Name: Mark Stoermer
Birthdate: June 28,1977
City: Las Vegas, NV
Instruments: Bass
Guitar
Mark Stoermer is the bassist and backing vocalist for the band The Killers. Stoermer, was born in Texas but his family moved to Las Vegas, NV
where he attended Chaparral High School. He played trumpet in the jazz ensemble and graduated in 1995. He later took music classes and studied philosophy at
the UNLV, where he also played in the marching band.
Mark worked as a medical courier, shipping bio hazardous materials and live organs for transplants in the Vegas Valley area. During this time he studied his
musical favorites, The Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Television, and others on his car stereo. Stoermer's previous bands
include Habit Rouge, and the Negative Ponies, with whom he played guitar. He got to know The Killers in 2002 and filled in as a temporary bass player
off and on through that year. He officially joined the band in early 2003, after Ronnie Vannucci Jr. joined the band on drums.
Mark's greatest influences include The Beatles, The Who, Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, and The Mars Volta. While Stoermer's father is an Australian and US citizen, Mark did not visit Australia until the band's 2004 tour to that country in support of the
album Hot Fuss. He is of German descent, and enjoys dual citizenship in the United States and Australia. The street he grew up on is atop a hill
that has a direct "twelve o'clock" view of the Sam's Town marquee neon sign, which is about a half-mile away. This is the hotel after which the band's
second album and opening track are named. The vantage point of the sign from his street is perhaps the inspiration for the bridge section on the song
"Sam's Town."
Mark is is a tall person, better than 6 feet 5 inches. He doesn't smoke or drink and his favorite drink is Orange Juice. Mark prefers to play the bass with his thumb,
as opposed to finger picking (with the index and middle fingers) or using a pick.
