this live?’

“I wanted to have more things that were fun to sing live, with better choruses. Because, for so long, I had focused on song structures, guitar parts and how I can contribute those things to The Killers. ... This time, I wanted the songs to be fun to play live.

“And I wanted to have a San Diego gig confirmed in time to mention in this interview, but I don’t yet. I have to get my (solo) band in to practice — and there are a lot of Killers gigs being planned out. But I’d like to do a San Diego solo gig as well, hopefully, by the end of the year.”

A quintessential labor of love, “A Mild Case of Everything” was carefully constructed by Keuning, whose only deadlines were self-imposed. The album’s 16 songs — 17 on the vinyl version — are attentively sequenced in an order that creates a musical and emotional arc best appreciated by hearing them all in one sitting.

Alas, that may be a quaintly outdated approach. The digital music age enables — and encourages — listeners to select individual songs, rather than hear and absorb an album in its entirety.

Consequently, a generation that grew up with music streaming from a cloud may not discover that Keuning’s ambitious nearly nine-minute song, the intricately constructed “Don’t Poke the Bear,” is immediately followed by his new album’s shortest number, the 75-second-long “We All Go Home.” And they may miss hearing the lilting, Beatles-esque flavor on such deep album cuts as “Peace and Love,” or the Celtic-tinged guitar lines on “What Do Ya Want From Me” and the album-concluding “Shake Well.”

“People like me are on the endangered species list,” Keuning acknowledged.

“I still appreciate making and listening to a whole album, but I don’t know how many people there are like me. ... I spent a lot of time on the order of the songs on my new album, and I had several different song orders. So, for the listener who does listen to the whole album, I think it will flow really nice. But I was expecting people who will pick and choose, which is why I chose to have 16 or 17 songs, instead of 10 or 12.”

That Keuning, 45, wants his second solo album to be enjoyed in its totality is not surprising.

But the fact that he has released two solo albums in the past two years is almost shocking, at least based on what he told the Union-Tribune in a 2015 interview. It was conducted to preview The Killers’ performance at the debut edition of the KAABOO Del Mar festival, which was held just a few miles south of his North County home.

A reluctant solo artist?

“Every time I start working on (new) material, I come to the conclusion I’d rather have it used in The Killers than a solo project (that) probably no one will ever hear,” Keuning said in his 2015 interview .

“I understand that, sometimes, it’s healthy to do a solo project, even if only 100 people hear it, because you get it out of your system. I do have a backlog of hundreds of songs. But I don’t feel any urgency to put out a solo album.

“Certainly, I’m more excited in making Killers’ music, which we are getting ready to do, by the way. If only one of my ideas gets used on a Killers’ album, that will be heard by many times more people than a solo album.”

What changed?

“I completely forgot about that interview, but it is still pretty accurate and that sounds like me,” Keuning said. “What happened after that is that I took a break from touring and had the time to do a solo album. And I liked it.

“I like having the ability to finish songs and do whatever I want, not out of ego, not out of I finally get to call all the shots, but more like a kid in a candy shop who gets to do whatever he wants. I can play keyboards, do a (guitar) tapping solo and can pick whatever I want to do. If I want a nine-minute song or a 16-song album, whatever I want, it’s fine and lets me get a lot of these ideas out. It’s not just ideas I recorded on my phone that will never be heard.”

Some of the best songs on his new solo album, most notably “Bad Instincts” and “Worlds on Fire,” sound like potential Killers hits. Does he agree?

“I certainly wonder about that,” said Keuning, the co-writer of such Killers staples as “Mr. Brightside,” “Human” and “When You Were Young.”

“I think, maybe, they could have been hits for The Killers. It’s hard for me to know.”

Did he offer any of the songs on his new album to The Killers for the band’s consideration?

“I did show ‘Worlds on Fire’ to The Killers,” Keuning said. “I showed most of these songs to them, in one form or another. It’s hard to know if I should have shown them to the band one more time than I did.

“But I don’t like to be in a position of having to convince people to like my stuff. If they don’t like it, I don’t want to fight over it. If they don’t like it, or can’t connect with it, or don’t think it fits on the album — even if they do like it — I kind of move on from there. I guess that, with some of these songs, I’ll never know.

“But it’s not too late for me to rework some of these songs and put them on a Killers record. Maybe some listeners will pick up on it, or not, but they are still my chord changes.”

The release of the band’s fully completed seventh studio album was pushed back by the COVID-19 shutdown. Recording sessions have been underway in Los Angeles and Las Vegas for an eighth Killers album by Keuning, singer-songwriter Brandon Flowers, bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr., all of whom are fully vaccinated. On Wednesday, the band released a new song, “Dustland,” that features vocals by Flowers and Bruce Springsteen, a key inspiration for The Killers.

Down San Diego way

Keuning chuckled when asked to cite the non-musical advantages of living in San Diego.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that,” he said. “The weather is better, and it is easier to go for a walk. Funnily enough, the biggest difference is probably the air. I still love Vegas and I consider spending more time there someday or living there fulltime.

“But I grew up in Idaho. And when we started The Killers in Las Vegas, I didn’t realize how much it was going to affect my nose. Because of the dryness and dust, I had to have surgery for a deviated septum 15 years ago. And every time I’m in Vegas, I start sneezing after two or three minutes. If you live there, you get used to it.”

Keuning’s extended hiatus from The Killers has allowed him to be a full-time dad in San Diego to his son, Kyler, now 15.

