Ahead of The Killers’ hugely anticipated gig this month, we get to know their much-talked about frontman a little better.

Your three albums have seen a lot of changes; as time goes on, do you find that everything you’re experiencing feeds back into your music?

Yeah, and I think that’s the case with every album, too. I hope that one day people realise how honest we are. We haven’t gone back and said, "Oh, this worked, let’s do it again." We’re absorbing what’s happening to us and taking in new influences everywhere we go. The music that we listen to has slightly changed as we’ve gotten older and it starts to feed into the new songs. I would look forward to see where we’ll go when we get together next. Hopefully it will keep evolving like that.

Do you have any ideas of what we can expect next? There’s been a lot of talk about you doing a covers album.

No, I don’t know if that’ll be the next piece of material you’ll get from The Killers, but it’s definitely going to happen one day. I get the feeling that it’s going to be a little heavier when we come around again. That excites me.

Certain topics always seem to come up when people talk to you: your faith, the feuds you’ve had with other bands, the moustache era, the syntax in Human, the feathers on your jacket. What’s your take on it all?

They were all things that I wasn’t prepared for, that I didn’t think were going to cause any kind of great commotion. It’s kind of shocking when it does happen and so much attention is drawn to it. The sad thing about all of it is that it takes away from the music, but it’s fi ne. We’re coming out with our head above water. We’ve had so many great shows on this tour, the crowds keep getting better and we’re getting better as a live band. It doesn’t seem like it’s turning people off whether or not I’m wearing feathers or a moustache, or if I’m a Mormon. But I get why, you know, the blog generation, it gives them something to talk about.

Can you ever predict these things? Perhaps when you were writing Human, you thought, "Yeah, that’ll get them going!"

No, that’s the thing, it’s like all of it, I just… I was excited I could grow a moustache so I grew it. I didn’t think it was going to stir anything up. The feathers? When I put on my jacket every night I feel like Superman. I had no idea that it was going to upset anyone or that it looked silly to people. And Human I thought was genius. I had no idea that it was going to, you know, I had no idea. It reminded me of Bowie more than anything. If he did it, he’d be getting a Grammy.

Why not for you then?

Erm, I don’t know. All I know is that we’re not going to be critically acclaimed. I picked up on it right away. It’s not going to be until the end of our career that we’re given a chance.

When you first burst on the scene in 2004, it seemed like you’d triumphed at the first attempt. Was there a time of frustration and failure?

Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was thinking about this recently because people keep talking about their albums of the decade and I always say Is This It [by The Strokes] is an obvious choice for me. We had about 15 songs and I thought we were ready to make an album, and then Is This It came out. Me and Dave [Keuning, The Killers’ guitarist] bought it the day it came out. We drove around Las Vegas listening to it – and it just devastated me, it was so good. I really went into a depression, almost, for weeks and weeks. We threw away every song except for Mr Brightside and basically started over. So we definitely had our learning period, and we still feel like we’re learning.

Saxophones – talk us through the thinking behind bringing them back.

We didn’t think about it. It was just the right instrument at the right time. I say it’s the 'moustache' of this album. But it gave us a greasiness that we didn’t have before. I don’t know if it’s only going to be on this album or if it’s going to come back again. Roxy Music, The Psychedelic Furs, those are bands we listen to that use it well, and hopefully we did it a little justice.

You’ve been accused of being too confident. Do you ever have any doubts?

I think if you asked people what they think of me, especially people that aren’t fans of The Killers, for the most part it doesn’t seem to be very favourable. I’m definitely not as cocky as I was made out to be in the beginning. I’m not that way at all. I think that I’m quite likeable [laughs]. A lot of it was, you know, we just had a chip on our shoulder and were going against so much at the time – I tended to get a little bit mouthy. It was just my shield. We didn’t know what was going to happen. But I definitely have my doubts. Sometimes I feel like King Kong and sometimes I feel very inadequate.

Do you still have a dream? What keeps you going?

I still want to become a better writer. Lyrically – that’s where I feel most inferior. I’m getting better at writing songs…but I’d like to really resonate more. It’s a dream, that’s what keeps you going, but things that John Lennon wrote…I would like to get to that level [laughs].

What about your lyrics now?

A lot of people focus on All These Things That I’ve Done – "I’ve got soul, but I’m not a soldier". They don’t listen to the rest of the song. And if you listen to Human, they focus on "Are we human/Or are we dancer?". Nobody’s ever mentioned: "Pay my respects to grace and virtue/Send my condolences to good/Give my regards to soul and romance/They always did the best they could". Nobody gives me any credit for the verses that are beautiful, and they explain the chorus. And so it’s frustrating sometimes. Hopefully people will come around one day.

The Killers have cancelled their Singapore concert. Read the full story: The Killers Asia Tour cancelled