00;00;17;19 - 00;00;49;10 Patrick Mason Welcome everybody to The Foyer, the podcast where we have conversations about Mormon history and culture. I'm your host, Patrick Mason. I'm a professor here at Utah State University, and I am glad to have you join us for this episode. The Foyer is a production of the Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture, religious studies program and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Utah State University. You can listen to this and other episodes on the USU religious studies website, or subscribe to the podcast on Spotify. 00;00;50;10 - 00;01;14;00 Patrick Mason Now, I'm excited about all of the guests that I bring onto the floor, but for all of their brilliance, I don't think any of the others can claim to have performed in front of sold out stadiums across six continents. Brandon Flowers might be the most famous Mormon in the world, or at least maybe he's got stiff competition from Mitt Romney, especially after this past week. 00;01;14;06 - 00;01;36;07 Patrick Mason But he's up there. In case you've been on another planet for the past two decades or, like my mom, only listening to classical music while telling her sons that rock and roll will fry your brains, Brandon Flowers is the best — is best known as the lead singer of the band The Killers, one of the most popular rock bands in the 21st century. 00;01;36;17 - 00;02;02;26 Patrick Mason They've sold more than 28 million albums worldwide. Their newest album, Imploding The Mirage, was released during the middle of the pandemic, and it was just named in a Billboard fan's poll the number one rock album of 2020. In addition to his work with The Killers, Brandon also has a couple of great solo albums. He grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Nephi, Utah — very similar places, right Brandon? 00;02;02;26 - 00;02;02;29 Brandon Flowers [Laughs] Yeah. 00;02;03;04 - 00;02;29;19 Patrick Mason He's the youngest of six children and a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Now, Brandon normally hangs out with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Bono and Elton John, so let's just say that this nerdy religious studies professor is feeling a little bit out of my league. But Brandon, thank you for joining us and welcome to The Foyer. 00;02;30;09 - 00;02;31;14 Brandon Flowers Thanks for inviting me. 00;02;31;26 - 00;02;52;03 Patrick Mason Absolutely. It's my pleasure. And obviously, we've got lots of people listening in today. So here's the way it's going to work today, folks. So Brandon and I are going to have a chat for probably a half hour or so, something like that. And then we're going to open it up to questions from the audience. We already see that people are using the chat box, which is awesome. 00;02;52;04 - 00;03;22;25 Patrick Mason Go ahead and keep using that and chat with one another. Obviously, we just ask that people keep it respectful with one another and positive. Once Brandon and I have had a chance to chat for a little bit then we're going to take your questions. So, Brandon, so a few years ago, the Pew Forum, which does these big, huge studies of religion in the United States they did a big national survey a few years ago in which they called thousands of people and they said, "OK, what do you think of when we say the word 'Mormon?'" 00;03;23;00 - 00;03;31;09 Patrick Mason Like what's your first association? And people gave lots of different answers, but I don't think that rock star was on the list... 00;03;32;10 - 00;03;32;17 Brandon Flowers [Laughs] 00;03;32;26 - 00;03;50;08 Patrick Mason ...in terms of peoples' first association. So when did you figure out — like I said, you grew up in the church and you grew up as a Mormon, but when did you figure out that you could be both a rock star and a practicing and believing Mormon? That you didn't have to choose one or the other? 00;03;51;09 - 00;04;11;09 Brandon Flowers Yeah, it was something that I struggled with in the beginning, for sure. I was young when we when — we kind of took off. I was also, you know, going back to, you know, the age when most young men were asked or, you know, almost expected to be going on a mission when they're 19. 00;04;12;14 - 00;04;13;18 Patrick Mason It's like age 19, you know? 00;04;13;18 - 00;04;47;05 Brandon Flowers Yeah, that was when I, I bought this album called Hunky Dory by David Bowie. And for some reason, it just, I latched on to it, and I was like, "This. I want to do this." Which is kind of — it's insane. Because it's like this masterful album. And so it was a high bar to be reaching for, but for some reason, that was the thing that that really took me out of commission from, you know, from going on a mission. 00;04;47;05 - 00;05;10;22 Brandon Flowers And then it was very, very quick, you know, the rise for us. We were really lucky. Some people grind it out and, you know, in minivans and, you know, for years before they make it or never make it. And we were so lucky. We had this kind of instant success. And it was incredible. 00;05;10;27 - 00;05;24;21 Brandon Flowers But yeah, I found myself starting around then. You know, the first album was massive. And and I started to sort of, you know, develop a little bit of a of a savior complex myself. 00;05;24;21 - 00;05;30;12 Patrick Mason Which is only natural, right? You're standing in front of like tens of thousands of people, right? Selling millions of albums? 00;05;30;16 - 00;05;58;29 Brandon Flowers And just thinking, "Oh, yeah, I write — this is what happens when I do this, when I write these songs." And so that's where it starts to change because I don't have a typical career arc. Most people would have said, "OK, that worked let's do that again." And that was where I had this kind of a shift happen where, you know, I have a brother that's 12 years older than me. 00;05;59;13 - 00;06;46;09 Brandon Flowers And so he handed down all of his music to me. And it was basically alternative and new wave from the eighties. That was, you know, a lot of — I drew from a lot of that for the first album. And you don't always associate that era of music with debauchery and rock and roll and excess, but it really actually was pretty much in line with all of that. Flood, who produced our second record, you know, he said he worked he did Violator and Ultra for Depeche Mode and you know, he said they're the most rock and roll band that he had ever worked with. 00;06;46;09 - 00;07;09;17 Brandon Flowers And, you know, there's infamous stories of — they've gone, you know, overdosing and dying. And so there was all of this stuff that was attached to that. Even bands like Duran Duran. It almost made — David Bowie, again, going back to David Bowie, you start to question your authenticity because that seems like that's their ticket. 00;07;09;17 - 00;07;40;25 Brandon Flowers And that's their — almost gives them permission to be who they are because of that lifestyle. I knew there was a tug of war happening because I wanted to — I wanted to be authentic. And I wanted my name up with those people. But something kind of monumental happened to me. You know, when I was at home, shortly after the success of that first album, I fell in love with American music. 