“Being a father was a big part of it,” Keuning said of his decision to step away from the band in 2017. “But everyone is looking for one giant reason I left the band — and it’s kind of like a hundred small reasons that had led me to decide I couldn’t do it, including my own fatigue of being on the road.

“I don’t think people understand it, but you’re just constantly going from one town to the next, and it was hard. I like being in my own bed. It’s hard to have any relationships (on tour). I don’t do drugs, but I certainly understand why a lot of these past musicians have.

“Because you go crazy and don’t know what to do with your time and all the emotions you’re going through. And you certainly have enough stuff around you to enable (drug-taking). So, I wanted to live normally for a little bit.”

Keuning performed on The Killers’ disappointing 2017 album, “Wonderful Wonderful,” but was not included in its publicity photos. When the band toured in 2018 and 2019, two hired hands filled in for him. He did not contribute at all to The Killers’ 2020 album, “Exploding the Mirage,” and the group’s other members have acknowledged they struggled without him.

His absence confused some fans. They wondered why Keuning would step away from a band that far exceeded his dreams of musical success, fame and fortune.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “This is what I always dreamed about, and we achieved all those dreams. I did four world tours with The Killers, each one about two years long ... and that wore me down.

“It took almost as long, or at least a year, to make an album with The Killers. ... I just wished there were ways to get things a little more balanced, with more moderation, and that’s probably the biggest challenge: the schedule.

“There’s no getting around that schedule: how much recording to do; how much promotional time; how much touring; all those things. Because that’s what you’re required to do, regardless of whether you are the lead singer, the lead songwriter, or whatever it is you do in the band.”

He paused to weigh his words.

“A lot of people don’t understand it and think I have no right to complain, so I get it,” Keuning continued.

“But when you’re the one doing it, it is hard to force yourself to go on tour. The No. 1 thing I miss is the shows and the fans and the interaction. But I don’t miss the other 22 hours when you are not on stage and are away from home each day.

“I really don’t love traveling anymore. And I don’t miss looking outside an airplane window, or a bus, or a car on the way to a hotel, or a van on the way to the concert.”

And now that he is a solo artist and back with The Killers again?

“I don’t think I’ll stop making solo music anytime soon,” Keuning said. “But I am writing and recording again with The Killers and trying to give them as many musical ideas and options as I can. I’m looking at it as it’s the best of both worlds.”

Dave Keuning at a glance

Born: David Brent Keuning, March 28,1976, in Pella, Iowa.

First musical influences: Metallica, AC/DC and Aerosmith.

Subsequent musical influences: David Bowie, The Cure, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead. First groups: The Pella High School Jazz Band and the Christian rock band Pickle.

Education: Kirkwood Community College and the University of Iowa, where he was a music major but dropped out after a year and moved to Las Vegas.

First single: The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” was released in the United Kingdom on Sept. 29, 2003.

First album: The Killers’ “Hot Fuss” (2004).

First U.S. No. 1 Album: The Killers’ “Wonderful Wonderful”

Grammy nominations: Seven, all with The Killers.

Solo albums: “Prismism” (2019), “A Mild Case of Everything” (2021)

Last day job: “I worked in retail at Best Buy, but my last job was at Banana Republic in Las Vegas. I would come in at 6 in the morning to fold clothes, a lot of times after I had played a club gig with The Killers the night before. Folding clothes at 6 in the morning for several hours is about one of the most mind-numbing things you can do.”

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Related tags, “i didn’t quit the killers to do this. i just have a lot of leftover ideas”: dave keuning on his new solo record.

The returning Killers guitarist on why he had to strike out on his own, how it “felt good” to return to the band after a one-album hiatus, and how he owes it all to an old Ibanez Destroyer.

Image: Jamie Trumper

Dave Keuning’s guitar story begins where a lot of guitar stories begin: with the monolithic chug of Smoke on the Water . As a teenager in Iowa he sat in a circle with some friends as a Sears catalogue Harmony was passed back and forth in search of its unmistakable riff. “We couldn’t play, at all,” he remembers today, reached over Zoom at his home in San Diego. “I waited patiently, and when it was my turn I did not want to let that go.”

• READ MORE: The Killers’ Dave Keuning details his favourite guitar parts on new solo LP, A Mild Case Of Everything

Back then Keuning was your classic aspiring rocker. He’d graduated from Michael Jackson and Billy Joel to Aerosmith , Mötley Crüe and AC/DC , with a little bit of the Stones on the side. After convincing his buddy to sell him the Sears guitar for 40 bucks he worked non-stop at learning how to play the thing, developing a riff-based style that could be transposed from the worlds of Joe Perry and Mick Mars and Angus Young to something more outwardly pop.

As guitarist for the Killers , Keuning would use this blend of influences to underpin some of the biggest records of the past two decades. His playing – hyper-melodic and showier than it first appears – became a key current in the band, rolling alongside the star wattage and stadium-shaking hooks of vocalist Brandon Flowers. Keuning’s new solo record, A Mild Case of Everything , drills down into each element of his sound, pulling out synthy threads alongside strutting Cars -style power-pop and guitar workouts that sit neatly alongside the solo work of Television’s Richard Lloyd .

“I want to have fun with it, but I also want the songs to be good,” he says. “I really didn’t want it to be a record where people would listen to it out of sympathy because they’re my friends or whatever. I want them to nod and be surprised like, ‘Oh, this is actually good!’ That’s what my goal was. Since I’m calling all the shots with this I can play as much guitar as I want, and do some solos. I did my first tapping solo on No One is Calling You a Liar , which is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time. Kinda a little 80s fantasy. I was happy to work it into more of a pop song, where it doesn’t necessarily belong. I don’t think some people even know what it is.”

