Some 25 years since they started and a good 20 years after their debut album "Youth And Young Manhood," the Kings of Leon have finally grown up. The brothers Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill, along with their cousin Matthew are now, by their own reckoning, much more relaxed than before. This applies both to the relationships among the band and family members with each other as well as to their music.
As if to prove it, now their ninth studio album, titled "Can We Please Have Fun," shows a particularly laid back-looking shot of band members on the cover.
"I don't think people realized that on our first record we weren't really great musicians," 44-year-old drummer Nathan Followill tells dpa. "Jared had just learned how to play the bass. Caleb had just learned how to play guitar. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves from record to record to grow musically, grow as a person. I think there were definitely some records that we put way too much pressure on ourselves, like after a big successful record. It's hard not to go in there with the next one and have that in the back of your mind."
Good vibes in the studio
Before heading on a new world tour, starting out this summer in England, the Kings of Leon were in a good mood during a brief visit to London to talk about their new album. "The whole vibe was positivity and just let's have fun with it and make what we want to make and do whatever we want to do," is how guitarist Matthew, 39, describes the studio sessions.
The album title "Can We Please Have Fun" can well be taken literally. It was, after all, the slogan that the Followills, who live between 5 and 45 minutes' driving distance from one another, kept in mind when entering their studio in Nashville, Tennessee. "We simply wanted to have fun and do an album the way we wanted and do what we felt like doing," Matthew says.
With the hip British producer Kid Harpoon, who produced Harry Styles' successful album "Harry's House," creativity was given free rein - a situation favoured by the fact that the band was temporarily without a contract.
"When you have a record label, you're making a record, you know at the end of the record, they're going to come in and want to listen to it, and then they give their opinion on, 'Oh, I think that should be a single. This should be...' So once again, that's in the back of your mind. You don't want it to be, but it's impossible not to," Nathan says.
"This was like, this is our record. We can do whatever we want on this record, nothing is off limits. We can be as experimental as we want. And doing it with Kid Harpoon, oh, my God, could not have done it with a greater guy. He's just an absolute sweetheart. Just a positive vibe."
Experimental, but still unmistakable
The unconventional first single sounds experimental and yet is trademark Kings Of Leon. In "Mustang," a rough, driving rock song with a gloomy bass line, frontman Caleb speaks rather than sings before howling the chorus. This summer, thousands of fans are sure to be howling along with him. It is this combination of headstrong rock and catchy passages that makes the Kings Of Leon sound so unmistakable, despite their musical development.
The dozen songs on the new album are more versatile and lively than the somewhat mild predecessor "When You See Yourself." The marvellous "Ballerina Radio" kicks things off with striking synthesizers. It's Matthew's favourite song on the album: "I'm really happy that it was first because I feel like it's the one that I'm most proud of and I want people to hear."
"Nothing To Do" is a furious rock number with unmistakable post-punk influences and surprising harmonies in the chorus. The atmospheric "Split Screen," on the other hand, is a ballad. As on previous Kings Of Leon albums, many songs on "Can We Please Have Fun" need playing a few times before they fully unfold for the listener.
Followill family harmony
Tensions, disputes and arguments among the Followills are now a thing of the past. According to Nathan, working with family members as colleagues is easier today than it used to be.
"I think as we've gotten older, it's easier because you don't let little petty things get under your skin. Because as family, you know what buttons to push. You know how to get to somebody with a sibling, especially," he said. "I think we just got older and realized it's a waste of time to spend that much energy on something negative."
The fact that they recorded "Can We Please Have Fun" not just anywhere, but in their home state of Tennessee, also made the work much more pleasant for the four family men, says Nathan. After a busy day in the studio, they were all able to return home to their own families.
"[That] always makes it a little easier - to be with your family when you're away from work, to be able to separate the two," the drummer says. When doing an album together with his brothers, "I am also working "with my family. So that's hard," he says with a grin.
