Kings Of Leon

Profile: Kings Of Leon
Words: Matt Thompson

Send Them Victorious

This year has seen Kings Of Leon take their rightful place on the throne of rock royalty. Frontman Caleb Followill explains that no-one saw it coming – not even them.

As 2007 draws to a close and the nation’s pop pickers compile their end of year rundowns, there’s one band that will be present in the higher echelons of every decent league table. That band is Kings of Leon.
Boasting one of the year’s most indisputably impressive records in ‘Because Of The Times’, the band have also proved to be both a solid and thrilling live proposition these last twelve months, blowing Razorlight off the stage at Reading and Leeds, and rounding things off with a massive tour of Britain’s most enormous arena venues. As frontman Caleb Followill tells The Fly, the band’s huge success is something that has “surprised and thrilled” him in equal measure.
“We’ve always had some success in the UK,” he says, his tour bus rushing him towards Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, where he’s due to play that evening. “But this is the first album where we had a little while between records, so we didn’t know if people still remembered us or gave two shits about what we were up to. You know, we think it’s an honour that our fans did still care and it’s amazing cos nowadays, with the record industry so fucked up, we’re actually in the top percentage of record sellers. A lot of bands don’t sell records. You look at their first week sales and they’re like ‘wow’ but, if you watch, that drops off steadily and drops off extremely. With us we’ve just had this slow build that keeps going and we keep selling. You can’t ask for anything better than that.”
But of course, there’s much of the KoL story that can’t be illustrated by a balance sheet or album chart. Famed for their party hard ways, the Followill foursome have toned down their revelry in recent months, concerned their excesses were coming at too high a price for the band.
“You know, I’m mesmerised by intoxication, I think it’s a really beautiful thing,” says Caleb, his excited Tennessee drawl becoming almost a caricature of itself. “But it’s taken it’s toll on us at times. In fact, I think it’s a miracle that we’re still together really. We had some tough times, some really tough times, and we knew that if we maintained the lifestyle we had, we couldn’t continue as a band – we’d end up dead or just hating each other.”
“I think a lot of it had to do with the drug use and stuff like that. You know, your ego can get so big that the fact we’re all family kinda gets taken out of the picture. It’s like in your head you’re the lead singer of a band or you’re the drummer or you’re the bass player… There were times at the beginning when I tried to remind everyone all the time that I was Caleb Followill. That was kinda silly, but now I think we all lay back a little bit. You know, we still like to have a good time and all, but I think we’ve got it under control a little bit now. We can see that we’re really blessed to do what we do and really blessed to have people that love what we do too. We now know there’s a thin line between how much fun you can have and how much work you have to do, and yeah, we’re trying to stick it out for the long haul. We want to be on the cover of ‘Rolling Stone’. It’s like what bands aimed at in the old days. The cover of the ‘Rolling Stone’ man – that’s what we’re working for.”
With such goals clear in their sights, the band confess to being ruthless in the pursuit of their ambitions, determined wholly to be the very best at what they do. “We’ve got a huge competitive drive,” admits Caleb. “I mean very, very competitive. We have this family trait that makes us want to be the best. Our dads were that way too – they were like the best athletes and my dad was the greatest preacher. Anything our family touches they try to give it all they’ve got, and we’ve got that so strong inside of us. I mean, man, I love hearing new records that inspire me, but equally as much as I’m inspired it pisses me off and I think ‘fuck man, if we don’t stay on our toes someone’s gonna come and take our place’. That’s why I think we cleaned up our act. And why we work so hard. I mean, we’re one of the hardest working bands – we travel non-stop, we’ve been touring this album for a year straight – and we’re always trying to challenge ourselves and make albums that are different and fresh and not just the same as the last one.”
Such variety of sound has been much spoken about elsewhere already, some commentators insisting the band’s continual and ever more enormous development is the sign of an act growing into their stride, with others stressing the influence of huge tours with the likes of U2 and Bob Dylan; the Kings quickly learning that to fill massive venues takes a massive sound. For Caleb, while he discredits neither point, he insists there’s something far more straightforward at play – a deep rooted affection for music. “Really, the reason we make records like we do is that we all have to absolutely love the songs. Literally, when we get time to play together we’ll mess about with certain things and when there’s something that hits us all, that’s the song that I’ll write. You know, occasionally, you’re obviously gonna have a song where it’s something that I have to get off my chest and the other guys might not like playing it so much, but I mean, for the most part, even if there’s a song that just I wanted to write, everyone else