That tapping solo might feel like a little detail, but it says a lot about what Keuning is trying to achieve here. The track is a loping synth-pop number that hinges on a chorus containing a kernel of truth. “There’s just so much fire burning through my brain,” Keuning sings, and it’s easy to view A Mild Case of Everything  and his 2019 solo bow Prismism  as a chance to use that fire in a way that feels creatively satisfying on a more personal level. “I have quite a large supply of little ideas,” Keuning says, referencing the bank of voice memos that he consulted for the LP’s riffs.

The formula behind the record, then, is a surplus of material multiplied by time to assemble the songs on his own terms. But the time element is a thorny one on paper. Keuning decided to step back from touring with the Killers in 2017, around the release of their Wonderful Wonderful  album, and subsequently sat out the recording of its follow up, the synth-driven heartland rock juggernaut Imploding the Mirage . Earlier this year he returned to the studio with the group, but in the meantime he has hunkered down to finesse an enjoyably woolly record that’s better suited to a dude with empty days reaching into the distance than fuel for a well-oiled rock show.

“Some people might be wondering why I did this, because it would seem loco,” he says. “One, I didn’t quit the Killers to do this. I just have a lot of leftover ideas. I don’t want to say it’s for fun, because I take it very seriously and it’s something I’m going to do probably for the rest of my life. But I have a lot of extra songs and between the other members of the Killers we all have a lot of ideas. This I have control over. If I really like a song I’m going to see it to the end.”

“I guess in an unfortunate way I have more time to be creative at home,” he adds, referencing the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’ve been saving a lot of these ideas for possible Killers records, and I’ve worked on a couple [of Killers songs] recently. I think for a while it was just non-stop touring, then recording, then touring, then recording. When I wasn’t touring I was just soaking up what little time I had to be home. I feel like I’ve got a little more time to write.”

Another challenge presented by going solo was writing for his voice rather than Flowers’. If Keuning’s fretwork has launched a million wedding parties in the past two decades, his voice has had to go from adversary to grudging ally in a much shorter space of time. A Mild Case of Everything is home to a more developed performance, and on songs such as The Fountain  he finds a droll, understated melodicism to match his snaking lead lines.

“I was very uncomfortable the first time around,” he admits. “I almost gave up a couple times. The reason I didn’t was because there was no one else around. I was like, ‘Well…’ This is really about my songs and wanting to finish them, so I just stepped up to the mic. I had to force myself to do it. I was a lot more comfortable this time. I think playing a few shows really helped. No one really said anything bad about my vocals, which I guess was my worst fear. I kinda know what I can do a little bit more. At first, I didn’t know what I was capable of singing.”

School’s out

When Keuning left Iowa for Las Vegas 20-odd years ago, it was a sort of half-measure. He couldn’t afford Los Angeles, but he sure as hell wasn’t kicking around closer to home in bands that didn’t quite cut it anymore. He dropped out of school, three years into a music major that felt like it was leading to a teaching career he didn’t want, and hit the road with his Ibanez Destroyer, a red mid-90s Strat and an Epiphone SG riding shotgun. Eighteen months later his ad for bandmates was met with a response from Flowers. “We were both getting out of relationships at the same time,” he remembers. “We had a lot of time on our hands to start bands.”

At their first rehearsal Keuning handed his new friend a four track demo cassette that featured the bare bones of Mr. Brightside , the Killers’ first single and a song that, along with going double platinum in the States, has spent more than five years on the UK singles chart. “The very next practice he came back and he had all the lyrics of what is pretty much sung today,” Keuning says. “I was like, ‘That’s really good!’ Obviously, it was really good. When the chorus came in we were both so excited for it – we had this good song, and we were off and running.”

From this point onwards Keuning’s Destroyer, which he bought from an old bandmate for $400, continued to play a major role. It underpinned the first Killers record, Hot Fuss , and has continued to be a reliable workhorse in the studio, but a few years back he relented and, not wanting to lose his friend to a tour-related mishap, invested in a series of Gibson Explorers to serve as understudies. “One of them sounded really, really good and that became my main axe for live and quite a bit of recording,” he says.

But on A Mild Case of Everything , Keuning branched out a little, turning to a stacked collection that allowed him to bring a few different personalities to the party. “I have a Yamaha Revstar that I used a lot more this time,” he says. “It has a unique tone. I have a lot of Gibsons and a lot of Fenders . The 335, I used a lot. It’s got a great clean sound. I have some Telecasters I used on a lot of stuff. But I wanted a different flavour from Fender or Gibson so I thought I’d give the Yamaha a shot. I like the pickups on it.”

Touring as a solo artist has presented one gear-related issue: space to fit his amps on stage. Having headlined Glastonbury and played stadiums around the globe with the Killers, Keuning is rarely one to worry about floor space. But with his go-to Fender HotRod Deville joined out there by a Fender Mustang and a Roland Jazz Chorus on his first tour under his own steam, it got a little tight at times. “I felt bad on these small stages when I’d want all three amps out there,” he admits. “But it allows me to sound pretty big, especially if I had the clean going on at the same time as another sound.

“I try to have less pedals on my solo thing. With the Killers we have them all in a rack. There were quite a few slowly added over the years because one part would have a specific sound, and we wanted to duplicate that live as best we can. The Killers have a pretty good system to not lose signal. I know Billy Corgan doesn’t have many pedals because he doesn’t want to lose signal and that’s something I’m struggling with. I do notice the difference. This time I just went with a tuner, a volume pedal, a lead pedal, a distortion and a whammy, because that’s not easily duplicated.”

