Post by therunner on Aug 23, 2008 13:30:01 GMT
Tried scanning the article but the image wouldn't load 
So I just typed it out. Enjoy
Kings of Leon: Their first UK show was in High Wycombe and smelt like "bad body lotion and spilt alochol". Their last was headlining Glastonbury. But what of the furture?
To see them arrive in 2003 on a wave of hype as the Amazing Teenage Bearded Southern Strokes, you might not have put a lot of money on the Followill clan headlining Glastonbury five years later. But the truth is, as their peers have fallen away, they’ve just kept getting better, particularly in the song writing department, and keep touring. In December they’re moving into the arenas to tour their new album, Only By The Night, though first they’ve got the V-festivals and a one-off London date in August. Singer Caleb, now “an old man” of 26, is raring to go all over again.
Hallo Caleb, what corner of the globe are you in today?
I’m actually at home on my couch right now.
At home? I didn’t know you lot went home.
Well, visits are few and far between. The last tour was only a month or so, a load of festivals around Europe.
So, how was Glastonbury?
Oh, it was good, really good. I was pretty freaked out, pacing around, wondering how it was gonna go, but as soon as we walked out there I felt a lot of love from the crowd. We were all aware it was a big moment. All our family were at home having big parties gathered round the Internet, we had a lot of people rooting for us.
Had you heard a few people though you weren’t up to it?
Yeah, we heard about that. But in all honestly we’ve always been the underdogs and we’ve actually liked that. We kinda got thrown to the wolves pretty early on, but if that hadn’t happened we might have had the downfalls other bands have had- once people love everything about you in the beginning. There’s not really anywhere to go and you spend the rest of you career trying to repeat that one moment.
Instead, you’ve grown steadily, all the way to the arenas.
Yeah, it’s still shocking to us. Just this last month, I’d say we played to close to 400,000 people, and most bands can’t play to that in a lifetime.
Was the new album made with playing live in mind?
Due to the way the music industry works these days, we’ve always prepared ourselves to play live. We record live and we know we’d better be able to do it every night. And I feel like these new songs have a larger feel in a lot of ways. This is our fourth album and we’re a little savvy; we didn’t second-guess ourselves so much- there was times when I was writing a simple lyric but I knew the musicianship around it meant I didn’t need to complicate it. We’ve grown a lot as musicians- the fact that we never fucking sleep and are always on the road helps.
Talking of which, are you behaving? Because it looked like you were getting yourselves into trouble at one point…
I think it all did become a little too much. We’re all pretty resilient but the work was starting to suffer. When the tour was over for ASH we all started to question if that was the end. Then one by one we all took a week off drugs- we’d see one of the others and think “Oh man, you look really healthy! Maybe I’ll try it…” And then, before you know it, it’s been a month since you’ve done anything and you don’t really want to do anything. It helped that Nashville’s not exactly known for its cocaine.
Are your shows getting full of songs you have to play?
There’s songs we’d have taken out of the set, but I’d hate to go out there and be the stubborn artist. We’ve tried to not repeat ourselves from album to album, and that helps; you can have a portion that’s a punk rock show, a portion that’s sped-up country music, then the slow songs.
Do you still remember the first gig you played?
Well I absolutely remember our first show in the UK. It was in High Wycombe and we couldn’t get into our dressing room ‘cos the strippers hadn’t finished. Everything smelt like bad body lotion and spilt alcohol. And then we went out and it was like mass hysteria, kids jumping onstage and screaming and all.
We’d only played a handful of shows in the US to about 15 or 20 people and we were just standing there wondering what in hell was going on. And since then, every show in the UK has had that vibe- the stage gets a bit further away each time but it’s the same thing.
So I just typed it out. Enjoy
Kings of Leon: Their first UK show was in High Wycombe and smelt like "bad body lotion and spilt alochol". Their last was headlining Glastonbury. But what of the furture?
To see them arrive in 2003 on a wave of hype as the Amazing Teenage Bearded Southern Strokes, you might not have put a lot of money on the Followill clan headlining Glastonbury five years later. But the truth is, as their peers have fallen away, they’ve just kept getting better, particularly in the song writing department, and keep touring. In December they’re moving into the arenas to tour their new album, Only By The Night, though first they’ve got the V-festivals and a one-off London date in August. Singer Caleb, now “an old man” of 26, is raring to go all over again.
Hallo Caleb, what corner of the globe are you in today?
I’m actually at home on my couch right now.
At home? I didn’t know you lot went home.
Well, visits are few and far between. The last tour was only a month or so, a load of festivals around Europe.
So, how was Glastonbury?
Oh, it was good, really good. I was pretty freaked out, pacing around, wondering how it was gonna go, but as soon as we walked out there I felt a lot of love from the crowd. We were all aware it was a big moment. All our family were at home having big parties gathered round the Internet, we had a lot of people rooting for us.
Had you heard a few people though you weren’t up to it?
Yeah, we heard about that. But in all honestly we’ve always been the underdogs and we’ve actually liked that. We kinda got thrown to the wolves pretty early on, but if that hadn’t happened we might have had the downfalls other bands have had- once people love everything about you in the beginning. There’s not really anywhere to go and you spend the rest of you career trying to repeat that one moment.
Instead, you’ve grown steadily, all the way to the arenas.
Yeah, it’s still shocking to us. Just this last month, I’d say we played to close to 400,000 people, and most bands can’t play to that in a lifetime.
Was the new album made with playing live in mind?
Due to the way the music industry works these days, we’ve always prepared ourselves to play live. We record live and we know we’d better be able to do it every night. And I feel like these new songs have a larger feel in a lot of ways. This is our fourth album and we’re a little savvy; we didn’t second-guess ourselves so much- there was times when I was writing a simple lyric but I knew the musicianship around it meant I didn’t need to complicate it. We’ve grown a lot as musicians- the fact that we never fucking sleep and are always on the road helps.
Talking of which, are you behaving? Because it looked like you were getting yourselves into trouble at one point…
I think it all did become a little too much. We’re all pretty resilient but the work was starting to suffer. When the tour was over for ASH we all started to question if that was the end. Then one by one we all took a week off drugs- we’d see one of the others and think “Oh man, you look really healthy! Maybe I’ll try it…” And then, before you know it, it’s been a month since you’ve done anything and you don’t really want to do anything. It helped that Nashville’s not exactly known for its cocaine.
Are your shows getting full of songs you have to play?
There’s songs we’d have taken out of the set, but I’d hate to go out there and be the stubborn artist. We’ve tried to not repeat ourselves from album to album, and that helps; you can have a portion that’s a punk rock show, a portion that’s sped-up country music, then the slow songs.
Do you still remember the first gig you played?
Well I absolutely remember our first show in the UK. It was in High Wycombe and we couldn’t get into our dressing room ‘cos the strippers hadn’t finished. Everything smelt like bad body lotion and spilt alcohol. And then we went out and it was like mass hysteria, kids jumping onstage and screaming and all.
We’d only played a handful of shows in the US to about 15 or 20 people and we were just standing there wondering what in hell was going on. And since then, every show in the UK has had that vibe- the stage gets a bit further away each time but it’s the same thing.
