No instrument was too daunting for Dave Keuning throughout “A Mild Case Of Everything,” his second project to simply fall under the Keuning banner (coined in a similar fashion as the surname-derived groups Van Halen, Bon Jovi or Dio).

The founding lead guitarist/songwriter for alternative rock superstars The Killers also stepped back up to the microphone, gaining increased confidence after individually debuting with “Prismism,” while promising fans of his other act will still have lots to latch onto.

Chicago Concert Reviews called the man who birthed several of this century’s already declared classics (“Mr. Brightside,” “Somebody Told Me,” “When You Were Young,” “Read My Mind”), to hear about how isolation sparked these ideas, a deadly premonition that factored into temporarily storing his suitcase after headlining Lollapalooza and finally coming out of hibernation for the prospect of touring with both bands.

How did pandemic-induced isolation shape the new album’s contents?

Dave Keuning: I think I was going to make this record either way, but certainly the last two years shaped how it ended up. I had a few left over ideas from the first album, [2019’s “Prismism”], and I was just starting to write and make demos. Then the pandemic started, I had more time to work on it and I had a lot of ideas. I usually come up with the lyrics second and what was on my mind was what was on the TV. With all the stuff that was going on, it was almost hard not to write about it [laughs].

Talk a bit about the title, “A Mild Case Of Everything,” and what that comprises?

Keuning: I suppose it’s not literally everything, not to take the fun out of the title. The last couple of years has been [filled with] just very strange emotional ups and downs. I think for everybody, regardless of their position, good for some, bad for others, and then just a lot of confusing things. That’s why I threw a song like “Peace And Love” on there. I just put that together really fast and that’s a short song. I guess “A Mild Case Of Everything” is just a whole range of emotions over the last couple of years…

In addition to the concise ideas, what prompted nearly ten minutes of “Don’t Poke the Bear”?

Keuning: I felt very free and comfortable. Writing a song like that is something I always wanted to do. Led Zeppelin’s got a lot of long ones. [Queen’s] “Bohemian Rhapsody” is a great example of an awesome, epic song. This one is different. It started out as the verse, which I had for quite a few years. I just didn’t have much else to add to it. I had a whole other demo that wasn’t very good and I was just determined not to throw that away, so I started working on that one night when I was at the house by myself for a few days. I think I stayed up ‘til five in the morning just adding parts. Sometimes when good things are happening, the floodgates come open and I have a bunch of other ideas too. It’s definitely one of my favorites on the record.

You also sing and play the majority of the instruments once again, which is a pretty tall order. How did you get to be so proficient?

Keuning: When I’m in The Killers or other bands that I’ve been in, I’m usually the guitar player. I’m focused on just that and that’s my first love. I still consider myself just a guitar player first, but the vocals came out of necessity. [Over] the last couple years, I’ve actually started to enjoy it. It just took me so long to get the courage up to do it, so I think one big difference between this record and the last one is I’m much more comfortable singing. But all the other instruments, it’s like my turn to do whatever I want on keyboards. It’s my turn play bass and even if I want to play drums. I’ve tried to spend more time over the last five years or so learning the piano. I tried to learn drums a little bit, the best I could, here and there.

Where might this fit for fans who know you from The Killers?

Keuning: If they like The Killers, I think they’ll like my solo stuff. I’m pretty sure of that. It falls into the same category. It’s got a little bit of synth here and there. Hopefully they give it a chance. I’m definitely proud of my new album.

Are there any other artists channeled beyond your own foundation?

Keuning: I think it’s mostly my own foundation, but there are definitely songs, maybe one or two, where I felt a little [David] Bowie-ish. I think really the only song that I consciously was influenced by Frank Sinatra was “From Stardust.” I just watched an amazing documentary on Netflix, [“All Or Nothing At All”]. It’s really good, clears up a lot of myths about him and shows his whole career, so I just had this Sinatra phase. Maybe only I hear it, but I kind of channeled him a little bit on that one.

Your music has an interesting geography in the sense that you were born in Iowa, wound up in Las Vegas and sound very British. How has that composite come into play?

Keuning: Growing up in Iowa, it’s a different time too, not to age myself here, but it was before the Internet. It was whatever radio stations were playing in Iowa. I didn’t even have MTV, but I had friends that did. I bought a lot of magazines at gas stations. I was into Mötley Crüe, Aerosmoth and AC/DC. Those were like my favorite bands and that’s what got me into guitar ‘cause I didn’t pick it up for classical guitar. I wanted to learn “Thunderstruck” [laughs] and stuff like that. And then when the ‘90s came around, it seemed like there was a lot more music in general. All of a sudden [there was] Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins. That broadened my horizons a little bit as I was getting older.

I always loved ‘80s music and I didn’t know where most of those people were from, but a ton of them were from England, a lot of the one-hit wonders, as well as The Cure, Duran Duran, New Order, Depeche Mode and OMD. All of those guys are from England, so I guess that’s just crept in my influences, and of course, from an early age I liked The Beatles and The Rolling Stones as well. They probably had more great bands than every other country in the world.

Has all The Killers’ albums debuting at #1 in the U.K. added pressure or is it still a thrill?