Back in the saddle

Of course, hopes are riding high that Keuning will soon be suiting up in megadomes and sports venues again. It was back in January that the Killers posted studio footage to Instagram with Keuning present and correct in the room. The group appears to be working at a feverish pace, with August’s seventh album Pressure Machine, a series of character studies based around Flowers’ hometown of Nephi, Utah, set to be followed in short order by another chapter in their story. “It just felt good to be back involved again,” Keuning says.

“I’ve been asked why I didn’t do [the last record] but the recording was probably just as time consuming as the touring, if not more so for …Mirage . It was usually Utah or Vegas and I couldn’t do it with what I had going on. This was like a new beginning for this album, because of COVID, so I just happened to be back and played guitar, helped write a couple of chord changes here and there on songs. That album isn’t even out yet and we’re planning on writing for the one after it, which I think will be our eighth record. We’re already working on that.”

While Keuning describes the unfamiliar dislocation of missing sessions for Imploding the Mirage  as “out of sight out of mind” to a certain extent, the response to his hiatus did needle him at times, even if he got it on one level as a music fan in his own right.

“It’s frustrating, but I understand some of it,” he says. “With my favourite bands I always wanted every band member to be in the band forever.

“The only thing I don’t like is that some people perceive me in a certain way, like I would complain, or that I’m ungrateful. Of course I’m grateful. I’d be crazy not to be. It’s a very complicated backstory, but it’s also being put between a rock and a hard place as far as a schedule [goes]. Saying no, or they can’t do it, or doing part of it, we all had different desires for how much we can do without going crazy. Our thresholds are all different. It’s not a typical way bands are done, but I guess every situation is unique.”

Dave Keuning’s A Mild Case of Everything is out now through Pretty Faithful Records .

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'It was a perfect storm': The Killers' guitarist Dave Keuning talks going solo

The Killers ' guitarist Dave Keuning has discussed his solo career, upcoming UK tour and his future with the multi-platinum band in an interview with Music Week .

Keuning, who stepped away from touring with the Las Vegas rockers in 2017, released his debut solo LP Prismism via Thirty Tigers on January 25.

"I have high hopes, but any outcome is fine," said Keuning. "I'm having a lot of fun just doing my own thing and in this project I'm able to make my own schedule, so I can't complain about that. I'm just happy to make music and finally get my ideas out there instead of being on a shelf, not being heard.

"Regardless of the results, I'm always going to be recording more of my own stuff now and playing shows, even if they're to 20 people! If The Killers want me to write songs for them I'll try my best to do that, but I'm sure I'm always going to have a zillion songs left over for an album. I'm already anxious to record another, so we'll see how long I have to wait before I get to do that."

I'm just happy to make music and finally get my ideas out there Dave Keuning

The 42-year-old previewed the new record with shows at Manchester's Night & Day Cafe and London's Dingwalls in December and returns to the UK this March for an eight-date tour. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (February 1). 

"I wish England was closer," said the US-based musician. "I'd be perfectly happy doing just a few American dates and then playing England several times a year. I love the crowds, I love the enthusiasm people have for music here – a lot of older fans that love the music and some young fans – it's a lot of fun. But it's a jaunt for us to get here."

Some of the tracks on Prismism were originally intended for The Killers' 2017 No.1 album Wonderful Wonderful (164,837 sales – OCC).

"There were two that I definitely remember working on with the band," said Keuning. "And then about half a dozen others that those guys probably wouldn't remember because they were such rough demos, they're almost unrecognisable now.

"I'm pretty sure most of these would not have been on a Killers record. They had about 50 songs [for Wonderful Wonderful] and I remember being on a board, trying to narrow it down to the 10 they wanted to work on, so it becomes a hard decision. You've got four guys with their own opinions and this is my only outlet where I can decide everything."

Iowa-born Keuning shed light on his current status with the band, having opted against joining the Wonderful Wonderful tour.

"I am technically part of The Killers," he said. "I wanted to tour a little less so I said, 'I'm sorry I can't do this next tour, or at least I can't do the whole tour, maybe I can do part of it'. But after thinking about it they thought it would be best if it was an all or nothing situation and I was like, 'Well, I can't say yes to all... So I have no choice but to do none of it'."

The guitarist said Killers bassist and fellow founding member Mark Stoermer's decision to stop touring with the band in 2016 was a contributing factor. 

"I missed playing with him," admitted Keuning. "It wasn't the same for me and to be honest sometimes I felt guilty about playing, like it was no big deal that he wasn't there. It was a perfect storm and that was maybe one small part of it.

"My son being at home was a pretty big part of it, my own mental health was a small part of it – just because I think I was going crazy being on the road – and even my physical health a teeny bit too. It's not super easy to live the way you want on the road, you're constantly eating badly and changing time zones and you're constantly jet-lagged. It wears on you after a while."

He added: "I didn't do the last [Killers] tour and I'm not doing the next tour. I don't have a crystal ball, so I don't know [beyond that]. I know I'm sending demos to see if any of them stick. Hopefully they'll use a bunch, maybe they'll use none, but I'd love for them to make it on to the next album."