00;07;40;29 - 00;07;44;24 Brandon Flowers And it was interesting. It was like it was just came out of nowhere. 00;07;46;24 - 00;08;04;09 Brandon Flowers All of a sudden, I heard Bruce Springsteen on classic rock radio station in Henderson, Nevada, and it spoke to me. You know, this was like — it's a 180 from Morrissey or whoever it was that I was listening to before. 00;08;04;09 - 00;08;12;05 Brandon Flowers And I was confused by it almost. But there was something, and there still is something, almost righteous about Bruce Springsteen. 00;08;12;17 - 00;08;38;28 Brandon Flowers And he gave me access to stories that were authentic to me because I grew up, you know, in America, and I grew up in a little town in Utah, and I spent time, you know, grew up in Las Vegas and Utah, both of these towns. And it was — so I started to see a different path and that was a huge deal for me in my life. 00;08;38;29 - 00;08;56;03 Brandon Flowers Like, I mean, I don't know where I would have ended up. I feel like I, I use the term rock and roll casualty. I feel like I would have been a rock and roll casualty if I would not have kind of started latching on to these other influences. 00;08;56;03 - 00;09;23;10 Patrick Mason Yeah. So interesting. So I mean, what is it — I mean, we hear about this all the time, like sex, drugs and rock and roll, right? You know, I mean, it's just kind of this package deal. And I can't think of a ton of other big time artists who are explicitly and openly religious. Right? I mean, that a lot of religious themes in their songs, right? 00;09;23;29 - 00;09;24;14 Brandon Flowers Sure. 00;09;24;14 - 00;09;41;09 Patrick Mason I think people draw on that. I mean, it's just such powerful imagery and so forth. But like who are personal- especially in the rock and roll world, maybe a little bit like in the country music. And of course, there's the whole Christian music scene and all that. But within rock, alternative, pop, you know, I mean, all those kinds of things. 00;09;41;09 - 00;09;59;26 Patrick Mason So what is it? Is it because — is it really just a hedonistic lifestyle? Or is it that something about the kind of artistic sensibility that you don't like organized — you know, not you — but like the artists, you know, don't like that they feel like organized religion is too much of a straitjacket. What do you think it is? 00;10;00;09 - 00;10;25;22 Brandon Flowers I think a big part of the appeal of when you're starting out [Pause]. You know, the clichéd answer is always like, "Oh, I started a band to get girls or whatever," but I think that's always just for a quick little laugh. But I think a big part of it is to not conform and to not have to have the life that your dad had or whatever it is, you know, to get to break away from that. 00;10;25;29 - 00;10;45;08 Brandon Flowers And so that goes with just the life that you're choosing to live, and it definitely doesn't seem to jive with organized religion. There aren't a lot of people that are really open about it. There may be some closet Christians. I always go to the heavy hitters when I think about it. You know, Elvis, even though he didn't, you know, he made a lot of mistakes. 00;10;45;15 - 00;10;53;28 Brandon Flowers But he was a believer. Johnny Cash, and, you know, U2 has a lot of themes... 00;10;54;12 - 00;10;57;19 Patrick Mason If you think about like, U2 and Dylan went through like their Christian phase, right? 00;10;58;03 - 00;10;58;12 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;10;58;12 - 00;11;01;21 Patrick Mason And how much is that, like, totally a part of them? 00;11;01;23 - 00;11;12;19 Brandon Flowers Yeah. I think for U2 it's genuine. And I think it's still definitely a part of Bono's life, still, but yeah. It's not typical for sure. 00;11;13;01 - 00;11;22;21 Patrick Mason Yeah. For you, when did it, if I can ask really personally, when did it stop being a tug of war, right? Between being Mormon and being a rock star? 00;11;22;21 - 00;11;23;16 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;11;23;16 - 00;11;24;10 Patrick Mason When you said, "I can be both." 00;11;25;02 - 00;11;43;12 Brandon Flowers I would say it was you know, you start to hear it in the lyrics in our second record. I mean, you actually hear on the first record, you know, become sort of infamous, you know, bridge in All These Things That I've Done, I sing, "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier," and people think it's gibberish. 00;11;43;27 - 00;12;03;14 Brandon Flowers But that's a 20-year-old kid saying, "I recognize that I'm starting to go somewhere that I wasn't. I was told not to, but I know that I still believe that I have goodness in me. And I'm, I'm kind of asking for help." You know? And so it started there. And then it really start to really start hearing it on the second record. 00;12;04;00 - 00;12;26;06 Brandon Flowers And that was transitional because I got married in between, towards the end of the first record. And you're at that stage where it's, you know, you're going to go one of two directions. You're going have a family and you're going to have that unit or you're going to choose the other side. And so it was — I was grappling with that a little bit in the lyrics on the second album. 00;12;26;16 - 00;12;49;00 Brandon Flowers And then it was pretty easy to decide once my wife was pregnant with our first son. And that was when a more determined route was taken. I was definitely more, you know, I felt like I had more conviction and I knew where I wanted to go. 00;12;49;00 - 00;13;09;00 Brandon Flowers Yeah. Now that's cool. And that's great that you mentioned the second album. So I want to dive into some of the lyrics of some of your songs. And of course, you've got so many, we'll only be able to touch on some of them tonight. I want to play the bridge from one of your most famous songs, When You Were Young. 00;13;09;10 - 00;13;31;23 Patrick Mason And it sort of talks about this. You know, we were talking about this tug of war right? And I think that at least for me, when I listen to your music, so much of it is this sort of tug of the world, tug of temptation, tug of all these kinds of things. So I want to play that bridge, which I'm sure everybody's heard before, but just to remind us of it. 00;13;31;23 - 00;13;50;07 Music [Singing] They say the devil's water / It ain't so sweet / You don't have to drink right now / But you can dip your feet / Every once in a little while 00;13;52;20 - 00;14;04;21 Patrick Mason This great line, the devil's water, you can dip your toe every once while. I mean, I think one of my favorite lyrics from Springsteen, who we mentioned earlier it's this great song, It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City, right? 