It all started as a joke. When the members of The Fillers got together in 2006, they had no plans to become a long-standing Killers tribute band. They were “filling in” for another group at a Battle of the Bands, so their name, The Fillers, came first.
“It was a bit of fun, and it got out of hand,” frontman and Brandon Flowers-look-alike Trevor Hurley told tabloid!. “We had a gig lined up, and we just didn’t feel like doing it, so we thought, ‘Let’s just play Killers songs instead because it would be funny.’ The joke kind of stuck, because we’ve been doing it since.”
Nearly a decade into their career, they’re making their first stop in Dubai at The Music Room on Friday night to perform some of the Killers’ biggest hits. Speaking to tabloid! from his base in the UK, Hurley filled us in on the highs and lows of the journey.
What’s your favourite Killers’ song to perform live?
That’s a tricky one. It does change all the time, but I think Read My Mind is still my favourite. It’s just got all the bits we like to play in it — big guitar solos and that type of thing. It’s such a cool song.
You used to align your set list with whatever The Killers are performing, but the band’s on hiatus. How do you figure it out now?
We can then kind of pick and choose. They were on a direct-hits kind of tour last time, so it’s all the big songs, then we can put in the little bits around the sides, the odd Brandon [Flowers] track in, as well, from his solo album.
You toured with The Killers [as part of original band Most Thieves] in the past, right?
I have done that, yeah. That was interesting — we opened for them in Las Vegas and around Europe and Canada.
What was your most memorable interaction with Brandon?
I was flying back to the UK once, and we were both on the same flight, and for some reason I managed to sleep all the way, and when I got off, he was sitting down and just looked awful. He was like, ‘Did you take any pills to go to sleep?’ I was like, ‘No, just slept’. He was slightly envious of that.
You’ve been in a tribute band and in original bands. Which one is a more satisfying experience?
They’re two different kettles of fish. The original band is a little bit more satisfying, but you don’t often get the opportunity to play in front of as many people and play in as many exotic places.
What has been the craziest show you’ve played as part of The Fillers?
We played to about 35,000 people in Liverpool once at the Mathew Street Festival. You just look out and there’s just a sea of people. It was epic.
What’s the biggest compliment you’ve received in the band?
The fact that the drummer once played with us. To have a member of the actual band play with for any period of time is pretty crazy. That’s probably the biggest compliment we can get.
What’s your biggest pet peeve, being in a tribute band?
We’ve had people come up to us while playing before to ask us if we know songs by Coldplay. It’s just amazing. Then they go away and come back and ask us, ‘Well if you don’t know anything by Coldplay, what about the Arctic Monkeys?’
Tickets are Dh100 available through platinumlist.net. 21+ only.
