The Killers prove name isn't exactly apt

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Most lead singers of rock bands don't ask the tour-bus driver to drop them off in Nauvoo, Ill., on cross-country tours.

Most lead singers of rock bands aren't The Killers' Brandon Flowers, a proud and practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

"I had two days off, so I spent some time in Nauvoo with my nephew, a couple of crew members and the bus driver," said Flowers, whose progressive alt-rock band will stop at the E Center Sept. 26 as part of its tour supporting its fourth major-label album, "Day & Age."

The Killers were created in 2002 in Las Vegas after Flowers responded to a newspaper ad looking for band members who counted Oasis, The Cure, U2 and The Beatles as influences. Flowers, the singer and keyboard player, joined Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass guitar, vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (percussion, drums), and the band gained a European following with its synth-pop-inspired sound. The Killers then caught on in the United States in 2004 with their platinum singles "Mr. Brightside" and "Somebody Told Me," the latter boasting the memorable chorus:

Well somebody told me

You had a boyfriend

Who looked like a girlfriend

That I had in February of last year

It's not confidential

I've got potential

In a day and age of fickle tastes, The Killers have been able to maintain their success, with 2006's "Sam's Town" and this year's "Day & Age," which produced the hit singles "Spaceman" and "Human." The latter featured the question, "Are we human? Or are we dancer?"

The chorus to "Human" doesn't provide an response, but it does include the line, "I'm on my knees / Looking for the answer."

"I think I mention God more than anyone else," Flowers said in an interview.

Flowers, 28, was born in Henderson, Nev., to a mother who was practicing Mormon and a father who wasn't. He remembers being taken to church on Sunday mornings with his five older siblings.

When Flowers was 8, the family moved to Payson, Utah, where his father worked at a Smith's grocery store. Three years later, the family moved to Nephi, where he attended Juab High School.

"I feel my formative experiences were in Utah," said Flowers, who returned to Las Vegas when he was 16.

Flowers married his longtime girlfriend, Tana Brooke Mundkowsky, in 2005, after she converted to Mormonism, and the two have two children: Ammon, born in 2007, and Gunnar, born in July. (Mormons will note the influence the Book of Mormon had on his first son's name.)

"My faith is very important to me," Flowers said. "It's become stronger for me with a wife and two boys. I'm grateful that I have the church in my life."

As for songwriting, Flowers said his faith is involved. "It influences the songs I don't write," he said.