Q&A: Kings of Leon's Caleb Followill : Rolling Stone

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How did you become the singer in the Kings? Nathan's older than you, and he's got some pipes, too.
In the beginning, we wrote songs together, and if he was writing a song, he'd sing, and vice versa. It came to a point where I knew I wanted it, and as opposed to us literally fighting for it, I just went to him and said, "Look, man, if we're going to do this, we need a clear vision, and I think you should play drums and I'll sing." There were some tough times between us, but I pretty much said, "I'll do it. I'll be the singer. I'll take all the girls and all the drugs. I don't want to, but I will."

What album have you listened to more than any other?
For the last two years, I've been listening to The Late Great Townes Van Zandt nonstop. Otherwise I'd say the Band's Greatest Hits. It's full of untouchable songs. When I hear them, I think, "I'm starting back at zero. I haven't fucking done anything compared to anything they've done."

You had a big fight with Nathan and broke your arm before you started working on this album. What was it about?
We still don't know. It was a big one, though. We were really drunk, and one of us said something really deep and hurtful, and that was it. Our assistant shuffled people out the door when he knew it was about to go down, and once the house cleared, it was like they let two dogs off their chains — we went crazy. Just a good old Wednesday night in Nashville.

[From Issue 1071 — February 5, 2009]

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