00;14;04;21 - 00;14;05;09 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;14;05;09 - 00;14;08;23 Patrick Mason I mean, it's hard. There's always this tug. There's always this pull. 00;14;09;01 - 00;14;17;08 Patrick Mason And I hear that in your lyrics, maybe it's because you're from Vegas. You're from Sin City, right? But there's this — like the world's always tugging on you. 00;14;17;28 - 00;14;42;06 Brandon Flowers Yeah, it's funny, you mentioned It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City, because again, that weird Bowie/Bruce combo in my life. I knew that song first from Bowie covering it. So I thought it was just this great David Bowie song. I didn't realize that Bruce wrote it until later on. Yeah. I pictured, you know, I was, you know, about 18 probably when I was driving around Vegas listening to It's Hard to Be a Saint in the City. 00;14;42;06 - 00;15;13;23 Brandon Flowers And it is, you know? It depends — and everybody's drawn to different things. I was drawn to it. There's a glow you know, about the town that almost, you know, some people don't pay any attention to it, but I was always kind of drawn to it. But yeah, the line in When You Were Young, that kind of speaks to some voices of allowance, I think, that I was letting in, you know? I was taught the Word of Wisdom, but I also — 00;15;14;00 - 00;15;16;21 Patrick Mason Say what that is for, for people listening who might not know what the Word of Wisdom is. 00;15;17;01 - 00;15;42;03 Brandon Flowers The Word of Wisdom in the LDS religion is kind of a would you call it a law? A guideline, a health — a kind of a guideline for basically. Yeah. Health code is a good way to put it. And, you know, obviously drugs and alcohol are — and tobacco are on that list. And so I was brought up, you know, that stuff wasn't really around. 00;15;42;03 - 00;16;08;03 Brandon Flowers My dad converted to the religion when I was still young, five or six. So maybe the Budweiser came out of the house then. So it really wasn't around. But I was surrounded by these stories, by people, you know, in my family that were, you know, they would tell me not to do it, but then they would it was kind of a don't do it, but listen to this story of how fun it is. 00;16;08;03 - 00;16;15;06 Patrick Mason [Laughs] Right. The good old days, right? Yeah. 00;16;15;06 - 00;16;38;16 Brandon Flowers So I knew at a very early age I was going to see how fun that was. I remember being a kid and, you know, my grandma smoked and drank what she called firewater. So I remember, like, sneaking sips and smelling her cigarettes. They smelled so good. And I just couldn't wait to really get my hands on it for myself. 00;16;38;16 - 00;16;57;28 Brandon Flowers So I think those kind of — it wasn't that that — I don't blame those people for telling me those stories, but that's just my, that's how it happened for me. Yeah. And so that's again, that's me on When You Were Young, just kind of confronting that kind of for the world to hear and trying to work it out. Yeah. 00;16;57;28 - 00;17;00;23 Brandon Flowers Because I was still very much in the middle of it at that point. 00;17;00;23 - 00;17;25;18 Patrick Mason Yeah. But I mean, so there's all this stuff. I really hear it in a lot of your lyrics, this tug and the temptation and all that kind of stuff. But then one of the consistent things I hear over and over throughout your music is that there's hope for redemption, right? There's a path out of that. You're not stuck there. That you can make a choice, right? 00;17;25;18 - 00;17;45;00 Patrick Mason That you've got free will and you can go down that path. But there's another path open to you, too, and you can do that. And there's always redemption. Of course, that's one of the major themes of Christianity but of other religions as well. And so I want to play another clip from — this is from a song from your first solo album. 00;17;45;22 - 00;18;03;22 Patrick Mason And so this song is Only The Young. And I'm going to actually play a clip from the from the video, which is just gorgeous visually. It's so stunning. I don't know how involved you were with the director in terms of coming up with the visuals on this, but I just want to play one of the stanzas here. 00;18;03;22 - 00;18;22;11 Patrick Mason And then maybe you can think of it because I hear just a ton of redemption in this particular lyric. 00;18;22;11 - 00;18;53;14 Music [Singing] Mother, it's cold, here / Father, thy will be done / Thunder and lightning are crashing down / They got me on the run / Direct me to the sun / Redemption, keep my covers clean tonight / Baby, we can start again 00;18;53;14 - 00;19;12;24 Patrick Mason We could listen to the whole song. It's great. What's going on for you in that? I mean, so powerful. "Mother, it's cold here / Father, thy will be done," which is a famous phrase. I mean, Jesus says that. But then, you know, this run to redemption keeps, you know, keeps my covers clean tonight. 00;19;12;24 - 00;19;14;21 Patrick Mason So what's going on in your head in that lyric? 00;19;15;22 - 00;19;37;22 Brandon Flowers I think it's yeah, it's definitely — I give props to U2 again for their influence and their willingness to be vulnerable and to talk about things and even to talk about songs like and describe them as prayers. I think like, you know, reading about that or knowing about that and their history, you know, allowed me to be — help be myself. 00;19;38;00 - 00;19;57;27 Brandon Flowers And so I think that only the youngest definitely I would describe it as a prayer. And you can really hear — we talk about becoming like a child and you can kind of, I feel like this is me being contrite and coming to my parents and acknowledging that I need guidance. 00;19;58;22 - 00;20;06;28 Patrick Mason Yeah. When you're thinking about parents, are you thinking about that like earthly parents or are you thinking about God parents? 00;20;06;28 - 00;20;09;18 Brandon Flowers Yeah. Yeah. Heavenly parents. 00;20;09;27 - 00;20;38;23 Patrick Mason Yeah. And I mean, it's just so powerful. So I mean, so when you say heavenly parents, I mean, this is one of the kind of distinctive things about Mormonism, this particular brand of Christianity, and it reminds me of the cover of your newest album of Imploding the Mirage. So which, by the way. So I mean, so folks, this album, it's terrific. 00;20;38;28 - 00;20;51;19 Patrick Mason It's the — it's your sixth number one album in the UK. I read somewhere, I don't know if this is right, but I've read that no one, no other band has ever done that like six straight number one albums in the UK. Is that true? 00;20;51;26 - 00;20;53;16 Brandon Flowers Maybe no American band. I don't know. 00;20;53;16 - 00;21;18;28 Patrick Mason Maybe. OK, all right. But it's still, that's pretty dang impressive. So let me let me share my screen here to show everybody the the album cover here. So here's the album cover of the Mirage. So this is I mean, in some ways kind of, you know, this beautiful Western landscape. But then I mean, immediately you're drawn to this this couple like floating in the sky. 00;21;18;28 - 00;21;22;12 Patrick Mason So can you tell us a little bit about the cover art, the design here, the concept? 00;21;22;22 - 00;21;47;18 Brandon Flowers Yeah. So it's Thomas Blackshear is the artist. It's actually called Dance of the Wind and Storm. I started to see the songs that we were writing and a couple of ideas and seeds that were starting to grow, and they just fit within the context of the image. And so we actually printed it out before we got permission from Thomas and put it around. 