After calling a hotel in the Dominican Republic for the hundredth time, I come to the sad realisation that the lead vocalist for The Killers, Brandon Flowers, has stood me up.
But after one too many encounters with the Spanish switchboard operator and me asking: "May I speak with Lovely, please," (the pseudonym Flowers is under at his hotel) and listening to some really bad on-hold music, I call again the next evening and eventually get through to a soft voice on the other side.
Flowers, in a thick Las Vegas accent, talks slowly and pauses often, as though he's really thinking about what he's saying, and often throws in a nervous giggle. Turns out, he's actually quite deep.
"My room was a giant dead zone," he says, apologising for the previous night's debacle.
He talks about visiting the Dominican Republic: "It's very new for us. Very exotic. I love Spanish-speaking places. I don't know if it's the language, or what, that makes these people so happy and outgoing. We're having a great time."
So, any thoughts on South Africa?: "Never been there before. I don't know much. It's so far away, you know."
But any perceptions at all?
"Uhhhhm, no. I just imagine it to be a hot place."
Three albums and 12 million record sales later, it has been a monumental journey to rock superstardom for The Killers.
"One of the biggest things we've learnt is probably how important our live performances are. It became almost a "dirty" thing in the '90s to be a performer, or to not go up there in a T-shirt and just bear your heart. Anything other than that was just taboo or almost cheesy. But we grew up watching Mick Jagger and David Bowie and I just don't see anything wrong with it," he comments.
Flowers, of course, is noted for his obscure lyrics. After all, the group's first release, Human, off the album Day & Age, features the head-scratching line: Are we human/or are we dancer?
In terms of his lyrics and songwriting, he says: "I think when I'm writing lyrics, if there's a story involved, I have my own version of it in my head and I do my best to describe it. I sometimes wish I could see what other people see when they hear it. I always try to capture something more about where I'm from. But I want desperately to capture the essence of the Mojave Desert in Las Vegas. It gives me a lot of material. There's a lot of push and pull in Las Vegas. Especially being a religious person..."
Here, Flowers is referring to being a Mormon and a family man, in the very heart of Sin City.
And what about the eccentricity of his style? Feathers and sequins and tassels?
"It always made sense to me. It became almost a ritual to become what I need to become to get on stage.
"I never thought I would be able to get up there on my own. So it was all about the glamour of things in the beginning, but it has taken on new formations as we have gone on."
This week, The Killers release their first live DVD, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall: "London embraced us first, so it was very important for us to make it there."
What lies in the future for the band? "We've got a Christmas single coming out on December 1. We do it every year for the Red campaign, Bono reached out and started off asking us how we could help. "
Flowers explains that their songs are always collaborations and this time they teamed up with the bands Wild Light, from New Hampshire, and Mariachi El Bronx, from Los Angeles, for a song titled Happy Birthday Guadalupe.
Previously, The Killers have worked with Elton John and Neil Tennant. But what has been Flowers's best collaboration ever?
"We did a song with Lou Reed called Tranquilize. It was unbelievable that he was willing to do it. I think it really turned out great. We learnt so much from just being around him for a few days."
Finally: "Mr Flowers, are you human or are you dancer?"
He replies coolly, "Oh, I go back and forth."
See The Killers on December 3 and 4 (sold out) at the Coca-Cola Dome Johannesburg; December 6 at Val De Vie Wine and Polo Estate, Jan van Riebeek Drive (R301), Paarl. Cost: R272 to R529 at Computicket.
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