Keuning plays the following UK dates: 

March Sun 24 Belfast, The Limelight 2 Mon 25 Dublin, Green Room at The Academy Tue 26 Glasgow, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut Wed 27 Newcastle, O2 Academy 2 Fri 29 Manchester, Gorilla Sat 30 Birmingham, O2 Academy 2

April Mon 1 Bristol, Thekla Tue 2 London, Garage

Subscribers can click here to read this week's Hitmakers, in which Keuning revisits the making of The Killers' 2003 classic Mr Brightside. 

For more stories like this, and to keep up to date with all our market leading news, features and analysis, sign up to receive our daily Morning Briefing newsletter

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Dave Keuning

Upcoming dave keuning festivals appearances, upcoming dave keuning concerts near me.

Dave Keuning on Life Without The Killers

Songwriter and guitarist talks The Smashing Pumpkins, Queen, and a version of shock therapy.

January 16, 2019

The Killers' Dave Keuning announces debut solo album, Prismism

Hear the vibrant lead single, "Restless Legs".

October 12, 2018

Half of The Killers won't be performing on upcoming Wonderful Wonderful tour

Guitarist Dave Keuning follows bassist Mark Stoermer's lead and sits out the upcoming tour.

August 28, 2017

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Feature: The Killers’ Dave Keuning Debuts with Energy, Drive, and “Restless Legs”

Dave Keuning, lead guitarist and founding member of The Killers, opens up about the influence and inspiration behind his solo project and catchy debut single, “Restless Legs.”  

As soon as I started this process, I just realized how fun it was to make music again. Now, I’m always working on new songs!

S ome of us choose our paths in life, but for others, their paths are chosen for them. It’s hard to describe the feeling of being so drawn to something, be it a profession or a person: The subconscious pulls us in a predetermined direction, and that’s where life takes us.

Such is Dave Keuning’s relationship  with music, and making music. He was drawn to it seventeen years ago, when he formed a band called The Killers in Las Vegas; and he was drawn to it last year, when he began stitching together the scattered demos and phone memos that eventually became his solo debut.

This month, Dave Keuning becomes the fourth of The Killers’ four founding members to embark on a solo project, releasing new music under the name Keuning. His debut single “ Restless Legs ,” out now, is the first off his forthcoming album Prismism (set for a January 2019 release).  

Everywhere you go anything you do no matter what you say you can’t shake this feeling

The Killers founding member and lead guitarist, responsible for such memorable and historic gems as “Mr. Brightside,” “When You Were Young,” “A Dustland Fairytale,” and so many more, sets off on his own with a driving pop/rock sound that is at once familiar and distinct.

Keuning went on indefinite hiatus from The Killers in 2016, taking a break from recording and touring to spend time at home in San Diego with his 13-year-old son. While he’s thought about releasing music on his own for a long time now, it was actually this time off  that finally (and unintentionally) allowed him to make it a reality.

Whether it’s with The Killers or on his own, Dave Keuning is irresistibly drawn toward making music. He attacks his new material with overflowing passion and creativity, but above all, excitement: “Restless Legs” captures Keuning’s drive as he valiantly shares his full singer/songwriter self, arguably for the very first time.

“This is the music I wanted to make,” Keuning says. “It’s just me being me.” Dive deeper into Keuning’s debut single “Restless Legs” in our exclusive interview below!  Prismism is out January 2019.

Stream: “Restless Legs” – Keuning

A CONVERSATION WITH KEUNING

Dave Keuning : I was just thinking about that – it’s different for a lot of the stuff; throughout the years, it’s maybe changed a little bit. I wrote some of it on guitar and some of it on keyboard, and those create two very different results. Lots of times, I would almost make a point of trying out a new pedal that maybe I hadn’t really dug into, or a new keyboard or sounds that I hadn’t dug that far back to find and I would jam on that sound. Something good would happen, and I would put it down on voice memo and then kind of pick through and find the ones I liked. With this album especially, I went through voice memos I had had for the past ten years while on tour for The Killers. Some of them are just me mouthing an idea, or playing a guitar in a hotel room… There’s one I really like, that became the song “Boat Accident.” The voice memo was a really kind of ‘80s chord change that I kind of laughed about, almost, when I heard it. And then I started making a demo of it on Pro Tools, and it totally evolved into something else. And I was like, “Oh, wow! Okay, this could be something good!”

Keuning : Let’s see where it goes, and from then on I was inspired to do the same with other ideas. Ideas that you’re not sure about can really turn into something good! And then sometimes, ones you think are going to be a home run aren’t – that’s almost bad to set yourself up that way. But you don’t know until you try to work on it. Between all the old and new voice memos I have, I probably have a lifetime of music, if I actually worked on each one for a day!

Ideas that you’re not sure about can really turn into something good!

Keuning : I actually wanted to do it for a long time and I could go through all my excuses for not doing it ten years ago. You know, my life was crazier six to eight years ago… I think when I was in the tornado of The Killers, like touring, recording, touring, recording – and when I wasn’t touring and recording, I was actually home spending time with my son – I didn’t necessarily want to use any of that free time to make another record; The Killers kept me busy enough!

Keuning : Yeah, it was like, The Killers kept me busy enough, and I would try my best to contribute to whatever album I was working on at the time with The Killers. I wasn’t really thinking about my own thing until… Well, I almost did it after Day and Age and Battle Born, because there was a little time… Sadly, my biggest excuse is a terrible one: I’m just really bad with computers! I would get started recording, and then hit a bug, or something would go wrong, and then I would just quit and go in the house and do something else. This time around was different, because I wasn’t touring with The Killers, and I had a lot of leftover ideas up to this point, and I hired an engineer to come over and do the dirty work for me. As soon as I recorded one song, that really got the ball rolling because that was a lot of fun right away from me. I was like, BAM – I’m going to do plenty of these! And I think I still feel that way; it just took one song that I really liked to get me going.

