The Killers are an American rock band from Las Vegas, Nevada. Formed in 2002, the group consists of Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards), Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass guitar, vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (percussion, drums).
Part of the post-punk revival movement, The Killers draw influence from music styles of the 1980s and 1990s. The group's debut album, Hot Fuss (2004) brought the band mainstream success. The Killers' second album, Sam's Town, was released in 2006, and the compilation album Sawdust containing B-sides, rarities, and new material, was released in 2007. The band's first two albums have sold in excess of 12 million copies worldwide combined and their third album, Day & Age, produced by Stuart Price is due in late November 2008. In addition to these albums, the band has also released several remixes of album tracks as well as two Christmas singles, "A Great Big Sled" (2006) and "Don’t Shoot Me Santa" (2007) whose sales benefit Bono's Product Red campaign to fight AIDS in Africa.
In 2001, Flowers was abandoned by his first band, a synthpop band known as Blush Response, after he declined to move with the rest of them to Los Angeles, California. He then met David Keuning after responding to an ad that Keuning had placed in The Sun newspaper. Ronnie Vannucci Jr. and Mark Stoermer were approached by Flowers and Keuning with an offer to join "The Killers", a name which comes from the bass drum of a fictional band in the music video for the New Order song "Crystal".
Initially, The Killers played at large clubs in Las Vegas, Nevada. With the band's lineup stable and its repertoire of songs expanding, the band attracted the attention of a British representative for Warner Bros. Though the Warner Bros representative passed on the band, he took the demo back with him, showing it to a friend who worked at UK indie label Lizard King. The Killers signed that summer to the British label.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_killers