David Brent Keuning (born March 28, 1976) is an American musician, best known for being the lead guitarist of the rock band

The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

, which he founded alongside frontman

Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician. He serves as the co-founder, lead vocalist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers, which he formed with Dave Ke ...

in 2001 and with whom he has recorded six studio albums. Keuning played every show with The Killers since its inception up until the show at Chicago's

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

in August 2017. From 2017 to the end of 2020, Keuning was on hiatus from the band. He returned to The Killers to assist in recording their 2021 album ''

Pressure Machine ''Pressure Machine'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band the Killers. It was released on August 13, 2021. The album features the return of guitarist Dave Keuning to the studio with the band, after his absence on the previous album, ...

''. Keuning released two solo albums titled '' Prismism'' (2019) and "A Mild Case of Everything" (2021) under his surname Keuning.

Personal life

Keuning was born and brought up in Pella, Iowa, to Charles and Sandra Keuning. His parents owned and operated a

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

business. He has one older brother, Kevin Keuning. He started to play guitar just before entering Pella Community High School where he played in the jazz band. In his senior year the group won state champions class 3A. In 2000 Keuning moved to

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

."The Killers' Dave Keuning"
''

Guitar Player ''Guitar Player'' was an American magazine for guitarists, founded in 1967 in San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francis ...

'', February 2010 issue. He found work at the

Banana Republic In political science, the term ''banana republic'' describes a politically and economically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resource.A banana republic is a country with an economy of state capitalism, where th ...

store in The Venetian Hotel and Casino on

The Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city limits ...

. Keuning is very private about his personal life, but he married Emilie Keuning on October 20, 2018. He has one son, Kyler Keuning, born September 17, 2005.

Career

Keuning placed an ad in the local ''

Las Vegas Weekly ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous ...

'' looking to form a band, mentioning

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Brandon Flowers Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician. He serves as the co-founder, lead vocalist, primary songwriter, keyboardist, and occasional bassist of the Las Vegas-based rock band the Killers, which he formed with Dave Ke ...

, who shared Keuning's love of groups such as New Order and the Cure, answered it, only to have Keuning promptly hand him a

TASCAM TASCAM is the professional audio division of TEAC Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo Japan. TASCAM established the Home Recording phenomenon by creating the "Project Studio" and is credited as the inventor of the Portastudio, the first casset ...

-recorded four-track demo of " Mr. Brightside".
The Killers Bio ''VH1.com'' Keuning announced in August 2017 that he would not be joining the band to Wonderful Wonderful World Tour, tour in supporting their fifth studio album, '' Wonderful Wonderful'', although he would remain a member of the group. Keuning did not contribute to The Killers' sixth album, ''

Imploding the Mirage ''Imploding the Mirage'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band the Killers, released on August 21, 2020, by Island Records in the United States and internationally by EMI. To date, it is the band's only album without lead guitarist D ...

,'' but joined the band again in studio in early 2021 to work on their seventh album, ''

'' and their 2023-24 greatest hits album and tour " Rebel Diamonds". As of 2025, Keuning no longer regularly tours with The Killers, but remains an official member of the band. He debuted his solo music with the release of his first single "Restless Legs" under the moniker Keuning. The assemblage of new music, created by Keuning in his San Diego home studio, was taken from hundreds of voice memos that he stockpiled while on tour with the Killers over the previous decade that evolved into songs. Keuning's debut album, '' Prismism'', was released on January 25, 2019, and is a collection of 14 tracks with almost all instruments played by Keuning himself.

Playing style

Keuning is noted as a guitarist for playing anthemic and soaring solos in addition to sweetened and often percussive style playing frequently. He is also noted for his "unusual voicings" and "digit-distending, string-skipping" finger work on the guitar in similar fashion of

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist best known as a member of the rock band the Police. Prior to joining the Police, Summers had been a member of several bands during the 1960s, including Zoot Money's Big Roll ...

The Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussi ...

. Keuning was featured in ''

Guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

'' magazine in May 2009 and ''

Guitar World ''Guitar World'' is a monthly music magazine for guitarists and fans of guitar-based music and trends. The magazine has been published since July 1980. ''Guitar World'', the best-selling guitar magazine in the United States, contains original a ...

'' in February 2009,Bosso, Joe
"The Killers: All Killer No Filler"
''

Magazine''. March 26, 2009. ''

'' in January 2008 and February 2010, and ''Guitar Aficionado'' in January 2013. In 2010, Keuning's guitar riff in "Mr. Brightside" was voted at number 9 in '' Total Guitars 50 greatest riffs of the 21st Century so far.

