Photo: Press
"I feel like I need to shake this idea that I'm just really arrogant," Brandon Flowers tells Gigwise, utterly affable and self-deprecating as he smiles into the sunshine pouring through his London hotel room. "In the early days I was actually just really insecure, I would puff my chest a lot and say things I had no business saying. That's the shame of it all - it can stick with you."
Watch our video interview with Brandon Flowers below
Whether or not any kind of personal reputation precedes Flowers may be played out on the pages of magazines and blogs for decades to come, but the artist we meet today is open, charming and real - all qualities reflected in the shimmering pop elegance of his new solo album, The Desired Effect. It may be an album that owes as much to Depeche Mode as it does Bruce Springsteen, but the truth is that Flowers has never sounded so himself - and is not afraid to show where he's from, or where he's going.
"I feel like in a lot of ways, I'm just starting to feel comfortable in my own skin and feel like I belong," he admits. "I feel like I probably share a similar problem with a lot of younger groups, younger bands and singers and things like that. We look up to these people, there's been so much great music in the last 50 or 60 years and there are so many people that are on pedestals and I'm guilty of putting them up there myself. It's difficult to step into those shoes, and now I'm ready to lace them up."
Check out our full interview with Flowers below, as he frankly discusses The Desired Effect, The Killers, why fans love Sam's Town so much, the importance of The Strokes and Interpol, and what he still has left to prove.
Watch Gigwise's full video interview with Brandon Flowers below
The Desired Effect is out now. Read Gigwise's review here.
Flowers kicked off his massive European tour this week, which will see him stopping off for two nights at London's Brixton Academy with support from Joywave. Full dates are below. For tickets and more information, visit here.
Brandon Flowers will play:
Europe
May 21, 2015 - O2 Academy Brixton - London, England, United Kingdom
May 22, 2015 - O2 Academy Brixton - London, England, United Kingdom
May 24, 2015 - Academy- Manchester, England, United Kingdom
May 25, 2015 - Usher Hall - Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
May 26, 2015 - O2 Academy - Leeds, England, United Kingdom
May 28, 2015 - O2 Academy - Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
May 29, 2015 - Le Trianon Hall - Paris, France
May 31, 2015 - Huxley’s - Berlin, Germany
June 1, 2015 - Paradiso - Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 2, 2015 - Ancienne Belgique - Brussels, Belgium
June 3, 2015 - E-Werk - Cologne, Germany
June 5, 2015 - Fabrique - Milan, Italy
June 7, 2015 - Debaser Medis - Stockholm, Sweden
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