Kings of Leon
Night Moves, The Kings of Leon return with a dark new album

By Jeff Niesel

The opening track on Only by the Night, Kings of Leon’s fourth album, has such an eerie sound, it could be on the soundtrack to a horror film, something singer-guitarist Caleb Followill said wasn’t that far off the mark as he spoke abut the garage rock band’s new disc via phone from his Tennessee home. Recorded at Blackbird Studios with Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King turning the knobs, the disc shows just how far the band’s evolved since releasing its 2003 debut, Youth and Young Manhood, the album that introduced Caleb and his brothers — bassist Jared and drummer Nathan ( along with guitar-playing cousin Matthew Followill) to the world. On Night, Followill’s slurred vocals have a singular quality to them that’s even more pronounced than on previous efforts. After a summer of playing festivals in the UK, the band will take its show on the American road this October for an extensive headlining tour.

You just wrapped up a tour of the UK. How’d that go?

It was great. It was pretty easy. We did one show of our own and played a couple of festivals that were pretty amazing. We got a good slot. Last time we went over there, which was a month before this time, we were headlining all these festivals, which was great. We had the opportunity to go back and co-headline, but we didn’t have to play last. We had a killer slot where we could do our thing and then the Verve had to come out there and try to get them back. We had a chance to get some drinks in us before we went out there, so it worked out well.

What would have been a particular highlight from the tour?

I think one of the highlights was playing our own show. We played Brixton Academy, and we haven’t played that venue since two records ago. For us over there, it’s a small venue. The kids haven’t gotten to see us in that atmosphere for quite a while so it was cool to be that close to the fans. It was awesome.

Europe has always been receptive to the band. Why do you think that is?

I don’t know. I think they’ve always had an open mind to music. We came out as part of that new revolution I rock or whatever it was that was going on. You have a lot of music from a lot of places. When [fans] attached themselves to us, a lot of other bands either blew up worldwide or fell off the map altogether. We didn’t blow up world-wide, so we were their secret. I can tell that if we were get big world-wide, we might lose a few fans because they like having us as their backyard band.

What’s it like playing festivals and interacting with all those touchy musicians? You guys aren’t difficult to deal with, are you?

Yeah, there’s nothing high-maintenance about us. We don’t have anything crazy on our rider or anything. We always considered ourselves to be a live band. It’s all about us playing a show. We just need to have whiskey and vodka in the dressing room.

Tell me about the new album. You recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville. Is that someplace you’ve worked before?

We recorded our previous record there. It was like a homecoming in a way. It’s one of the last true great studios. The vibe in there is so cool. It’s made to have a good time. It’s not one of those studios where the only thing to do is record. The atmosphere is cool and there are cool hang rooms. Our two buddies from Tennessee were producing it. We were just having fun and making a record.

The album has such a dark mood to it, right from the opening notes of “Closer,” which sounds like it could be on the soundtrack to a horror movie. Talk about the album’s dark mood.

Well, the melodies and stuff were bigger than what we’ve come up with before. There was a bit of a darker vibe in the studio. I just had surgery and was medicated. That brought out few different sides to my personality that hopefully won’t return for a little while. “Closer” is about a vampire. That’s weird that you said that about an old horror film. We’ve been given control of two horror movies from the ’50s and plan to write some music for them.

I love all that distortion in “Crawl.” What’s the story behind that song?

That was a hook that my little brother started playing on the bass. After the last record, we had done a load of festival runs with Queens of the Stone Age. After watching them play every night, you start to get penis envy. As soon as he started that bass line, I thought, “Now we’re getting somewhere.” It was up to me to write a hook and the hook came while we were in the studio. I started singing that and my friend Angelo [Petraglia] who was producing was like, “Finally. No more of that love BS you’ve been singing about.”

How does your religious upbringing affect your music?

Well, I think everyone’s upbringing influences them in away whether it’s good or bad. Everyone who is artistic draws from something in the past, either from the way they were raised or an anger they have toward their parents. For me, I’ve had my struggles with the fact that at times I felt like we were held back from experiencing things other kids did. But I don’t think we would be here now if we had been allotted every thing that every other kids had. I think that comes across in our music. Whenever we had the opportunity to get on the road, it was like letting the cat out of the bag. I think that was a good thing. The older I get, I realize that just because I’m different in a lot of ways, we have good morals and that’s because of the way we were raised. I don’t think we had to get out there and get as crazy as every other band. We got crazy, but it only lasted us about three years. Now, we want to try to take this band to the next level. It’s not about walking off stage and looking for drugs. Next time, we want to be playing in a bigger place and looking for drugs.

What about Southern rock. Is that something you grew up listening to?

No. I didn’t. I never understood that when people said that. I always listened to Tom Petty and Led Zeppelin and even stuff like Credence Clearwater, which sounds Southern. If we are considered the new modern version of Southern rock, that’s cool. You have bands like us and My Morning Jacket and even bands like the Whigs. I think of it as rock ’n’ roll. It’s funny that they used to call us Southern rock and the Southern Strokes. Finally, one of the Allman Brothers came to see us in New York and they asked him, “What do you think about this new Southern rock band?” He said, “They sound British to me.”

How important has the brotherly bond been in terms of keeping the group together?

Well, we’re still going. I think that’s a testament for it in itself. A lot of other bands don’t have the work ethic we do. In a sense, I think that’s because you’re going around with strangers. We’ve always kept each other in check and that’s allowed us to keep us going. At the end of the day, your family is going to knock you off your high horse if you get too big for your britches. There’s a lot of great that comes with it. There’s not so great stuff that comes with it, too. But I think the good outweighs the bad.

I think Only by the Night might become a defining album for the band. How do you cope with the expectations?

At this point, I don’t know. I quit getting my hopes up. With every record, I feel that this is the one. If it happens, it happens. If it don’t, we’re still blessed to do what we do. We make enough money on the road to where we’re not struggling musicians. With every record we try to beat the one before. I don’t know if that will always happen. A lot of people might not think we’ve done that. There are still people that like our first record the most. We’re just going to keep going out there and doing it. If we wake up and have some popularity, I think we’ll be ready for it. We’ve seen it on such a large scale in other places, I don’t think America will scare us away.