Keuning : I think it was a similar feeling because here we had all these songs that we all liked and were playing around town and writing in the garage or my apartment… and then, to really them to a quality recording, all of us were like, “ Oh wow, this is amazing! Way better than we ever thought! ” That’s really what gets an artist excited, is seeing your song come to life – instead of just an idea that you’re kicking around.

That’s really what gets an artist excited, is seeing your song come to life.

Keuning : Well, obviously the biggest difference is that I call all the shots on this one, and just did whatever I wanted. I think every Killers album was done a little differently, and you know, people have evolved over time, but this one was more like, just me having fun and kind of doing whatever I wanted, messing around. I know that some people will be like, “ Oh, he was trying to do this ,” but no, I was no! I was just having fun – I felt like being weird on one song, so I would try something weird. “Restless Legs” is the first single, but really I was just in the mood to make a pop song that day. It was almost like an experiment, like I’m going to make a pop song. I was listening to Prince, and I was just in that mood. So I made that, and then of course, that’s what everyone wanted to be the first single… But actually the styles are all over the place, because my tastes are all over the place. And I think that will probably be how I proceed going forward; one day I have an acoustic thing I just created, and I’ll sound that way, and then the next day will be some other guitar rock thing I make.

Keuning : Like I said, it was the one everyone thought we got to open with – the pop sweet number. It’s one of my favorites, for sure – every time it turns on, I turn it up in the car. Of course, I’m a little biased – but I’ll be honest, it makes me a little nervous! I don’t think there’s any song that wouldn’t make me nervous as my first impression. It’s tough to know what is your first impression, because I don’t know of any song on my album represents the whole album perfectly. Every song is pretty different than the next, which – I wasn’t even trying to do that! I just let that happen naturally, but I would say that in general, I don’t love bands that kind of sound the same every song. And some of my favorite bands sound the same on every song, and they’re great bands, but I like a little more variety.

Like, one of my favorite bands, The Smashing Pumpkins, does that really well; they’re all over the place too. They’ve got great rock songs, and they’ll do an acoustic song, and they’ll do something else! I kind of like living the same way.

Keuning : Absolutely! That’s another perfect example. Actually, I’m kind of weird with my Zeppelin choices, because I’m not as fond of their classic rock stuff, but I love their weirder stuff, their sadder stuff, their acoustic stuff, and their moodier, whatever-you-want-to-call-it stuff – that is top quality stuff, too! It’s probably my favorite stuff, if I had to pick.

Keuning: Oh, fairly easily. I’d been wanting to play keyboard for awhile, and I had nothing holding me back making this record, so I just kind of unleashed it. Some songs were more guitar-driven, with a keyboard melody in the background, and in other songs, the keyboard riff is what invented the song and then it’s got a lot of keyboards with maybe some atmospheric guitar in the background.

Keuning : It’s just trial and error. All I’m doing is messing around and trying my best to come up with either something original, or something that just sounds good. Like, like these chords just sound good – I’m going to try to make something over the top of these chords. If I’ve got a cool keyboard or guitar riff that I think is original, then I gotta use that. Trying to be original on guitar is becoming one of the most challenging things out there – to play some guitar riff that hasn’t been done. I’m not even saying that mine are super original; they’re just ones that taste good.

Keuning : I suppose that’s true. Those lyrics… I hate saying the meaning of my songs, but it could mean a lot of things. It could be a guy or girl you’re infatuated with at the time, or it could just be something that’s weighing on your mind heavily; or music that’s weight on your mind heavily, or whatever. Like I said, I think that I was just having so much fun that day, that I just kind of had these happy lyrics to go with it. I will say this about those lyrics specifically: “Restless Legs” was one of the later songs I recorded, and I had written a ton of lyrics for the other songs; some of my friends that heard the music were like, “Wow – I like your lyrics!” and I was like, “Thank you!” Because I’m pretty nervous about showing my lyrics to the world. And they said I had a lot of lyrics, so I was thought, “ Oh really? More than most? ” When I was done, I was proud that I had all those lyrics, but I also thought I was working too hard on lyrics – maybe I’ll just cheat on this next one. I was riding somewhere in the car, just like the day before, listening to some of the new peoples’ music, and was like, “Gosh! This song has like two lines it! I am working too hard” So I kind of cheated on my homework with that song. Like, “Alright, I’m just gonna spit out whatever feels good, and I’m not going to try too hard to write a book.” Call it laziness if you want.

Keuning : Yeah, it’s true. Yeah, it’s safe to say there’s some inner struggle sung about on this album! (laughs) I think that’s a safe bet; everybody’s got their own inner struggles.

Keuning : Oh yeah, for sure – and I think, I’ve had a lot of changes in my life just in the last two or three years, to where I can do this album. I think I had a lot of funky, bad mojo happening during a big, good chunk of my life the past ten years, and I’ve just tried to clean some of that up. Now I can kind of think straight – I can focus more on music again. You know, I’ve had to rethink my diet and take pills for certain things that help me focus, and it’s really helped. I did this weird thing where I like, shocked my brain, and then… You do it like, twice a week, and it’s supposed to clear away some of the stuff in your head. I felt like after I was done with those sessions, that I was massively creative, like instantly. I was just exploding with ideas after that – and maybe that was all part of the snake oil salesmen thing that he sold me, and maybe I just bought into it? Maybe it was all a big placebo; who knows.