00;21;47;29 - 00;22;03;27 Brandon Flowers We put it around the studio and I mean, it became a member of the band and saw — it helped me with lyrics. It helped us with sonically, you know, the producers and it just became and it was just yeah. It's just such a beautiful image. 00;22;04;28 - 00;22;29;22 Patrick Mason So what do you see in it? So, OK, so I'm going to tell you what I see and then you can tell me what you think. Yeah. Now this this is the Mormon coming out of me because in Mormonism, we believe not just in the kind of traditional Christian or Jewish God, the father, Heavenly Father, but there's this this notion that there's a Heavenly Mother too. That there's this divine couple, male and female together in the heavens. 00;22;29;22 - 00;22;52;01 Patrick Mason So like when I saw this, I was like, that's — because there's not that much art or, for as awesome as this idea is of a divine feminine, of a Heavenly Mother, Mormons actually don't talk about it very much. Sometimes they're a little bit skittish about it. But I saw this and I was like, "That's this beautiful image of Heavenly Mother, Heavenly Father." 00;22;53;24 - 00;23;00;08 Patrick Mason And it's on The Killers album, right? You see, that does it evoke that for you at all? I mean, it certainly does for me. 00;23;00;18 - 00;23;11;07 Brandon Flowers Yeah. I have to — some days I look at it and I see Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, and then the other days I look at it and I see the potential for me and my wife. 00;23;11;07 - 00;23;11;14 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;23;11;16 - 00;23;17;28 Brandon Flowers And that was where, you know, a lot of content on the record, you know, sprouted from. 00;23;18;18 - 00;23;21;27 Patrick Mason Yeah. You've got to get working on your beard if you're going to look like that. 00;23;22;14 - 00;23;23;10 Brandon Flowers And my pecs. 00;23;26;07 - 00;23;58;25 Patrick Mason But it's just, it's just so stunning. And so when I listen to this album, I hear so much of this theme. I mean, you're talking about your relationship with your wife. You see yourself in that, that you seem to be channeling that. And in the lyrics here. And I hear over and over in so many of these songs, this theme of like reconnection, of reunion, of people coming together, maybe who are estranged or who are apart or who are lost and then and then coming back together. 00;23;58;25 - 00;24;26;10 Patrick Mason And certainly there's a kind of romantic element to that, right? I mean, two lovers or two spouses. But I mean, I think there's a lot here again, for me as both as a religious person, but as a religious studies professor, you know, that oftentimes in, you know, mystics or poets or sacred texts, they use the love of between spouses or the love between people as a metaphor to talk about the relationship between God and humans, right?. 00;24;26;10 - 00;24;49;00 Patrick Mason Or between a person and God. I think about — so for a lot of Jews, every morning they recite this prayer from the Book of Hosea in the Old Testament or the Hebrew Bible that says, "I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness and justice. Love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness and you will know the Lord." 00;24;49;00 - 00;25;04;28 Patrick Mason Right? So this imagery of the wedding, of coming together so. When you're writing these songs, is it both kind of man and wife but also humanity and divinity? 00;25;04;28 - 00;25;29;22 Brandon Flowers Yeah, I think we wrote it in 2019. It is kind of a companion piece to the record that preceded it. It was called Wonderful, Wonderful. That was an album where I detailed or, you know, some more personal material than I had ever, I guess, done before. And so it was sort of tackling the darker side of some trauma that my wife had experienced when she was a young girl. 00;25;29;22 - 00;26;08;10 Brandon Flowers In 2019, we were studying as a church and as a family the New Testament. And there was all of this, you know, I think a major theme is being reconciled to God. I started kind of going all over the place, but it was, it wasn't until my wife — till we could diagnose, you know, what was happening with her, which is she has a complex form of PTSD — that we were able to move forward. And there was sort of a distance that had grown between us and we needed to be reconciled. 00;26;08;16 - 00;26;36;19 Brandon Flowers And I saw the correlation between that and, for us, becoming those two people on the cover of the album. And how it was all sort of intertwined because, you know, as our family unit and us getting to this place. And so the lyrics started to form, I guess, you know, you are what you eat and so, you know, it was every day. It was New Testament every day. 00;26;36;28 - 00;26;42;26 Brandon Flowers And, and so that kind of some of those stories started creeping their way into the songs. For sure. 00;26;43;16 - 00;27;03;22 Patrick Mason That's beautiful. So this idea, and this is a very Mormon idea, that not only salvation, but we use this term exaltation, right? That it's not just about your relationship with God, but you do that in relationship with other humans. So with your wife, with your family, with other people. It's not separate; it's a thread all together. 00;27;03;28 - 00;27;30;08 Patrick Mason I mean, so it's interesting you talk about the New Testament and reading it because I mean, I hear that so powerfully in a lot of these lyrics. And what I hear you doing here, because look, I mean, I know that you're getting up and you're singing to millions of people around the world who, most of whom aren't going to be Mormon, a lot of whom aren't Christian, a lot of whom aren't even religious. 00;27;30;12 - 00;27;40;26 Patrick Mason Right? And so you're finding ways to communicate these things that are really meaningful to you that come out of you, right? 00;27;40;26 - 00;27;41;02 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;27;41;10 - 00;27;57;05 Patrick Mason Finding a way to put them in a way that's meaningful to people regardless of their experience. I want to play just the last part, the last couple stanzas of just one of the songs off the new album, Fire in Bone. 00;27;57;17 - 00;27;57;26 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;27;58;14 - 00;28;01;27 Patrick Mason And which I think is, I hear a lot of New Testament. 00;28;03;24 - 00;28;40;27 Music [Singing] They say no one's gonna save you / You've gotta make it on your own / But I called from the dark / And you picked up the phone / On my back in the raging blue / I looked up, and you cut right through [Singing] And when I came back empty-handed / You met me on the road / And you fell on my neck / And you took me back home / After all that I took from you / After all that I put you through / Here I am 00;28;44;24 - 00;28;45;28 Patrick Mason Can you talk about that a little bit? So many great... 