— By Joe D'Angelo, with additional reporting by Matt Paco
Although they're not exactly royalty, four kings from Memphis are laying claim to a Southern rock throne that hasn't been suitably filled since Skynyrd and the Allmans got up more than 20 years ago and didn't ask anyone to save the seat.
The Kings of Leon are a family affair, comprising three brothers — singer/guitarist Caleb, drummer Nathan and bassist Jared Followill — and their first cousin, guitarist Matthew Followill, whose grandfather Leon inspired the band's name.
On their debut EP, February's Holy Roller Novocaine, rambling melodies and a countrified twang are propelled by a smooth yet unrelenting pacing, while Caleb's voice maintains a distinctive murmur devoid of pop-vox cliché, like chin-in-the-chest bellowing for grunge-inspired folks who couldn't otherwise find the key, or nasal whining to vocalize the hardships of suburban punk life.
The four earned their musical chops early, from their father — a traveling Pentecostal preacher who spread the word of God throughout the country while also listening to such classic rock as the Rolling Stones, Tom Petty and Neil Young. So when the brothers weren't bolstering a gospel choir, they were listening to "Sympathy for the Devil."
"It was a little weird," Jared said of a childhood reared on the road. "You had to make new friends every week."
"Growing up the way the we did, music was always there and present," added Caleb. "And from that, we just started merging into different kinds of music."
Their old man's classic rock led the brothers to bands like the Pixies, Olivia Tremor Control, Go-Betweens and Built to Spill. With an appreciation for good music that never really coincided with popular trends of the time, the brothers Followill were bitten by the band bug when they heard the White Stripes.
"They didn't really care what kind of music they were making," explained Nathan. "They were just making music that they were wanting to make, and there really was no commerciality to it ... or at least I don't think it was intended to be that commercial."
"It just kind of gave hope for our generation," Caleb said. "Because there's been so much sh-- throughout the years, when you hear bands out there that are just doing it and not really thinking about what the repercussions are, that's awesome."
The Followills called their cousin Matthew, locked themselves in a room for a few days and wrote songs. When it became time to actually play what they had written, there was a problem: no one could play bass. Nathan was the drummer. Matthew had always played guitar. Caleb played, too, but not as long. Although Jared also wanted to pick up the six-string, it simply wasn't allowed.
"We really didn't need another guitar player, so we bought him a bass and locked him in the garage and told him to learn how to play," Caleb said jokingly. Jared turned out to be something of a natural. "It took him like two months. I mean, it was amazing."
Picking things up quickly has been a part of Kings of Leon from their start. After forming last April and playing a few gigs around their hometown circuit, they signed a major-label deal with RCA Records.
Though three-fourths of the band grew up sons of a preacher man, that didn't stop them from penning the seedy vicar bash "Holy Roller Novocaine."
"It's about a preacher that uses his position to manipulate females in the congregation," Nathan explained. "It's kind of a true story, but we masqueraded it a bit. But if he hears it, he'll know it was about him. So it's basically about a horny preacher."
With a full-length album, Youth and Young Manhood, due July 22, Kings of Leon seem to have everything going their way. But should their sprinting momentum stall short of the crown, the band would still be grateful for its ride thus far.
"It's been moving fast and it's been changing fast," Caleb said. "We're still a young band, and all this stuff freaks us out. We don't know why we're getting it, and we don't know why we deserve it, but we're glad. The fact that we're getting to play every night, we're not having to worry about where we're going to sleep or what we're going to eat, we're doing it."
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