Son of a Preacher Man: EXCLUSIVE Q&A with a King of Leon
By Robert Frezza
May 30, 2010 2:20 PM MST
The comeback story of the past few years should really be the story of rock n roll. Last year Kings of Leon broke mainstream with Only By The Night, their fourth LP. Unfortunately, though one single stayed in heavy rotation and that was “Use Somebody”. The whole album is a must listen.
When Kings of Leon broke with their contagious single, “Sex On Fire” it left many fans divided on the fact that the band had changed their musical style, but if anything they evolved. Lead singer Caleb Followill’s vocals became distinct and now unmistakable. The fact that Followills are all related (three brothers and one cousin) made the public turn their heads once again.
It wasn’t all fun though growing up under such strict influences down south. The Followills were a strong knit family and sons of Ivan “Leon” Followill born and raised in Nashville, Tennnessee. While Ivan took duties as a United Pentecostal Church preacher, their mother, Betty-Ann, made sure the boys were home schooled when they were not in school. As an upcoming band in the Tennessee area, the Followills were denied the music they enjoyed—the Rolling Stones, The Clash, and Thin Lizzy in particular, that is until they met producer Angelo Petraglia. He saw the band’s potential and helped them launch their music into the stratosphere.
The boys were received well in Europe at first, until the crossover began here in the states. The public, once again, divided upon the fact that they traded in the southern roots for Top 40 success. The band has been an evolving door since their 2003’s EP Holy Roller Novocaine.
In an exclusive interview with Examiner.com, I was able to track down Caleb Followill before their second major concert line up here in the states and we talked about the upcoming tour, the band’s new album, and much more.
Now that you have expanded your audience to such a wider level than just the indie scene, how do you think your music is now connecting with the mainstream masses?
That’s a good question. I think it’s definitely connecting with the mainstream audience more so than we ever thought our music would. Some bands might see it as a negative thing, but we see it as a very positive one. The fact that we have a wider audience and a lot more people’s attention; the real test is too see if they want to continue on the journey and go where we want musically.
There are two new albums in the works right now—a remix album and an entire new album. What is the status of those right now?
Well, we put the remix album on hold right now until we feel like it’s necessary. We don’t want to saturate the market too much and have too many things out there to where people are like, “to hell with Kings of Leon, they are everywhere”.
As for the new album, though, today is actually our last day in the studio and we are wrapping it up and we really enjoy it.
Are you planning on playing any new material on your upcoming summer tour?
We will play as much as we can, we will play the stuff that just feels best live. The way technology is now, though, it’s kind of hard to play too much because you don’t want people to listen to songs on YouTube for eight months. It loses a lot of the romance that way.
What has the band been listening to in preparation for the new record?
Yes, lots of stuff: Beach House, The Big Pink, Colored Music, and the Drums. Temper Trap has some cool stuff. I’ve been listening to a lot of Kris Kristofferson for lyrical content.
Do you think you’ve planted the seeds for a new rock revolution to begin?
I think we are one of the bands, that if you actually show people you work really hard, you can be more than just the hyped band; you can actually make a career out of it. We’re still trying everyday to do something bigger and better. We just want to make sure that we are growing as a band every time.
Hopefully we are keeping the dream alive for all those bands that are in their garages and work and see if there is label interest. If you are not working your hardest, well then, your gonna fall to the side like a lot of bands do, but we’ll just keep working as hard as we possibly can.
What can you say to the older generation of Kings of Leon fans?
I think a lot of times you get backlash and I struggled with it for a while. But you know, there comes a point in your life when you have to settle in your own skin and be happy for everything that you have.
By the end of the day, we have to write music that makes us happy and the day that we stop loving what we do, that is the day that we will quit and that is the day that all the people who hate us right now will come back and say that we were good.
Do you feel like the pressure is on to follow up with Only By The Night?
It’s actually kind of weird because we love our fan base in the U.K. and Europe and we love everything they have done for us. Oddly enough, there was this long period where we felt like we didn’t know if we would ever have an American fan base that stood and believed in us. In the back of my mind, though, I’m still thinking that we don’t lose our fans in Europe.
You guys are touring smaller markets this time around. How does this tour differ from the last, if at all?
The expectations that the crowd has on us and the expectations we have on the crowd are pretty similar. So, us going to a small town–I’d say it is as much of a challenge to the crowd as it is to us. I’m looking forward to doing smaller venues. These are the shows that take us back when we were just playing shows and hoping to God that we could win over some fans.
Last but not least, how have you been helping the cause in Nashville floods right now?
We’re trying to put a little benefit concert together and we want to do this for Nashville. When we get the opportunity to do this though, we want to have a lot of cool bands play.
Kings of Leon are playing Darien Lake July 30.
For more info on KOL please check out: http://www.kingsofleon.com/