00;28;45;28 - 00;29;08;20 Brandon Flowers I don't know if it's just the father you know, if it's a father son thing. I hope that women can, can be as attached to the prodigal son parable as we can, but it's so beautiful. It's just... it just transcends. We did it with — we did this record with two producers, Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado. 00;29;09;06 - 00;29;22;26 Brandon Flowers And Sean was asking about this lyric in particular where I was going on about, and he's not particularly religious, but he's really sensitive and just the nicest guy. And I told him about this, the prodigal son parable. 00;29;22;27 - 00;29;24;02 Patrick Mason He'd never heard this story, before? 00;29;24;02 - 00;29;44;22 Patrick Mason Never heard it. And I didn't get out the Bible or anything or my — I just explained it to him. And when you get to that point of the son returning and the father seeing him and running out to meet him in the road and falling on his neck — he was crying when I told him the story. And I was just relaying it, you know, just off the top of my head. 00;29;44;28 - 00;30;07;12 Brandon Flowers And it's just so, it just touches your heart. And I think we all see ourselves in the prodigal son. You know, we're all beggars at some point and so it's just such a beautiful image. And so, yeah, when I got that into the song, and I haven't heard that song a while, but yeah, even just hearing it back, it just makes me feel emotional. 00;30;07;29 - 00;30;08;10 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;30;08;28 - 00;30;33;02 Patrick Mason Because like you said, everybody doesn't matter if you're Christian, doesn't matter if you're Mormon, doesn't matter if you're religious. We all feel this kind of estrangement from each other, right? This alienation. We've all done crappy things to other people, right? We've all walked away from the people we've loved. At some point, and that story is just like, I mean, it's the personification of grace, right? 00;30;33;02 - 00;30;34;10 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;30;34;10 - 00;30;37;08 Patrick Mason And just the father's reaction. 00;30;38;06 - 00;30;39;24 Brandon Flowers Yeah, it's the best. 00;30;41;09 - 00;31;05;24 Patrick Mason And you can channel that in such a great song. So, I mean, when you're doing this, when you're writing lyrics, when you're reading the New Testament at home, then you're going in and writing lyrics and so forth. How much of this for you is conscious, right? Sort of channelling these kinds of things, and then figuring out a way to translate it, like I said, into a language that's accessible to anybody is it a conscious or is that just part of your creative process? 00;31;05;24 - 00;31;09;25 Patrick Mason And is it for you, is it like, "Oh, is that lyric too Mormon or not?" 00;31;09;25 - 00;31;33;07 Brandon Flowers In this sense, it was deliberate because I wanted to be — because it was such a concept for this record of, "Can two become one?" and, "Can me and my wife be these divine beings on the cover?" Everything had to fit. And for me to become the man on the cover, I had to be reconciled to God. 00;31;33;08 - 00;31;45;11 Brandon Flowers That was kind of my thoughts on that. So that was why it was important for Fire in Bone to make the list. But for the most part, the other songs have are about me and my wife together or just her. 00;31;45;11 - 00;31;45;23 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;31;45;23 - 00;31;53;04 Brandon Flowers It was strange to do, you know, it was strange to even say now. And I say it because it's a Killers record and you're trying to be, you know, trying to represent everybody in the band. 00;31;53;04 - 00;32;11;21 Brandon Flowers But I don't know, I could only be vague for so long. It was, this was something that I wanted to, you know, felt strongly about and everybody seemed to be on board and they, you know, they still have to get their fingerprints on the songs musically. And there's some really great moments by the band on this record. 00;32;12;08 - 00;32;29;17 Patrick Mason Yeah. OK, I want to ask about one more song, and then one more question, and then we'll wrap up and let the audience here ask some questions. So maybe my favorite song on the album is the first one. My Own Soul's Warning, I think it's such a great song. I want to play the opening to this. 00;32;29;17 - 00;32;35;27 Patrick Mason Then I'll tell you, like they're two of my favorite lines that you've written that I'd love to hear you talk about. 00;32;35;27 - 00;33;56;29 Music [Singing] I tried going against my own soul's warning / But in the end something just didn't feel right Oh, I tried diving even though the sky was storming / I just wanted to get back to where you are If you could see through the banner of the sun / Into Eternity's Eyes like a vision reaching down to you / Would you turn away? What if it knew you by your name? / What kind of words would cut through / The clutter of the whirlwind of these days? 00;33;58;23 - 00;34;03;01 Patrick Mason So what's what's going on in your head as you're writing those lyrics? 00;34;03;13 - 00;34;40;02 Brandon Flowers This is, this is a particular, you know, this is kind of full circle from When You Were Young, me acknowledging that I'm doing some things that I maybe shouldn't be doing. And this is almost that feeling of, this is me confronting that. And realizing that I've kind of turned the leaf over and the sun is out and that's all that redemption and all those and forgiveness. I thought about this quote from Richard Bushman: 00;34;40;12 - 00;35;00;27 Brandon Flowers "The gospel is at its best when people have sinned. That's when atonement and forgiveness really count." And so, you know, we focus there's been a problem, you know, with our Mormon culture about being perfect. And I think that being able to acknowledge when we've made mistakes and that we know where to turn to for forgiveness is the best thing. 00;35;01;05 - 00;35;21;21 Brandon Flowers You know, it's been it's been like one of the best things in my life. For sure. And so I'm definitely starting to address it there. And "What if it knew you by your name?" You know, we're taught that we are you know, the heavens are open and that Heavenly Father knows us and loves us. The first word of the restoration that was spoken by God was "Joseph," and that's so cool. 00;35;21;29 - 00;35;35;00 Brandon Flowers The implications of that are so beautiful, that he knows us. And I love the fact that he knows me and that he knows my sons and my wife and my family and it's something that, you know, we talk about. 00;35;35;13 - 00;35;46;09 Patrick Mason I sort of have chills because, I mean, it's about this just like breaking the veil between heaven and earth, right? 00;35;46;09 - 00;35;46;20 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;35;46;29 - 00;35;54;03 Patrick Mason That God knows who you are. God knows your name. And then I just love the line, "I just wanted to get back to where you are," right? 