Kings Of Leon - Nottingham, UK, Winter 2004
By: Rob Webb
It's 1am, and two of the Followills enter the room through a side-door. Within seconds of stepping into the club proper, the pair are approached by several groups of people, all with three things in common. They're young, they're female, and they're very keen to see the Kings Of Leon tour-bus.
And around the time of debut album 'Youth and Young Manhood,' they might have got lucky, too. But not tonight.
'We've settled down a lot,' claims lead guitarist Matthew before the show. 'In the beginning, we'd see how many girls we could get with, but at some point you think, 'Shit! I've gotta slow down...''
Not much chance of that. The band are due to fly home to Tennessee for Christmas, but the schedule for promoting new album 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' will see them on the road for much of 2005.
'We've got a whole year of stuff lined up, without a break,' he croaks. 'I wish we'd waited a little bit longer for the second record; it means I get home on Christmas Eve at 11pm!'
Indeed, they're in danger of becoming workaholics. Nineteen-year-old Matthew says the band planned a two-month break after the first album but got so bored at home they started writing songs.
'Caleb or Jared or me would play something on the guitar, just a melody maybe, and then we'd all sit around and write the song. Before we knew it, we were in LA making the record.'
The band recorded the traditionally difficult second album with debut-LP producer Ethan Johns over a series of live sessions. Recorded more spontaneously than their debut, 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' was finished after just six weeks in the studio.
'The first record, we'd try and go in and play, but if someone messed up we'd just overdub their part.,' explains Matthew. 'This album's pretty much all live; there's no vocal booths or anything like that... we just stood in a circle and played.'
The result is an album 'a lot better than the last one,' according to the guitarist. Critics seem to agree; across the board, 'Aha...' was voted one of 2004's brightest releases.
So, it's been only slightly a successful year for the Kings, playing sold out shows around the world and appearing on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury. Matthew describes playing on the same bill as Oasis, apparently at Noel and Liam's request, as 'the biggest show of our lives; 90,000 people or something. I was nervous for that, man!'
They needn't have worried, because while the Gallagher brothers sulked their way through the Friday night headline set, the four youngsters from Tennessee took the plaudits with a typically energetic display. The petulant secret, seemingly, is drinking Red Bull before a gig.
'It makes you think good,' he smirks. 'That's what they say, and it works.'
So too, it seems, does sporting prodigious facial hair. Singer Caleb and bass player Jared were told by record label RCA that their good looks could help the band become successful. Their response was to grow beards 'to try and make them look ugly.' Judging by the various rumours about their conquests on that first tour, it didn't work. But in the period between the two albums, 'they got bored' with the beards and ditched their trademark look in favour of a little experimentation.
'Caleb had a moustache for a while. When we went home I said, 'Dude, you should shave that off.' He thought about it and eventually did, but I just couldn't get used to seeing him without it. Every time I'd just bust out laughing, and it almost offended him.'
Matthew is similarly amused by the rumour that they've fabricated their family's past and are a manufactured group masterminded by a Pete Waterman-style 'guru.'
'One magazine tried to delve into our history; they called some preacher that we used to know and interviewed him, but we don't care... Say what you want, we know whether it's true or not.'
He admits to missing home when the band tours. 'It kinda sucks,' he says in his telltale southern drawl, 'there's nowhere to take a shower, and I don't think I've ever even heard of a shower on a bus... It's a lot easier now, though, we've got a bigger crew ... we even have people to give us massages.'
But with the band already testing new material at soundcheck, there's not much time for relaxation. 'We'll probably have another LP out soon,' admits the overworked teen. Say what you like about them, but the Kings Of Leon still don't believe in wasting time.
Artists in this article: Kings Of Leon