Nearly a decade after establishing himself as one of rock’s vital voices, the Killers’ Brandon Flowers, 31, is set to deliver another set of snowcapped, arena-pleasing anthems on his band’s fourth album, Battle Born, out Sept. 18. In the meantime, the Nevada native—who lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Tana, and their three sons, ages 17 months to 5 years—sat down with us to talk about the songs that have made him sing, cry, and … sell tacos.

THE FIRST SONG I WAS OBSESSED WITH: “Missing You,” John Waite (1984)

“I’m not sure how young kids get to the point where they’re memorizing and knowing songs, but I knew the words to “’Missing You” from John Waite probably from when I was three years old. For whatever reason, that was the song that I gravitated toward when it was on the radio and I was driving around with my mom. It must’ve been played a lot, because I knew all the words. My sister would take me around to her friends’ parents and things, and I would sing it. [Laughs]“

THE SONG THAT ALWAYS REMINDS ME OF HOME: “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” Eagles (1972)

“I spent some time in Utah, so that’s why I have a bit of an accent, but I consider home to be Henderson [Nevada] and Las Vegas. I love the desert, so there are a few people for me who’ve captured that specific area, like the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac and even Jackson Browne sometimes. I’ll hear that stuff and I’m just there. But if I had to say one specifically, it’d be this one. I hear it and it’s like — I don’t know, I can just see the sun going down in Las Vegas.”

THE SONG THAT MAKES ME THINK OF MY FIRST CRUSH: “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” Tina Turner (1984)

“But my crush was on Tina Turner. [Laughs] That’s bad, right? I think it was the video.”

THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT WITH MY OWN MONEY: Songs of Faith and Devotion, Depeche Mode (1993)

“My mom had bought me a few cassettes, but I got a job at a place called Taco Time in Nephi, Utah. I worked there with my mom, and two of my sisters worked there too. So I was 15, and usually to buy music you had to go to Provo, which is an hour drive, but we had a truck stop. Basically Nephi was like a truck stop, it was such a small town. I was a fan of the kind of bubblegum, early-early Depeche Mode. And I didn’t know exactly how dark that they could delve, and I didn’t know that I would like it. But I bought it for I think $5 on cassette at Flying J. And it’s one of my favorite things, still. Later, we even got to work with Flood [a.k.a. Mark Ellis], who produced Songs, on our album Sam’s Town.” READ FULL STORY »