00;35;54;12 - 00;35;54;24 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;35;55;11 - 00;36;04;12 Patrick Mason I mean, that's kind of like that's all I hope for. I mean, I want to be with my family. I want to be with my friends. I want to be with my God. Right? I mean, just to get back. 00;36;04;26 - 00;36;07;22 Brandon Flowers Yeah, that's it. 00;36;08;03 - 00;36;50;23 Patrick Mason OK, last question for you. So I'm going to embarrass you a little bit. We went to lunch a few weeks ago and some people came up and asked for your autograph. And this probably happens to you all the time. But I I was struck as I just overheard what they told you. It wasn't like kneeling down, "Brandon Flowers, you're a rock god!" Right? Yeah. What they said to a person is they said something like, "Thank you. Your music has really helped me. Your music has meant a lot to me in my life." And I was so struck by that, that the music, that your craft, that your art, what you're putting out into the world. It's helping people. 00;36;51;08 - 00;37;12;10 Patrick Mason Right? And I think it's because, I mean, there's just I mean, I don't know anything about these people. I don't know what that what they meant by that but there's such a positivity about your music. Again, not that you're naive to what the world is all about, right? The suffering and the pain of this world. 00;37;12;10 - 00;37;15;25 Patrick Mason Like you talked, you said you talked about it with your wife on the previous album. 00;37;15;25 - 00;37;16;04 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;37;16;12 - 00;37;30;03 Patrick Mason All that she's been through. But at the end of the day, there is this path, there's this hope for redemption. And so I just hear so much positivity. So for you, I mean, that's got to be conscious, right? Or maybe that's just who you are, right? 00;37;30;03 - 00;37;34;07 Patrick Mason I mean, where does that optimism, that hope, that love... 00;37;34;07 - 00;37;34;16 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;37;34;28 - 00;37;36;00 Patrick Mason Where does that come from? 00;37;36;25 - 00;37;58;15 Brandon Flowers I mean, I think I inherited it. My mother was very optimistic even when it wasn't looking great. I think it's very Mormon. You know, I feel like it's part of our pioneer spirit. Put your shoulder to the wheel, push along, do your duty with a heart full of song and all of that. 00;37;58;23 - 00;38;20;13 Brandon Flowers It's something that I'm definitely conscious of it. And I like the idea that there's a way out and I rarely will have a song if ever that that that that's only complaining or that's, you know, that doesn't have a silver lining, I guess. And that's just — I guess that's just me. 00;38;20;13 - 00;38;22;09 Brandon Flowers That's just part of who I am. 00;38;22;09 - 00;38;22;20 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;38;22;20 - 00;38;26;28 Brandon Flowers Not that I'm so great. It's just how I like things. 00;38;27;17 - 00;38;36;18 Patrick Mason Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's great. So, OK, do you have time for a few these questions from the audience here? 00;38;36;18 - 00;38;37;20 Brandon Flowers Sure. How do you field these things? 00;38;37;20 - 00;38;52;27 Patrick Mason Right now, we have 90 of them and counting. We're not going to get to all of them. I mean, I'm just going to read a few of these. I don't know if you've looked at any of them and you can choose any, but let me just pick out a few. And again, folks, sorry, I'm not going to get to everybody's questions but we'll get to as many questions as we can. 00;38;53;05 - 00;39;08;17 Patrick Mason But Andrew Manis, I'm not sure how he says his last name. He says, "How accepting are your bandmates of your sometimes Christian infused lyrics? What is that relationship like?" Because like I said, you're speaking for the whole band. You're not just speaking for yourself. 00;39;08;17 - 00;39;28;13 Brandon Flowers Yeah, it really hasn't been much of an issue. Mark, our bass player, grew up in Vegas. There's a lot of Mormons in Vegas, so he grew up with a lot of them. And our drummer at one point was married to a Mormon woman. So they're very familiar with it all and nobody's ever said, "Hey, can you tone it down?" or anything like . 00;39;28;13 - 00;39;29;20 Brandon Flowers They've been pretty accepting of it. 00;39;30;09 - 00;39;38;01 Patrick Mason OK, so Layla asks, I think this is a great question. "Have you ever thought of channeling your inner Elvis and letting out a spiritual album?" 00;39;38;28 - 00;39;50;11 Brandon Flowers Yeah. I mean, I wish I had his voice. Yeah, it's tough. That's a tough route to go. And when you've had so many great gospel albums made, but, you know, you never know. 00;39;51;03 - 00;39;57;28 Patrick Mason So one anonymous person asks, you know, the mention of heavenly parents, they thought of the song Lightning Fields. 00;39;57;28 - 00;39;58;12 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;39;58;26 - 00;40;07;11 Patrick Mason Maybe, I don't know if you wanna talk about that song. And specifically they're asking, "How did you decide that you wanted K.D. Lang to sing the lyrics for the mother voice in that song?" 00;40;07;26 - 00;40;29;24 Brandon Flowers Yeah. I'll try to make it quick, but there was a Thanksgiving and I missed it, but I wish I would have been there for it. But they were playing some kind of a game. My family was playing a game and it was cards with questions. And a question came to my dad, "What moment would you like to relive again?" 00;40;30;12 - 00;41;02;25 Brandon Flowers And he said, "Falling in love with your mom." And so it was just like this, you know, he doesn't say much. So when he says something like that, it has a lot of weight to it. And so my mom passed away. And so I just instantly had this vision of him, you know, seeing her again and with his, you know, replaced knee and just wanting to get as fast as he could back to my mom and be, you know, I use these lightning fields as an analogy for that moment again. 00;41;03;01 - 00;41;10;03 Brandon Flowers And I already had you know, it's just one of those songs that just kind of flew right out of me. 00;41;10;03 - 00;41;10;20 Patrick Mason Yeah, that's cool. 00;41;12;03 - 00;41;36;24 Patrick Mason So Michael Schetzel asked, you know, there's a bunch of bands in the past few years that have come out that have been Latter-Day Saints or come out of Latter-Day Saint backgrounds like Imagine Dragons, Neon Trees. So he's wondering, you know, how much interaction you have with them. And then also what advice you'd have to any member of the church, you know, whether they be Mormons or maybe just any religious person looking to have a career in rock music. 00;41;37;06 - 00;42;02;01 Brandon Flowers Yeah. So the bass player of Imagine Dragons is from Las Vegas, and he grew up playing with our drummer, and we did a few shows with them early on. Neon Trees, did he say Neon Trees? Neon Trees. We don't have a ton of — our manager's brother is the singer of Imagine Dragons, Dan Reynolds. So we're like sort of in this, you know, in a circle, but we don't really — we kind of steer clear of each other. 00;42;02;05 - 00;42;07;15 Brandon Flowers I think maybe just so that we don't have too much association or affiliation with it all. 00;42;07;17 - 00;42;09;05 Patrick Mason Yeah. Your own orbits. 