BI G TALK
“ I ’ M N OT HE L L BENT ON T RY I N G TO CH A N G E T HE WO R L D” PHOTOS: CATHERINE ASANOV
quit doing red carpets with ‘Sam’s Town’ in 2006. The only sign of his involvement in one of the world’s biggest rock bands to be found in his house – formerly a women-only retirement home – is a framed number ‘2’ from the video set of early hit ‘All These Things That I’ve Done’. “It doesn’t fit with my personality to have gold discs up everywhere saying, ‘Oh, I’m so great!’ What would that lead to? Me wearing a fucking cape indoors?” Aside from one recent Killers gig in Delaware, Ronnie has set aside his sticks for a while and is back on guitar/vocal duties. His side-project Big Talk is what he does when Brandon Flowers wants to go off and make a solo record, which is why every Brandon album is rapidly followed by a Big Talk one. The band is Ronnie’s big, silly outlet for the element of his personality that constantly wants to turn it up to 11. “I’ve made a band with three members of Tenacious D as the entire rhythm section, and me and my friend Taylor [Milne] have turned ourselves into Jack [Black] and Kyle [Gass].” He’s actually called the forthcoming second album ‘Straight In, No Kissin’’. Really. Soundwise, it’s inspired by The Replacements and whatever other punk juices flowed out of his system during live takes in his basement studio at 3am, aided by wine and whiskey. It opens with the lyrics, “Vannucci better hold that line”. “Who opens an album with their own name? What an asshole!” Last time we spoke he said Big Talk’s selftitled first album was “horseshit”. “Did I say NE W M U S ICAL E X PRE S S | 18 JU LY 2015
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Get in here!” Ronnie Vannucci Jr is shouting through the blacked-out window of a Ford pick-up truck, the sort of vehicle reserved for serial killers and rock gods. Ronnie’s picking me up from Sonoma County Airport in northern California. This is sophisticated wine country, but as the airport is named after cartoonist Charles M Schulz, it’s also decorated with life-size Snoopy figurines. The contrast suits The Killers’ drummer well. You can’t miss him around the rural town he calls home and likens to Hill Valley, the fictional setting of Back To The Future. His monstrous vehicle has the words ‘POWER STROKE’ emblazoned on the side, and blue headlights. “Laser beams!” he jests. As he revs through serene vineyards while listening to classic rock band Styx and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Bron-Y-Aur Stomp’, sipping on a jasmine green tea and wearing a psychedelic Hunter S Thompson cabana shirt, Ronnie is well aware of his own rocker ridiculousness. “I find myself in this superficial universe now that parallels with my own weird everyday life,” he says. “A Venn diagram of make-believe rock’n’roll balanced out with having an actual existence in smalltown USA.” He knows everyone around this town, but has never courted fame. He says The Killers
The Killers’ Ronnie Vannucci Jr is living the dream. As Eve Barlow discovers, it’s a dream involving cross-dressing, strong margaritas and making good-time rock’n’roll with his other band Big Talk that?” he asks, high-pitched, pulling into his drive. “I retract that. Change that to ‘half horseshit’.” Ronnie is self-deprecating about his role as a singer/guitarist, despite having over three dozen guitars in his basement. “I know, he’s the worst,” chips in John Spiker from the back seat. John is Big Talk’s bassist; Ronnie met him a year ago, then invited him to live in his house. “If you see my dad by the pool naked, please ignore him,” says Ronnie. “We had a pizza party here last night. It got out of hand.” Around the kitchen table, Ronnie’s wife of 20 years makes granola while his mum and dad play with Archie, the dog. We go downstairs to the “dojo”/studio adorned with “everything you need to make a record”, including the brand of rye favoured by Al Capone. Ronnie pours out three neat ones. It is noon, after all, and we’ve already enjoyed his own pear cider, bottled and sold at a local barn. A wine tasting session replaces afternoon tea and there’s a promise of a margarita for dinner. “You’re gonna shit your pants, it’s so good,” he smiles. “The plan is to take you back to the airport in a wheelchair.”
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28/07/2015 16:54