Wanted to put out a quick little note to quell some fears that have been circling around the internet world lately: The Killers are not breaking up.
Honestly people, calm yourselves. Until a band announces that they are broken up, there is no break-up; plus, most good things usually come back around after a while (Nate Ruess' career, Blink-182, peppermint ice-cream, Harry Potter, Billy Joel [I'm really clinging to his comment in Rolling Stone and hoping it comes true, because I would sell myself for tickets to see him live; not actually though, because my dad was present throughout my childhood and I don't hate myself]).
Bassist Stoermer sat out on the last leg of the tour and guitarist Keuning has stated that he is tired of touring, claiming that the "the end is in sight...we just toured a shitload", but the band still says they want to release a follow-up to Battle Born (check out Direct Hits on November 11th). Drummer Vanucci says that the band has been working on new tracks to reach this goal and that, if Stoermer were to quit the band, they would, hopefully, continue working, even though it wouldn't be the same band (of course, it would be awesome if they could keep their bassist, but bands change their line-up without breaking up all the time; Lynyrd Skynyrd changes the line-up constantly [because everyone keeps dying; I think there's maybe one original still standing], but they just keep on trucking; RHCP lost and gained Frusciante so many times it held the same 'fear' as the threat of an US government shutdown but they're still amazing; after releasing their second album and starting work on their third, Panic! lost two members, gained back the '!', then put out two amazing albums [though, Spencer's in rehab now and Urie's been left to do videos and such on his own, resulting in the sad realization that he does actually look better with his clothes on]; Journey went from no front-man to hiring Fleischman, then Perry, then Augeri and, currently, Pineda offers lead vocals for the band and they are still popular. The fact is, as long as you have the same soul going through the music, it really only matters who's playing that instrument to the band members themselves, and that's when they have to decide between profits and people). If the band decides that they don't want to keep going after this last album, it's already been cited by Keunig that the break-up would be based upon fatigue, rather than a band feud; pretty sure there's a good chance that the band would get back together eventually.
If the band does break up, there's no need to freak because Brandon Flowers plans to spend 2014 writing and recording his follow-up to 2010's solo album, Flamingo. If his last album is any indication, it will be sort of like The Killers never broke up at all (he's awesome, it's just very similar).
If you still think that you're going to fall apart because of these rumors (I get it; I was devastated over Lady Danville [they're the only reason I went back to music in the first place] and I'm still trying to find a band good enough to replace them), you can ease your worries some with the knowledge that the band has announced that this year's Christmas song will be titled "Christmas in LA"; as long as The Killers are a band, they will put out a Christmas song (they could very well break up on the 26th then, but at least you'll have Christmas).
Flowers still insists that Stoermer's issues will be sorted out by the time they get ready to put out the next album, Vanucci is still on board, and Keunig just needs some time off; I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about a break-up.
Calm down, stop reading internet rumors, and go outside for a run with The Killers (because it has finally reached the time of year where the pool is too cold for swimming so you now have to pretend that you like running) because the majority of their back beats are set at a perfect jogging pace.
"Shot At the Night" The Killers
-E