makes sure the parts they play are parts that they love and parts that they can play for the rest of their lives if they have to. It’s so important. Everyone in this band knows they can’t be dead weight. You can’t have a song where three of us are playing something brilliant and one person’s playing something really boring. I’m the only one that gets to play the boring stuff, as long as I’m singing good.” Continuing his point, he goes on: “You know, it’s about maintaining that quality. I really don’t want to sound cocky, but I want our albums to be timeless. But saying that, I want them to be relevant now too. So a lot of the time I think about kids and what’s going on in the world when I’m making records. Just because I’m in love with classic songs and traditional songs, that doesn’t mean I want our music to be so traditional that kids can’t relate to it – I don’t want to make old people’s music.”
But while the band strive to remain youthful in their musical endeavours, away from studio and stage they’re each beginning slowly to settle down. So as well as curbing their once wild ways, the band now also allow themselves girlfriends, separate lives outside of the band and are even finding themselves pining for a more simplistic life after Kings of Leon’s eventual demise – whenever that may be. Elaborating further, Caleb says: “It’s odd really because right now we all have females in our lives, whereas in the beginning I didn’t have a girlfriend and I didn’t want one. Our rule was no girls on the bus – I mean obviously there were girls on the bus, but they weren’t allowed to travel with us and shit cos I was a dick – but I didn’t want anything to get in the way. So when I used to see other members of the band trying to bring girls around, my jealousy made me think that was really selfish of them because we had so much work still to do. But we’re in a really good space now and I realise that whatever keeps us together, that’s the main thing. When you have a schedule like we do, you need something else that you can relate to. We all know we’re never gonna let a woman be involved in the music or anything, and our girlfriends know the roles that they’re gonna play. But it’s good to have something like that, something homely and regular. When you’re on the road you dream about things like that – the simple things. You know, I like to take out the garbage. I like to check the mail. I love it when something breaks in the house and you have to sit there and try to fix it. I mean we don’t have to fix it – we know we have people who’ll do that for us – but it feels good to roll up your sleeves and actually do something.”
And while it seems difficult to imagine Kings of Leon as domesticates, the band are now also turning their hands to property development, albeit in a rather more rock n roll fashion than you’re likely to see on ‘Location, Location, Location’.
“Right now, we’re in the process of building at our farm back home,” says Caleb. “We’re gonna put a bar on there – a fully equipped bar that’ll have a stage, some pool tables and a chef onboard… I wanna be able to stumble in there when I’m completely wasted and record every night and see what comes out. I’m hoping our friends can come around and have jamming sessions. I want my friends and family to be able to be together and enjoy themselves watching the football and shit like that. It sounds great to me right now. I’m sure it’ll be a bit of work, but we’ve already got the plot picked out and we know what it’s gonna look like – it’s gonna have a porch and a horseshoe pit beside it, and it’ll be right by the pond and we’re gonna have these lights shooting up and shit… It sounds like I’m high, but I’m really not. Although I think I was high when I thought up the idea.”
So with life much changed and far calmer than in recent years, there’s still one thing that remains consistent in KoL’s world – the brother’s unbreakable bond. It’s something Caleb credits for the band’s longevity and it’s something he’s as determined as ever to protect.
“Because we’re brothers, we get to speak our minds, be completely honest and really go for it,” he says. “We have serious fights over music or whatever, but at the end of the day you look over and it’s your brother or it’s your cousin and you kinda have that soft spot in your heart.
“You know, I think a lot of people would consider us not approachable cos we’re all kind of shy and we’re family, so we’re a lot closer to each other than we are to anyone else. But really this is how we all grew up with each other. We can make friends quickly – we’ve had to cos we’ve never got to stay in one place for too long – but we can also forget about people pretty quickly. That’s a downside, I guess, but it can also be a good thing. You know, a lot of people they want to come and be a part of your little thing, but they don’t wanna bring anything to the table; they just wanna latch on and be seen with you. Right now we don’t really need that. We’ve got a lot of good things going on, and if anyone fucks with us I’m the first one that’s gonna say something because in my heart this is my baby. It’s my music and I’m not gonna let anyone try and manipulate it. But on top of that it’s my brothers you’re talking about as well as my band. So, you know, I wouldn’t want to be someone that tried to stand in the way of us, cos, believe me, I will kick your ass…”
Mellowed they may have done, but it’s clear KoL are still eager, hungry and fighting on all fronts.
Kings Of Leon tour throughout November.