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When Kings of Leon singer Caleb Followill woke up after a night of partying in Birmingham, England, recently, he had more than 50 text messages on his phone. They were all congratulating him on the Kings' three Grammy nominations — the band's fourth disc, Only by the Night, is up for Best Rock Album, and its smash single, "Sex on Fire," scored two nods. "It was a huge shock," says Followill, checking in from Miami. "I didn't even think we had a chance." It's the culmination of a big year for the Tennessee rockers, which has found them headlining the Glastonbury Festival, filling 20,000-seat U.K. arenas and, in late January, playing New York's Madison Square Garden. "I'm feeling really good about life right now," says Followill. "I feel like a better person now than I've ever been."
Last year, when you announced your gig at the Garden, I
said to myself, "Who the fuck do they think they
are?"
Me too. Before I even knew it, the show was booked. We were
scratching our heads, just like you. But ticket sales were going
well, and I thought, "Holy shit! We're really going to do this."
Hopefully it will be as legendary as we hope that it can be.
"Sex on Fire" is your most successful single yet, but it
was almost cut from the album, right?
Yeah. I started to look at it like a Weezer song, something that
shouldn't be taken too seriously. I don't want everything in our
career to be so serious. I wasn't trying to save the world with
that song.
I hear that you wrote a few versions of this
song.
Yeah, there's a version about a couple who have nothing in common,
and they hate each other, but the sex is on fire. I had a dirtier
version that was completely perverse — it was pretty bad. In
the end, I did put in that line about "head while I'm driving."
That's never happened to me before — I'm a very good driver,
and I'd be very scared to drive while getting head.
You guys performed in front of 100,000 people last year
at the Glastonbury Festival. What was that like?
I was throwing up all day. When I walked onstage, everything went
quiet. I knew people were cheering and I could see their hands
flailing, but everything was quiet, like in that Kevin Costner
movie [For Love of the Game] where he walks out to the
pitcher's mound. I said to myself, "This is just another Kings of
Leon concert and there just happens to be a big crowd all hopped up
on goofballs." It was amazing. Halfway through the first song, it
was my show.
How did you celebrate?
The one thing I can remember is going backstage and taking a drink
from a Corona. I've never had a sip that tasted so delicious.
You toured with Bob Dylan in 2006. Did you get to say
hello to him?
Yeah, we met with him a few times, and he was really cool, a
soft-spoken guy. We were all shocked at how much of a fan he was.
We thought that someone in his camp had asked us to open for him,
but he let us know it was actually him. He asked me, "What's that
last song you played in the set?" I said, "'Trani.'" He said,
"That's a hell of a song." Later, when I was in bed, I thought,
"Did he really say that?" [Laughs]
Do you guys like to jam on covers during
rehearsals?
We did a Pretenders song for a VH1 special. And we play a pretty
good version of Joy Division's "Transmission." When I heard that My
Morning Jacket and Eddie Vedder did the Band song "It Makes No
Difference," I literally wanted to die. My Morning Jacket always do
stuff right before we get a chance to. I was like, "Damn it, they
got us again!" Somebody suggested we do "Sweet Home Alabama" at the
Garden — I told them to fuck off.
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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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