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ON THE COUCH WITH: Kings Of Leon

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: Hey Matthew. How are you mate?
Matthew: I’m good.

Access All Areas.net.au: The bands new album, ‘Because Of The Times’, is being released this week. Are you boys excited about it finally being out there in the public?
Matthew: Yeah, we’re all really excited. We’ve actually had this record done for a while. I think that we’ve been sitting on it for about a year, so it will be good to finally get it out there. It was actually released online earlier this week, but I’m excited about it coming out in the stores. I know that we all want to hear what everyone thinks and hear some feedback.

Access All Areas.net.au: This album is meant to be a small departure from the bands usual sound. Did you guys feel any pressure when writing or recording this album?
Matthew: The recording of this album was actually stress-free. We knew that we wanted a different sound. We hate albums that sound all the same. We actually hate bands that sound all the same. We were determined to make this record different. We toured with some bigger bands last year, so we got to play in bigger venues and arenas. We loved how our old songs sounded in there, so I guess we wanted to make something we could take to an arena. We wanted a huge sounding record, and I think we achieved that.

Access All Areas.net.au: The new album opens with a 7-minute song called Knocked Up. That’s a little unusual for an opening track. What’s the story behind that?
Matthew: That song is as far out as we’ve ever gone. It’s 1 of the most different songs we’ve ever done and it sounds a lot different to our usual sound. Like you said, it is unusual to open an album with a 7-minute song, but that’s why we did it. We wanted to let people know, from the start, that this album is different from the others. It was a ballsy thing to do, but we don’t care. If you don’t like it then skip to Track 2.

Access All Areas.net.au: You boys played SXSW recently. Did you catch any bands that you like?
Matthew: We’re losers actually. We’re not that cool (laughs). We didn’t see any bands. We spent most of the time in our hotel rooms or doing press and interviews. There was one band I wish I had seen though. They’re called Mew and their record is amazing. Everyone said they were great live and I wish I had of gone. Actually, we did see Razorlight. They were good. I just wish I had of seen a few more bands.

Access All Areas.net.au: Kings of Leon played with big name acts last year, like Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam. What was that like? Did you guys learn anything?
Matthew: Well Caleb only says about two words during our set. He’ll usually only say “Thank you” or “We’re the Kings Of Leon”. That’s it. Pearl Jam is amazing live. They have the ability to connect with the audience and make them feel as if they are part of the show as well. So we learnt a little bit of that kind of stuff from them. We also learnt how to write a great setlist from Pearl Jam. They have such an amazing collection of songs. Pearl Jam are the nicest guys. We’d go have after parties with them and just have a great time with them. We also went surfing with them. Bob Dylan is different. We just didn’t know what to say to him. We’d say hello to each other, and he’d wish us luck for our show, but that’s it. Like, what do you say to BOB DYLAN?

Access All Areas.net.au: If there were anyone that you would love to tour with, who would it be?
Matthew: Oh that’s a tough one. You mean of like all time? Because touring with U2 was pretty amazing and close to our dream tour. Actually I’d also like to tour with Joy Division. And The Cure. I know that we don’t sound anything like those bands, but they are the bands that I love. We’ve played right before The Cure at a festival before, but it’s not the same.

Access All Areas.net.au: Are there any plans to tour Australia soon?
Matthew: There are no plans that are set in concrete yet, but I would say that we should be there around the end of the year…or maybe for the Big Day Out. I don’t know. We’ve done the Big Day Out a few times and we love it, but we love doing our own shows as well. So it’s not definite, but it is safe to say that we should be down there by the end of the year.

Access All Areas.net.au: What are you currently listening to?
Matthew: Our new record… joking man (laughs). Um… that band I mentioned before, Mew. I also really like some of the Klaxons songs. There’s also a song by Cold War Kids that I love. We don’t really get into albums. We get into a few songs by bands, but it’s never an album as a whole.

Access All Areas.net.au: The artwork for the album shows a light bulb exploding. Can you explain the artwork?
Matthew: It stands for a couple of things. It stands for something and it hopefully being pushed over the edge. It’s like the album is an explosion of music and the light bulb is exploding, so…yeah. When we saw it, it looked like how the record sounds. A big bang. We’re happy with it.

Access All Areas.net.au: Thanks Matthew.
Matthew: All right man. Right on.

Interview by Simon Finck

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

"I think people tend to expect a certain sound from us," says Kings of Leon's drummer Nathan Followill, "but on this record, we tried to throw them for a loop."

