With an unrelenting touring schedule that's had the band on the road almost nonstop since July, the Killers have inevitably played the same cities more than once. As they prepare for another trek, the Las Vegas rockers want to make sure they keep their live show fresh with new material -- for their fans and for themselves.

"It's fun for us too," lead singer Brandon Flowers said. "It's fun for people who have seen us more than a couple of times. People don't realize how excited we are to write new and good songs."

While fans shouldn't anticipate any drastic changes to the band's British-influenced, hook-laden indie rock, Flowers says they should expect the band's sound to follow what he calls a natural evolution.

"It's changing a little bit. I think we're getting better. Everyone who has heard the new songs is saying [the next album is] going to be even better than the first one and that's the natural thing that should happen," he said.

The Killers had tossed around a fall 2005 release date for their second album, but with their second single, "Mr. Brightside," still gaining momentum, and questions already arising as to what the next single might be, the band doesn't expect to be finished with Hot Fuss for some time.

"I think we want to get out there and get our new songs out there and make another record and be productive," drummer Ronnie Vannucci said. "But I think at the same time it's good to exercise an album. Hopefully not into the ground, but enough so it's had its due."

Part of Hot Fuss' workout will be another single, which the band says could be either "Smile Like You Mean It," which Flowers says is about "taking a look back at what happened to you and realizing it's time to be a grown-up," or the album's opener "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine," a track about a girl being murdered by her jealous boyfriend.

Even if it's not chosen as the next single, "Jenny," which contains one of the album's more dramatic (though fictional) story lines, will be put to good use in the mini-movie the Killers are planning.

"['Jenny Was a Friend of Mine'] actually goes along with a couple of our other songs," said Flowers. " 'Midnight Show' is tied together with it and there's one more called 'Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf' that didn't make it on the album, but we're going to work on a short film, music video, if you will, that is going to have all three songs telling the story."

With their hectic schedule -- which includes a current headlining tour of the U.K. and a North American tour they hope to kick off in mid-April -- the Killers seem to have forgotten to take notice of their rapidly increasing popularity.

"We're still just playing gigs every day," Flowers said. "The only thing different is maybe the hotel's a little nicer."