00;42;09;05 - 00;42;10;00 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;42;10;00 - 00;42;17;18 Patrick Mason What advice would you give somebody who's a member of our church or any religion who is also interested in rock and roll? 00;42;17;23 - 00;42;40;26 Brandon Flowers I mean, I think, you know, obviously it can be done. Once I, you know, committed to what path I was going to take, it made it a lot easier than when I was wishy washy. And so I think that's something. There's something to be said for that. And again, like going back to questioning, you know, just because you're not, you know. I felt squeaky clean when I looked at Joe Strummer or, you know. 00;42;42;18 - 00;42;42;27 Patrick Mason [Laughs] It's all relative, right? 00;42;43;06 - 00;42;49;05 Brandon Flowers Yeah. But that doesn't mean that I can't write something profound or do something great. 00;42;49;20 - 00;42;57;13 Patrick Mason OK, somebody is asking about your lyric from one of your famous songs, "Are we human, or are we dancer?" 00;42;57;22 - 00;42;58;26 Brandon Flowers Yeah. What's the question? 00;42;59;15 - 00;43;00;10 Patrick Mason What does that mean? 00;43;00;17 - 00;43;22;15 Brandon Flowers Oh, man, I always say I explain it in — some of my proudest lyrics are on the verses of that song. But yeah, it came from Hunter S. —I was watching old interviews with Hunter S. Thompson, and he was expressing his concern that America was raising a generation of dancers. And I kind of just ran with that. But yeah. 00;43;23;25 - 00;43;29;25 Patrick Mason I've got a friend who does like a really strong religious reading of that. But, you're actually talking about dancers. 00;43;31;00 - 00;43;42;23 Brandon Flowers Oh, no. I mean, he was mad about disco, you know, and whatever was happening with. Yeah, but yeah, I think the verses are very — I really I don't know, I would say just look into the verses. 00;43;43;10 - 00;43;49;17 Patrick Mason Yeah. So Taylor Ashcraft asks, "Do you have a favorite hymn within the church?" 00;43;50;25 - 00;44;05;19 Brandon Flowers Sure. I mean, I have you know, there's I love a lot of hymns. I think I Need Thee Every Hour is a favorite of mine. There is a Green Hill Far Away. I love "Ere you left your room this morning." Yeah. 00;44;05;20 - 00;44;07;11 Patrick Mason Did You Think to Pray? 00;44;07;11 - 00;44;08;06 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;44;08;06 - 00;44;21;26 Patrick Mason So Daniel Villamizar, sorry if I mispronounced that, Daniel. He says, "Did you ever feel pressure from the music industry to abandon or hide your religion for the sake of your career? And how do you handle such a conflict?" 00;44;23;08 - 00;44;44;06 Brandon Flowers No, I mean, I had a couple of executives over, you know, maybe one in particular that I've talked about that didn't come right out and say it, but suggested that I be a star not only on the stage, but off the stage and his examples of people that did that were sort of in the news for doing, you know, salacious things. 00;44;44;17 - 00;45;08;10 Brandon Flowers And I knew that I wasn't going to do that. But it hasn't been — I feel really lucky, though, that I have I've been able to be myself and still carve out, our own little place in everything because there's just so much noise and so many bands competing. And we're just really lucky to have a voice in it. 00;45;08;29 - 00;45;22;12 Patrick Mason Here's a question from Hailey Christensen. She asks, "How did you get your testimony of the Book of Mormon?" You know, so in other words, what does the Book of Mormon mean to you, this distinctive scripture for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? 00;45;22;19 - 00;45;55;17 Brandon Flowers Yeah. I mean, it's one of those things that you don't — some people are converted over and over again. And I've had that experience in my life where I really, really have a lot of conviction and then fade away a little bit, and then it comes back strong and it goes away. But this last year, you know, 2020 again, going back to Come, Follow Me lessons was just a beautiful, a beautiful thing. Reading it with my family and we were able to, I guess because of COVID, you know, there's no excuse to not complete the thing. 00;45;55;17 - 00;46;18;16 Brandon Flowers And we did it as a family and it strengthened my testimony in it. Reading it with my kids in the moments that we shared just at the dinner table, we read it. And there were so many times that we felt the spirit bearing witness to the truthfulness of what we were reading and it was, you know, it strengthened my testimony in it. 00;46;18;16 - 00;46;22;09 Brandon Flowers And I'm sure that more things like that will happen the more I read it. 00;46;23;02 - 00;46;31;07 Patrick Mason That's great. Thanks. Lots of people asking, "Can you give us any hints about the new album? Is it going to have religious themes in it?" 00;46;31;07 - 00;46;45;18 Brandon Flowers And yeah, I mean, every album has got its own identity. But yeah, I mean, just by way of me being the mouthpiece, there's going to be things. 00;46;46;07 - 00;46;48;23 Patrick Mason OK. You OK for a couple more and then we'll let you go? 00;46;48;23 - 00;46;49;04 Brandon Flowers Sure. 00;46;49;13 - 00;47;00;02 Patrick Mason OK, so one from Quint Randles. He's actually a professor at Brigham Young University. He's studied your music a lot and actually given some academic presentations about it, which is pretty cool. 00;47;00;02 - 00;47;00;24 Brandon Flowers All right. 00;47;00;24 - 00;47;05;28 Patrick Mason He asks, "What song has changed meaning for you the most over the years?" 00;47;05;29 - 00;47;13;25 Patrick Mason Like, it meant one thing 15 years ago but the more you listen to it and perform it, it takes on a new meaning over time. 00;47;14;20 - 00;47;21;13 Brandon Flowers I think.... I hate to go back to it again, but we just did Song Exploder for When You Were Young and — 00;47;21;19 - 00;47;26;18 Patrick Mason That's on Netflix. That's a really cool half hour special. It like breaks down how the song was written. 00;47;26;20 - 00;47;56;16 Brandon Flowers Yeah. And so I think sort of watching it, that song is almost come to fruition and what I was almost hoping for and thinking about when I was writing that song, I was so young, right? But I was aware that I needed something. And so, now when I sing it, it's just got, you know, it's like I said, it's almost like it's come to pass, what I was hoping for and so that's interesting to watch that happen with one of your own songs. 00;47;57;22 - 00;48;06;01 Patrick Mason Can you talk about — from that Netflix special you talked a little bit about it — the such powerful imagery there of Jesus. Right? Doesn't look a thing like Jesus. 00;48;06;01 - 00;48;06;14 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;48;06;27 - 00;48;14;07 Patrick Mason You had some really interesting things to say there about like, I mean, that sometimes Jesus shows up not in ways that we would expect. 00;48;14;15 - 00;48;42;01 Brandon Flowers Right. It's not all — Yeah, I think yeah. I think it's just — it's not always just this bearded guy in a robe. It's his doctrine. And help can come in so many different ways. And the more that you're open to it, we're taught that everything that is good basically comes and that light is coming from Him. 00;48;42;18 - 00;48;59;10 Brandon Flowers And so it's when you're open to that and you open yourself up to that, it changes your perspective, I think. And you can be more cognizant of it when it's happening or your eyes can be more open to it when it's affecting your life. 00;49;00;06 - 00;49;05;19 Patrick Mason That's great. A lot of people are asking about the song on the new album, My God. 00;49;05;19 - 00;49;06;08 Brandon Flowers Right. 