Keuning : Thank you! I had a lot of arguments with the producer. That was some of his input – to make it shorter, etc. We would have these little friendly arguments about whether or not to cut it down… Yeah, I probably wanted it a little longer myself, but for radio and whatnot. Everyone has a different attention span, so it’s a dangerous thing. I’ve ridden in cars with people who are every band’s worst nightmare, you know? They’re like, flipping through songs, listening to half of one per album… That’s like, everybody’s worst nightmare. I grew up listening to every song on every album; I didn’t know I was in the minority, though. I guess I’m in the minority!

Keuning : That’s a tough thing to answer. I think it speaks for itself. It’s just me being me, and this is the music I wanted to make, and their last album was the music they wanted to make. They change a lot from album to album, depending on their mood, or whatever. So maybe the next one will be totally different; I have no idea. I have no idea which of my ideas might get used on their next record, too, but I really just felt like this was just me doing what I wanted to do. I remember thinking before I started the project, should I do more of a rock thing or make one specific album? No, no, no: Just do it all! Do the acoustic stuff, the keyboard stuff… just do whatever I want! That’s what I did: I just did whatever I wanted to do.

support Dave Keuning on PledgeMusic !

:: stream/purchase “restless legs”  here ::.

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Discover new music on atwood magazine, :: stream keuning  ::, :: keuning  tour dates ::, november 6 – casbah – san diego, ca november 7 – the satellite – silverlake, ca november 12 – mercury lounge – new york, ny november 14 – high watt – nashville, tn december 9 – night and day – manchester, uk december 10 – dingwalls – london, uk.

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... in his own words and in words of those, who knew him

Concert in Moscow 1993

Samvel Gasparov , a movie director, tells the story about MJ' show in Moscow in 1993:

'I heard about Michael Jackson for the first time back in the 70's. I even knew some of his songs, but I never was a fan. When I worked as a truck driver, I used to listen to Georgian music. Later, when I went to college, I grew to like Joe Dassin, Charles Aznavour, Tom Jones, and Engelbert Humperdinck. But I always knew about Jackson, and I knew that he was a good singer. In the early 90's my dream was to make a movie called "Run brother, run". American filmmakers expressed some interest in the script, and in 1992 I went to Romania where we rented a foundation. As it happened, Michael Jackson was giving a show in Bucharest at that time, and I was introduced to his producer Marcel Avram by one of our mutual friends. Marcel asked me to help them tape Michael's concert, and I did what I could. It was a pleasure. The performance left me stunned. Jackson impressed me very much – he was a genius, that's no question. I was personally introduced to him, and I remember shaking his cool pale hand. On the second day at dinner I told Avram about my wish to make a movie in the USA and my need for money. I already had an offer for five movies and lodging in the US by then. "I like you", Avram said. "If you want, we can bring Michael to Moscow. Then you can organize a show and make some money." I thought it would be cool, but I honestly didn't believe it was possible. But soon after that Avram sent his people to Moscow in order to check out Dessa, the company I headed at the time. It was one of the first Russian private companies created for the purpose of movie making, and I had some good folks on my team.

Suddenly the project came to life. Money was pushed to the background in my mind. I was full of enthusiasm, I wanted to bring that joyful event to people – after all, it was the first time a big Star was going to visit Russia. Since the visit of Avram's delegation and till September 1993 we were busy with preparations. It was my first experience in show business, and I couldn't imagine that it would be that hard and unpredictable. I thought that all showbiz "sharks" would support me and help me with that project, but it turned out the other way round – they threw obstacles in my way and tried to prevent the show from happening. We felt that our efforts were not appreciated. We even got phone calls with threats. And we got attacked by the media: they wrote that I was the king of the liquor industry and the head of the Chechen mafia. They said I was organizing the show in order to sell vodka on the stadium. It was a nightmare! They also wrote garbage about Jackson – that he was a pedophile, and that I was going to bring not him, but his impersonator who would lip synch to his songs. But all this crap only turned us on. We decided that we would make the show happen no matter what.

On September 15, 1993 Michael postpones his flight out of Moscow, Russia, and instead goes to visit a hospital for mentally challenged children there, who rejoice at seeing him and fight for his attention. One of his aides says that the singer has asked for one of the children to be flown to America for care and treatment which Jackson will pay for. The singer holds a few children in his arms and on his lap, comforts and plays with them and wishes to entertain them: “I’d like to sing with them. We all know a song together”, he says, visibly emotional. He also visits children in a nearby orphanage, who will sing a song to him in Russian, turning him – the ultimate performer, into an attentive spectator.

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Killers Guitarist Dave Keuning Announces New Solo LP ‘A Mild Case of Everything’

By Andy Greene

Andy Greene

Killers guitarist Dave Keuning took an indefinite hiatus from the band in 2017 due to exhaustion from their heavy touring schedule — and he wasn’t involved with the creation of their 2020 LP Imploding The Mirage —  but he’s hardly been inactive. Two years ago, he released his under-the-radar solo debut Prismism , and his second LP, A Mild Case of Everything , will come out on June 25th.

“Quite a few of these songs were shown to the Killers and, for whatever reason, not used,” he says on the phone from his home in San Diego. “And so I used them. I just didn’t want to hold onto some of them any longer because I’m not getting any younger. I wanted to finish them.” (The guitarist went into much greater depth on his departure and return to the band in an interview published Thursday .)