Influences

Keuning cites influences such as

The Edge David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), better known as the Edge or simply Edge,McCormick (2006), pp. 21, 23–24 is a British-Irish musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist o ...

, Robert Smith, Bernard Sumner,

Billy Corgan William Patrick Corgan Jr. (born March 17, 1967) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, primary songwriter, singer, and only constant member of alter ...

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

Angus Young Angus McKinnon Young (born 31 March 1955) is an Australian musician, best known as the co-founder, lead guitarist, songwriter, and the only continuous member of the hard rock band AC/DC. He is known for his energetic performances, schoolboy-u ...

, and

Mick Mars Robert Alan Deal (born May 4, 1951), known professionally as Mick Mars, is an American musician best known as the former lead guitarist and co-founder of the Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, being the oldest of the four origin ...

Equipment

Guitars *

Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is a semi-hollow body semi-acoustic guitar introduced by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its Gibson ES Series, ES (Electric Spanish) series 1958 in music, in 1958. It has a solid maple wood block running through the cente ...

* Fender Starcaster * Ibanez Destroyer *

Gibson Flying V The Gibson Flying V is an electric guitar model introduced by Gibson in 1958. The Flying V offered a radical, "futuristic" body design, much like its siblings: the Explorer, which was released the same year, and the Moderne, which was designe ...

* Gibson SG * Gibson Les Paul Custom *

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

* Gretsch White Falcon * Fender Jaguar *

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

* Songhurst J.E.T. Doubletone * Yamaha Revstar * Gibson J45 Acoustic * Ibanez AE Classical Guitar * Gibson Explorer * Fender Jazz Bass * Fender Jazz Bass Fretless Sound equipment * Furman AR15 Voltage Regulator * Axess Electronics FX1+ expansion board, midi foot controllers w/ Axess CFX4 control function switchers and custom made Axess Electronics Deville footswitch interfaces * Lectrosonics Wireless Units * Zaolla Artist and Zaolla Silverline series cables as cables and cable snakes * (2) duplicate FX racks are wired up w/Mogami Cable Pedals, in Voodoo Lab GCX Audio Switcher Loops: * Keeley Mod Ibanez TS9 (phat mod and baked mod)(x2) * Boss DD3 Digital Delay * Boss DD6 Digital Delay * Boss DD7 Digital Delay * MXR Phase 100 (x2) * MXR Phase 90 * Electro Harmonix Keeley Mod Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker * Electro Harmonix Green Russian Sovtek Big Muff V7C * Ibanez AD99 Keeley Mod Delay * Ibanez AC99 Keeley Mod Chorus * DigiTech WH-5 Whammy V * DigiTech Whammy DT * TRex RoommSpate Reverb * Buff Puff Boost * Fishman Aura Classical Pedal (for acoustic guitars) * Fishman Aura Dreadnought Pedal (for acoustic guitars) * Strymon Sunset Dual Overdrive (since 2018) * Strymon BigSky Multi-Reverb (since 2018) * Seymour Duncan Pickup Booster (since 2018) * Eventide ModFactor Multi-Modulation * Retro Sonic Stereo Chorus * Source Audio Programmable EQ * Tone Freak Abunai 2 Overdrive * Ernie Ball Volume * Dunlop JP95 John Petrucci Signature CryBaby Wah Wah Synthesizers: *

Korg , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instrument An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electr ...

MicroKORG (on Prismism) *Yamaha PSR-6 Portatone (on Prismism) Picks: Dunlop Nylon – 0.60mm, 0.73mm, 1.00mm Amplifiers * Fender Deville 2x12" (x2) * Hiwatt DG103 Head and Hiwatt 4x12" Speaker Cabinet * Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus * Matchless DC-30 (since 2015) * Fender Bassbreaker Combo Amp * Fender Mustang GTX100 Combo Amp NOTE: Hiwatt currently are one of Keuning's sponsors.

Discography

Keuning

* '' Prismism'' (Thirty Tigers, 2019) * ''A Mild Case of Everything'' (Pretty Faithful Records, 2021) Other appearances *"Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" –

(2010) *"Wander" – We Are Hyena (2012) *"This Is a Joke" (2014) – Bombay Heavy *"Clouds Pretend" – The Hunt (2014) *"Heavy Hand," "Goodbye Cambridge" – Blackout Balter (2016)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Dave Keuning's official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keuning, Dave 1976 births Living people American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Musicians from Iowa City, Iowa The Killers members People from Pella, Iowa Guitarists from Iowa American male guitarists 21st-century American bass guitarists Thirty Tigers artists