The Killers' new Christmas song is inspired by "cowboy poetry." The Las Vegas rockers released their fifth festive track today and say that "The Cowboy's Christmas Ball" has a Western theme after frontman Brandon Flowers sought ideas from his reading material.

"Brandon had a book of cowboy poetry and we took one of those and put music to it. It's got this 1800s parlance, Western style. It's pretty upbeat and very down-home sounding - and overall pretty cool," said drummer Ronnie Vannucci.

As well as their Christmas single, The Killers are also recording the follow-up to 2008's album Day and Age, and Ronnie is pleased with the work they have done so far: "It's going really well. We've got a lot of stuff to choose from so now it's just getting it right - we're taking our time and making sure we're doing a good job."

Proceeds from "The Cowboy's Christmas Ball" will be donated to Project Red, the charity founded by U2's Bono, which aims to raise awareness and funds to help eradicate AIDS in Africa.