Indeed, it's not business as usual on the Nashville-based quartet's ambitious, eclectic new album 'Because Of The Times'. Where Kings of Leon's last release, 2005's 'Aha Shake Heartbreak', was "a fuzz-encrusted rocket of controlled violence," as Rolling Stone put it, packed with emphatic two-minute bursts of raunchy guitars, brawny drums, and growled vocals, 'Because Of The Time' finds the Followills (brothers Nathan, Caleb, and Jared, and their first cousin Matthew) opening up, relaxing the rules, and reveling in the joys of their newfound musical freedom.

"We took the limitations off of ourselves," says frontman/rhythm guitarist Caleb. "We went into the studio with an open mind, thinking let's do whatever it takes to get these songs to the next level. Because we really have a lot of music inside of us and a lot of different places we can go."

It would have been easy for Kings of Leon to make 'Aha Shake Part II' and call it a day. That album (along with its predecessor, 2003's 'Youth And Young Manhood') transformed these sons of a Pentecostal minister, who grew up traveling with the preacher around the rural Deep South, into indie stars in the U.S. and major rock stars in the UK. In 2005, Harp magazine called Kings of Leon "the freshest breeze to blow through the modern music scene since punk rock turned everything upside down and inside out in the late '70s."

But instead of resting on their rep, the guys chose to challenge themselves. "We weren't scared to try anything," Nathan says. "I think that's the difference between this album and the last. We weren't timid at all. Every song showed us something we had inside of ourselves that we didn't know existed, which enabled us to be even bolder on the next song."

To that end, 'Because Of The Times' (the title refers to an annual preachers' conference the boys attended growing up) contains Kings of Leon's first-ever album track that clocks in at longer than five minutes ("Knocked Up"), the first song with vocal effects ("On Call"), and the first one you could verifiably call an arena-rock anthem ("Black Thumbnail"). Then there's the breakneck "McFearless," the chiming "Ragoo," the scuzzy "Charmer," and the waltzing "The Runner" - a song so pretty, it's damn near a lullaby. "I can sing pretty if I want to sing pretty," says Caleb, whose slurry Southern cadences were once a hallmark of the band's sound.

Perhaps because it was the first album the band have made in which they entered the studio knowing exactly how they wanted it to sound, 'Because Of The Times' is Kings of Leon's most diverse collection yet. Brimming with ideas, it represents a huge leap forward both in songwriting and musical prowess. Though Caleb writes the majority of the lyrics, "this was the first album where all four band members contributed equally and had a say so in every song," Nathan says. Adds Caleb: "because we were trying to make a different-sounding record, we had to sit back and listen to each other a little more."

To shepherd them through the process, the Followills turned to their long-time producers Ethan Johns (Ryan Adams, Ben Kweller) and Angelo Patraglia. "Ethan, man, he knows how to get it out of you - how to get you to perform at your highest level," Nathan says. "And Angelo wants you to perform at your highest level, but he wants you to have fun while you're doing it because that comes across in the recording. He's the one that gets us to step out on a limb and try something that we'd never think of trying in a million years. It's a great balance."

This time around, the band told Johns and Petraglia that they wanted to take a more proactive role in the recording process. "We wanted to go for the sounds that we were hearing in our heads," Nathan explains, "because your record represents you as a band. But when you're young, as we were when we made our first two albums, we didn't know that." However, there's nothing like touring with consummate pros like U2 (in 2005) and Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam (in 2006), that'll force a young band to grow up fast.

"On the last night of the Dylan tour," Caleb says, "Dylan came into our dressing room and he says [here Caleb affects Dylan's husky rasp:] 'What's that last song you guys played?' And I said, 'Uh, it's called 'Trani' [a little ditty about transvestite hookers from the first album]. And Dylan goes, 'That's a hell of a song.' "I think that was pretty much the biggest thrill of my entire life."

So where does one go from there? On tour, of course. "That's our thing," Nathan says. "We're a live band, that's our bread and butter. We like to get up there and put on a good show. We start rehearsing tomorrow and I'm sure we'll be kicking ourselves in the ass for recording such hard album parts that we're going to have to play live every night." He pauses, then says brightly: "But I'm going to have some huge arm and leg muscles and a bare chest!"

www.kingsofleon.com

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

Kora
Your most memorable Festival moment or experience?
Have done so many. Really cannot say which one stands out most. I think everytime we get on stage. This is the best job in the world. How many people can say they love their jobs?

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Shapeshifter(NZ) and Karnivool(Auz). Those guys know how to take things to the next level!

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Mr Bungle, Steve Vai, Shapeshifter, Dr Dre, Meshuggah, Karnivool......

What are your tips for attending Music Festivals>?
Bring a fresh pair of socks and underwear. haha.