Kings of Leon Interview with Nathan Followill (November 2007)

KINGS OF LEON

Fore! Kicks

by Craig Ablitt

If Kings Of Leon were a drug, they’d be the most pure form of heroin. The hit of Tennessee rock & roll you get from listening to their records is of the most untainted variety, with no junk or filth from the outside given chance to infiltrate the pleasure gained. As preachers sons; brothers Nathan, Jared, Caleb and cousin Matthew Followill weren’t allowed to listen to rock & roll thanks to their strong religious upbringing and had only listened to The Beatles when they were in their twenties, by which time they’d already formed Kings Of Leon. In Britain, where almost every band is spoon-fed by an industry trying to make them sound/look like the hottest band of the moment, Kings Of Leon, influenced by nobody but their own spirit, landed in Britain in 2003 looking more like rock & roll refugees with their unwashed denims, long hair and huge beards. To soundtrack their arrival, debut album Youth & Young Manhood was crammed full of brash, straight up, melody heavy rock & roll, which quickly ushered the Kings Of Leon to the bosom of every self-respecting music fan across the land. Britain hadn’t had it so good since Led Zeppelin were at their all-conquering best.

Four years on, several world tours completed, a second album in Aha Shake Heartbreak – equally as well received as the first, Kings Of Leon released album three Because Of The Times this year, which has elevated them to rock stratosphere. Although a record somewhat different to the unabashed simplistic guitar blasting rodeos of the first two; it is an album with tracks akin to the stadium shows they have sold out on their forthcoming UK tour. Today, we find drummer Nathan Followill backstage at Baltimore, Maryland ahead of another headline show in the USA, where they have now got to the point where they are starting to see their monumental success in Europe replicate itself back home.

“It’s weird man.” Followill begins to explain in thick Tennessee drawl. “There’s a drastic difference now when we play in the States than there was on the first two records. We’d come home from playing to 80 000 kids in Glastonbury and arrive back at the airport where our Mom was the only person that knew us,” he chuckles. “People used to laugh at us with our tight pants and moustaches, but it’s got to the point now where we’re playing some big big venues we’d never dreamed of playing at, let alone headlining.”

Herein lies the beauty of Kings Of Leon; they never dreamt, they just played rock & roll to see where it could take them. As mentioned, their preacher father Leon shielded them from usual human temptations: drugs, sex, alcohol, rock & roll etc. and kept the boys on an even keel – attending church, helping with chores in the neighbourhood and so forth. When rock & roll finally did find the Followill’s; they were already planning on moving away from the clutches of their religious upbringing and into the world of music, but it is this shielded lifestyle that makes Kings Of Leon all the more endearing: That the rock & roll they play comes straight from the heart and is in no way influenced or a replica of any other act – simply because they didn’t know who the others were.

“We had led pretty sheltered lives, especially musically,” Followill confesses. “We discovered rock & roll in a way most people did; break out a joint and listen to a Led Zeppelin record,” he says, still sounding impressed with his discovery. “We decided we wanted to do this when we got tired of painting houses in the summertime and working our asses off, so Caleb started writing songs with me and we thought ‘let’s give this a try’. We thought if we could sell 10 000 records we’d be happy,” he outlines. We got interest from a record company who came to see us play in our mom’s basement, so we thought ‘ok, we’ll just buy our brother a bass and our cousin a guitar. They came down, signed us and haven’t questioned anything since.”

And with their foray into the world of rock & roll arrived the women, the alcohol and the self-confessed use of drugs (although in a recent interview, Nathan said they’d stopped using cocaine “because they were scared to look their mother in the face”) that came with the territory of being in one of the world’s hottest bands, perhaps also as an act of rebellion against their upbringing. However, after four years of stories of groupies, supermodels, paparazzi attention and general debauchery, Followill tells us that these days the band get their kicks in a more civilised manner.

“We play golf everyday now,” he reveals. “Especially if we can get a day off, just to remove ourselves from the machine that is touring,” hinting of fractious times that may have occurred on the road. “At first, when we had to share hotel rooms, things got a bit crazy and we wanted to kill each other, but now everyone does their own thing and we have girlfriends now,” he says, fending off our persistent questions about life on the road. “The paparazzi thing is kinda funny though,” he laughs. “At first it’s great, we were like ‘we’ve made it!’ but that sort of stuff isn’t cool if they catch you picking your nose, scratching your ass or coming out of a club drunk!”

The press attention and frenzy that has started following the band around now is understandable, especially with people now comparing them to some of the greatest names in music history as they now venture into stadium territory alongside bands they once supported like U2 and Bob Dylan. But like anything that the band have had thrown at them so far; you get the impression from Followill that Kings Of Leon will just take it all in their stride.

“We’ve always been a fly by the seat of your pants sort of band and whatever happens, happens,” he explains. “When we toured with Dylan and U2, we saw that no matter how big the show was you could still have fun, even if there was 15 000 people out there, you can still make it intimate and be personal with the audience because you’re still playing music for your fans,” he points out, sounding more than ready to conquer Wembley.

As the touring commitments begin to wind down for the band after another whirlwind year, we ask Followill about the bands’ plans for the future with regards their fourth album, which he says will be out “winter or fall next year,” and his desires as to how far Kings Of Leon can take their sound. However, in true Kings Of Leon fashion they are planning for nothing. Record the record, see where it takes them.

“We’ve got to a point where we can play for 3000 to 5000 kids in any city in the world. Japan, South America, Australia, anywhere, you name it, we can fill the venue. I don’t think we’ll be touring as much in the future though. If any band toured as much as we have for another ten years then someone is going to get killed or go crazy!” he says, with real conviction. “We’ll be doing this for a long time though and always want to be creating good music for our fans as long as we are able and hopefully one day Dylan and U2 will be opening up for us.”