00;49;06;08 - 00;49;15;15 Patrick Mason I didn't play anything from that, but obviously, religious reference there. But a lot of people are asking about that song, what it means to you. 00;49;15;21 - 00;49;36;14 Brandon Flowers It's a celebration of my wife overcoming her trials. I sing about the weight being lifted. And it feels like it. That song just has this elevated, an elevated light feeling to it. It's something that I really look forward to playing live one day. 00;49;36;23 - 00;49;39;04 Brandon Flowers But yeah, that was basically the gist of it. 00;49;39;24 - 00;49;43;20 Patrick Mason Yeah. And hopefully you guys can get on the road sooner rather than later, right? 00;49;44;17 - 00;49;44;23 Brandon Flowers Yeah. 00;49;45;25 - 00;50;12;10 Patrick Mason OK, OK. I want to — let's just end with a couple here because we're a little over an hour here. I know we started a little bit late, so. Do you have any particular songs, maybe that we've talked about today, but maybe that we haven't, that mean a lot to you on a religious or spiritual level that you really felt like you poured something into that you keep coming back to that really reveals something about your spirituality? 00;50;12;28 - 00;50;16;06 Brandon Flowers I think, I mean, we touched on some of that today. 00;50;16;06 - 00;50;16;16 Patrick Mason Yeah. 00;50;16;17 - 00;50;34;08 Brandon Flowers You know, I think My Own Soul's Warning kind of dealing with guilt. And there's so many people that say, "Oh, I have this Mormon guilt or I have this Jewish guilt or I have Catholic guilt," and seeing it as this negative thing or this almost like, a traumatic thing that they inherited from their parents taking them to church or whatever it is. 00;50;34;08 - 00;51;09;02 Brandon Flowers And when I started to look at it as more of a warning against more serious sin is when I started to almost appreciate it and see that it was — what if it was a gift as opposed to this cross, you know what I mean? And so, I thought I'm really proud of My Own Soul's Warning for going into that territory and trying to put to words or to music that feeling of almost appreciation that I have for that. 00;51;10;01 - 00;51;11;11 Patrick Mason Yeah. That's cool. 00;51;11;29 - 00;51;43;28 Patrick Mason OK, last question again. Sorry, folks, that we weren't able to get to all your questions. So many great ones here. I want to ask, because you've mentioned it here and I think so many people struggle with various forms of sort of mental illness or emotional issues. You talked about your wife's complex PTSD and so forth. And a few people have asked about this, about the role that spirituality, religion, your relationship to God, your wife's relationship to God. 00;51;44;11 - 00;52;06;01 Patrick Mason How is it — I don't know. And I don't want to pry. I mean, maybe she also got professional counseling and other kinds of things to help her through that. But what role has spirituality and religion played in getting through some of those really tough things that so many people experience? 00;52;06;28 - 00;53;02;23 Brandon Flowers I mean, it's definitely helpful. There were dark times. We're really lucky that we were able to find professional help. And like I said, I think once we were able to even just give it a name, it was it was incredible what how much help that was. But I think part of our, you know, what we believe is doing this together and growing. And I think that helped me be more supportive and plant, we're good at planting flags in the future. And I think that that's something that's really powerful about what we believe and whether it's a future while we're alive or not. But there was there was an optimism, I think that I, again, that I inherited from our beliefs and that made me be a better husband while it was happening. 00;53;03;05 - 00;53;22;00 Brandon Flowers And she's, you know, a very, very faithful and that's been a real — she converted not because she wanted to marry a Mormon. She converted while I wasn't going to church. And so her conversion helped reconvert me, so it was kind of it the other way around. 00;53;23;09 - 00;53;44;03 Patrick Mason Well, you've mentioned this and I kind of want to close with this, that one of the messages I heard over and over and over growing up in the church is that whatever kind of success you have in the world right now, no matter what you do, it pales in comparison. It doesn't matter if you're a failure at home, right? 00;53;44;06 - 00;54;04;24 Patrick Mason That the things you do as a husband and a father are so much more important than anything you do outside. And when we've talked before, the way you talk about your kids, the way you talk about your wife, I mean, there's genuine love and affection. And I can tell that comes from a really deep place for you. 00;54;05;18 - 00;54;26;16 Brandon Flowers Thank you. Yeah, no, it's a huge part of my life. And I had a great — I was so lucky I had parents that that stayed together and loved each other. And so that was already a great foundation. And then there are responsibilities that come with being a part of the church. 00;54;26;16 - 00;54;53;00 Brandon Flowers But again, I see what they've done and how they bring me and our unit, family unit together. You can't put a price tag on it. And as much success as we've had and as much as I love being on stage, the small moments that I have at home with my family just kind of eclipse those things. 00;54;53;08 - 00;54;58;07 Brandon Flowers And so I'm just really lucky that I get to do all of this. 00;54;58;07 - 00;55;17;28 Brandon Flowers Yeah. Well, Brandon, I'm just so grateful for you for taking the time. I mean, I know you're on the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people and took this opportunity to be with us here on this podcast and so many people here in the chat and Q&A just expressing appreciation. And so just thank you for that. 00;55;18;06 - 00;55;18;22 Brandon Flowers Thank you. 00;55;19;02 - 00;56;05;25 Patrick Mason So thanks. Thanks to Brandon and to his whole team for helping put this together. I want to thank the staff of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences here at Utah State University that made this possible. Be sure to join us for our next couple of episodes. So, on February 16th, I'll be talking with Professor Colleen McDannell from the University of Utah about her book, "Sister Saints: Mormon Women Since the End of Polygamy." It's a great book and great topic. And then on March 16th, a month later, I'll be joined by Fiona Givens, Rachel Hunt Steenblik and Bethany Brady Spalding to talk about the Mormon concept of the Heavenly Mother, which Brandon and I talked about tonight. So that'll be great. So again, thank you, Brandon, and thanks to all of you. Thanks to joining us for another episode of The Foyer. 00;56;06;21 - 00;56;12;27 Brandon Flowers Thanks, everybody.