Keuning: I think most of the pressure was felt on the second album. I think everything after that is just icing on the cake. I mean, definitely [one of the] goals of the band, [is] we want the number one and we hope it happens, but if it doesn’t happen, it’s fine. It’s probably because there was a bunch of other stuff that came out. But I know we felt the most pressure making [2006’s] “Sam’s Town” cause it’s hard to follow [2004’s septuple platinum debut] “Hot Fuss.” It’s got so many great songs on it, [“Mr. Brightside,” “Somebody Told Me,” “Smile Like You Mean It,” “All These Things That I Have Done”], so yeah, there was some pressure there, [but] we got number one as well over in the U.K., so I guess I can say we accomplished that goal.

“Mr. Brightside” is already one of this century’s classics. What has it meant to you?

Keuning: It means the world. I’ll always have that. It’s very sentimental and just a favorite to me, not just that it was this idea brought to [singer/songwriter] Brandon [Flowers] that we finished together, but it was kind of the first idea we finished and it’s still the biggest. It doesn’t usually happen that way, but it’s pretty special…I remember playing that chorus for the first time and just having fun playing it. I knew it was something special. I didn’t know if it was ever gonna be on the radio, but if it could be on the radio, I knew people would like it.

Walk us through the blur of The Killers and getting to the point where you are now.

Keuning: A lot of the early years come back, just from getting our first gigs in Las Vegas…Getting that first gig was a big deal because until then, we were just some guys playing around in an apartment and having song ideas, dreaming about what could be. We got turned down by all the big labels at first. We settled for this small label in England, [Lizard King], so they paid to have us come over for a week. We played four shows in London and the feeling was like, “well, this could be all we do. We got turned down by everybody and this little label believed in us. Maybe all this is gonna be is just one week,” so we really made the best of that one week and we played our hearts out every night. Our last show in London was very good and one that I don’t think we’ll ever forget cause we didn’t know if we were coming back.

Fortunately, we got a lot of good press from that, then when we got back home to America, the labels were interested [laughs], so that will always be a big high point for me. And then of course we got signed [to Island Records] and toured from the moment we got signed. We basically finished the record and started touring. We toured, made another record, toured, made another record, for seven to eight years, which brings me to after “Battle Born” when I just needed a break. So I took a little touring break, a recording break too, which a lot of people will never understand unless they’re in my shoes. I can understand that. I never wanted my favorite bands’ members to leave either, but where I’m at now is I’m back recording with them and probably gonna play some shows.

What did being off the road afford you and what have you missed?

Keuning: There’s one thing I miss about the road and everything else is a distant second. I miss playing the shows in front of the fans. That’s number one. Everything else is just 22 hours of the day where I’m not home and I gotta get in a car, or a van, or a bus, or an airplane, or whatever and I don’t do well traveling. I’m not one of those people who’s afraid to fly. I just don’t like to [laughs]. I don’t know if I’m claustrophobic or I can’t sit still. I just go stir crazy…

I don’t do drugs, but I understand why musicians that tour do. They’re always on the road and it totally makes sense because you’re just waiting around to play and doing the same thing every day. It was like a dream come true and I still like a lot of it. I still like seeing cities I love, the sights and seeing fans. I love all that, but you get tired of literally anything when you do it over, and over, and over, and over again. What I missed was just living a normal life for a little bit, just sleeping in the same bed for more than a few days and all the little things. I think I probably would’ve went nuts if I didn’t take a break.

Now that you’ve recharged, do you think you’ll be able to get out there with “A Mild Case Of Everything” before The Killers get going again?

Keuning: I 100 percent want to. I just don’t have anything booked right now. I’ve just been focusing on the music first. Now the pandemic is almost over and there’s some concerts in the near future that are starting to be set. Now that it’s a possibility, I guess I’ve gotta get organized [laughs]. I gotta get my band together to practice again and start playing out. Chicago was one of the places I wanted to play last time and I didn’t get to.

Your last show in Chicago, and with The Killers thus far, was headlining Lollapalooza.

Keuning: Actually, I have a crazy story about that. I mention the reason I took a break from touring was really I needed a break, but it was a hundred very small reasons. I didn’t have one big reason. It was like a hundred small reasons that added up to me being burnt out, but one of them was there were a lot of shootings around that time. I don’t want to sound like a coward or something, but I was kind of getting afraid of something happening at a festival. I had this weird feeling that something was going to happen at a festival, like a shooting, cause you’re exposed. If you’re gonna shoot people at a festival, maybe you’d aim for the people on stage first? I knew ahead of time that was my last show. I knew I was taking a break after that and I told the band that was it.

As it turns out, a few months after that shooting in Las Vegas happened at that [Route 91 Harvest] music festival, [it was discovered] the guy was in Chicago and he had considered Lollapalooza, but he didn’t have a good shooting angle or something. He was actually at that Lolla show that I played, but chose not to do it there and he chose Las Vegas instead. It’s a little crazy…Hopefully the future will be better. They’re checking for guns at all the shows now. I’ll probably not be playing places that have that kind of vantage point anymore. [Not having concerts where] people could shoot openly like that is hopefully what came out of that.

On a brighter note, how was the show and the city?

Keuning: That was a great show. In fact, I definitely didn’t want to take a break before playing that. I remember thinking that I had to get that in. If it was gonna be my last show, it would be a pretty good place to do it. I lived in Chicago for a brief time. I come from the Midwest, so I have a special place in my heart for Chicago.

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For additional information on Keuning, visit KeuningMusic.com.