Rock musician Brandon Flowers reflects on family, faith, Utah

SALT LAKE CITY — He's the front man for a big-time band, but Brandon Flowers hasn't forgotten where he came from.

Flowers recently visited Salt Lake for a concert and talked about his family, his faith and his strong ties to Utah.

He's played for more than 90,000 people at Wembley Stadium. Brazilian fans welcome him with open arms. His band, The Killers, is wildly popular around the globe. But Utahns get to claim lead singer Brandon Flowers as their own.

"I spent my formative years in Payson and Nephi and so I definitely have a special place reserved in my heart for this land," he told KSL.

Even though he's traveled the world, he still has fond feelings for Utah. He admitted to some must-visit, must-taste places when he's in town.

"In Santaquin, there is this place called The Santa Queen. It's a drive-through little place and they have these chips, these English chips. If I'm going on I-15 I always go there," he said. "There's Fat Jack's Pizza in Payson and they have the greatest Ranch dressing on this earth at Fat Jack's."

That comes from a man who's surprisingly well-versed in fast food.

"I used to work at the Taco Time in Nephi," he explained, "right off the I-15. You'll see it when you're driving through. I worked with my mother at Taco Time. It was so weird. It's not right to work with your parents like that."

Success happened relatively quickly for the band. "We blasted off really fast," Flowers said.

However, the gold records and chart-topping singles were not what defined success for him.

"It wasn't so much about the stardom of it. For me, a really big part of the thing was to have Morrissey call and ask for us to open for him," Flowers said. "For me, that was a certain type of success that I didn't know if that would ever happen."

He said he's moving past the nervousness of performing.

"It took me years and years of doing it to really feel like I belonged up there. And once I cracked that egg, it's just been really a pleasure for me, and I really look forward to it every night."

Flowers said his favorite song to perform on this tour is "Lonely Town."

"I never had a song like that," he said. "It's nice to have a song that's different and coming from left field that still translates with everybody and everybody has fun with it."

Flowers also spoke about his faith. He recently filmed a Mormon Message, which was well-received in Utah and in the LDS community. In the music world, he said, "Nobody was cruel or anything like that about it, and that was nice."

"It's fine," he continued. "It's been fine. It's been nothing but positive, I think."

When asked how his religion has impacted his music, Flowers said, "You know, I think we're going straight into the Word of Wisdom and things like that. Since I've been obeying that better, I've become a better performer for sure."

"I used to smoke cigarettes and drink and things like that," he added, "and my voice would give out more, and I didn't feel as ready to perform. Just that one simple thing in following that has helped me with longevity and all kinds of things."

Aside from his career, Flowers says he is a devoted family man.

He admits it's tough balancing music with family, with three young boys at home.

"I remember when I first started out and was reading interviews with people that I admired that had kids, and you always heard three weeks was the longest they would go away from the kids. But I found that was just a little too much, so I don't go longer than two weeks and I'm able to go home," he said.

If you were to ask his sons what their daddy does, "they would just say, 'He's a rock star,'" Flowers said.

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