The 16 songs on A Mild Case of Everything aren’t a radical departure from the Killers’ synth-pop sound, drawing inspiration from Eighties acts like Depeche Mode and the Cars, but there’s more heavy guitar sounds on this one than Prismism . “Some people commented that they wanted more guitar on my first record,” says Keuning. “I was like, ‘Alright. I’m happy to do that.’ I’m certainly not trying to follow any trends. And this is my chance to play as much guitar as I want.”

Keuning cut the album at his San Diego home studio last year, playing all the instruments besides some drum tracks handled by friend Seth Luloff via e-mail from Iowa. Keuning also handles all of the vocals, something that was very new to him when he cut Prismism.

“I’ve never been super confident with my vocals,” he says. “I’m pretty shy. But I was a little more confident this time around, just having done it once and kind of knowing how my voice sounds. I guess I just had fun with it a little and worried a little less.”

He’s sharing three tracks with fans today, including “Bad Instincts.” “That’s a guitar riff I’ve had for five or six years,” he says. “It’s kind of in a weird guitar tuning, which is why some of the notes sound bigger than normal if you’re a guitar player. It’s probably one of my heavier songs on the record.”

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He’s also offering up the tune “Ends of the Earth.” “I was just playing acoustic one night and I had those chords,” he says. “I actually played an electric guitar in Nashville tuning so it’s very trebly sounding. And it really brought out those chords. It came together pretty fast.”

The third song, “No One Is Calling You a Liar,” is one of many songs on the album that reflect the political chaos that engulfed the country over the past five years. “There are some obvious liars out there,” says Keuning. “I’m amazed at how many people are gullible and believe what they hear on the radio or TV. They hear lie after lie after lie and eat it up. I don’t get it.”

Is Donald Trump one of the liars in question? “I’m kind of trying to avoid politics,” he says. “I will just say that I have friends and family that are all over the spectrum. I don’t care who you are. You have to, at a bare minimum, admit that Trump lied multiple times a day for the last four or five years. Give me a damn break.”

One of his favorite songs from the LP is “Don’t Poke the Bear,” an epic that stretches to nine minutes. The guitar riff dates back five years, but he didn’t finish it until one night when his wife was out of town and he found himself in his basement with a guitar in hand. “I just kept adding to this song until it was 5 a.m.,” he says. “It was a lot of quirky stuff. I didn’t know if anyone was going to like it or not, but it was definitely my most personal guilty pleasure. I knew I was going to put it on the record even if everyone hated it.”

Keuning played a handful of live dates in 2018 and 2019, and he hopes to get that same chance again once live music returns. “I had a lot of fun playing live last time,” he says. “It’s tricky in a starting band. To get people over to England, for example, I’d love to do again, but I gotta pay for everyone to go over there. I’d love to play America again. And if it seems like there’s an opportunity to go over to England or another country, I’d love to do it.”

His solo shows don’t feature any songs from the Killers catalog, and it hits places like the 600-capacity club The Garage in London or the 175-capacity Casbah in San Diego, as opposed to the arenas and stadiums that the Killers regularly headline. But he says he doesn’t mind working on a much smaller scale. “My goals are fairly humble for my solo career,” he says. “I was going to make this record no matter what, even if only three people wanted it.”

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A History of Moscow in 13 Dishes

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Moscow Night

Label: concord jazz year: 1987 released on lp: yes released on cd: yes.

1. Three to Get Ready 2. Theme for June 3. Give Me a Hit 4. Unsquare Dance 5. St. Louis Blues 6. Take Five

1. Recorded at Rossiya Concert Hall, Moscow 30 March 1987. 2. In agreement with Dave Brubeck, the concert was also recorded by Russian state owned label Melodia and released on 2 LP's; they include tracks - Theme for June, Give Me a Hit, Unsquare Dance and Take Five from the Concord release plus a further six tunes. The Melodiya release has never been issued on CD. 3. It was also released on a bootleg CD Bohème “Dave Brubeck In Moscow”. Thus this concert from the Rossiya Concert Hall, Moscow in March 1987 has been released on three different sources; • Concord Jazz “Moscow Night”. (C) • Melodiya “Dave Brubeck In Moscow Volume 1 & 2”. (M) • Bohème “”Dave Brubeck In Moscow”. (B) The tracks from the entire concert are listed below and identified to each release (M – Melodiya / C – Concord / B – Bohème) Three To Get Ready, C Theme For June, C/M/B Give Me A Hit, C/M Unsquare Dance ,C/M/B St Louis Blue,s C Take Five, C/M/B These Foolish Thing,s M/B Pange Lingua March, M/B Koto Song, M/B Someday My Prince, M/B Blues For Newport, M/B King For A Day, M/B

All Music Guide – Review – copyright In 1987 Brubeck, after decades of trying, finally had an opportunity to perform with his Quartet in the Soviet Union. The enthusiastic crowd (many of whom had grown up on Brubeck's music) clearly inspired the musicians which included clarinetist Bill Smith, electric bassist Chris Brubeck and drummer Randy Jones. Together they perform exciting versions of a variety of the leader's tunes plus Howard Brubeck's "Theme for June," "St. Louis Blues" and of course "Take Five." Scott Yanow © Copyright Rovi Corporation Concord Music Group - Copyright What made this Moscow night unique? Perhaps it was the realization that the band was, after thirty years of negotiations, cancellations and frustrations, actually on tour in the Soviet Union. This concert was the last of five in Moscow, each one performed to a packed house of enthusiastic and knowledgeable fans. Whatever the reason, the fact is that this recording is documentation of one of the most remarkable nights in the history of the Dave Brubeck Quartet.