Having made their name with the thumping garage rock of their acclaimed first two albums Youth And Young Manhood and A-Ha Shake Heartbreak, Kings Of Leon’s third record, Because Of The Times, is a more widescreen, stylistically expansive affair. From the gorgeous, slow-burning opener ‘Knocked Up’, to the Pixies-style stomper ‘Charmer’ and the gospel tinged ‘The Runner’, the group have really stretched their creative wings.

The album also looks like being a significant commercial success. Just over a week after our interview took place, Because Of The Times entered the UK album charts at No.1, seeing off fellow indie contenders Maxïmo Park. When hotpress contacts the band’s drummer, Nathan Followill, the rhythmatist is enjoying some R’n’R before the upcoming promotional onslaught for the album.
“I’m in Chicago at the moment,” he says. “My girlfriend, who’s a musician too, has a show here on Saturday night. This is one of my last weekends before I go on tour, so I thought I’d come here and have a romantic getaway.”
Nathan wholeheartedly agrees that Because Of The Times marks a significant shift in Kings Of Leon’s musical style.
“We definitely wanted to go for a much bigger sounding record,” he acknowledges. “The first record was pretty raw and we were kind of inexperienced. For the second album we attempted to experiment a little bit, but still tried to stay in the same vein as the first one. With this one, we totally knew what we wanted going into it. We wanted an epic, different sounding album that would sound as good in an arena as it did in a sweaty little club.”
Because Of The Times was recorded in Nashville, where the band are based, as opposed to LA, where the bulk of the previous two albums were made. Nathan says the group made this decision on the basis that they wanted as few distractions as possible whilst they were working.
“It’s so easy, making a record in LA, to get caught up in everything but the record,” he explains. “You find yourself thinking about what party you can go to that night, or what new club or bar is opening. Things can get rushed sometimes in the studio because you want to get out of there and go party. So, we wanted to do one at home where the record was the only thing we had to look forward to. We were excited to get in there every day and record. Also, we’d been on the road for three years solid, so it was good to get home and sleep in my own bed for a month straight.”
What’s it like living in Nashville?
“It’s great,” enthuses Nathan. “The White Stripes live there now. All of our friends in bands, they come visit us and end up buying houses there. Nashville has got a good little rock scene now, we’re proud.”
Last year saw Kings Of Leon support Bob Dylan on his Never Ending Tour. What was it like meeting the great man?
“Brilliant,” replies Nathan. “He’s very shy; I think he was more scared of us than we were of him. He’s not the kind of guy who’s gonna hang out in your dressing room every single night, but he went out of his way to talk to us and make sure we were taken care of. Our last show with him, he came up to me and said (impersonates Dylan) ‘I’m kinda depressed’. I was like, ‘Why are you depressed?’ He said, ‘Well, it’s my last night with you guys and I kinda want to call those other two bands and tell them just to stay at home!’
“He said, ‘I’d like to finish this tour with just you guys. But I promise you, the next Bob Dylan tour will only be Bob Dylan and Kings Of Leon!’”
The band also played support to U2 on their Vertigo tour in 2005.
“Now, those guys wanted to hang out in the dressing room every night,” laughs Nathan. “This new record was heavily influenced by playing those stadium shows with U2. We work on a lot of our material at soundchecks, because you get kinda bored of playing the same stuff every night. The last thing you wanna do at a soundcheck is get up there and play a song you’ve already played 200 times on this tour, and that you’re gonna play another 100.
“So, we’ll work on an idea and play around with it ten soundchecks in a row until we’ve got a song out of it. The majority of this record was written at soundchecks in these huge arenas we played with U2. And the guys themselves were total sweethearts, they’d give you the shirts off their backs.”
Kings Of Leon, of course, are set to play Oxegen this summer. A previous visit to Ireland in the summer of 2005 saw them perform at Lansdowne Road with The Pixies.
“It was supposed to rain all day,” remembers Nathan. “Luckily we got up there and the sun came out for our set. In Ireland! As soon as we walked offstage, it started pouring rain. The Pixies got drenched and they were mad. We were kinda laughing, because literally the minute we walked offstage, it started raining. We probably thought it was funnier than they did! But The Pixies were great man, I enjoyed them. They were one of our biggest influences early on, so it was great to see them on the same stage.”
Kings Of Leon’s music has been used in many TV shows, including The Shield and HBO’s excellent Entourage. Elsewhere, in an episode of the BBC comedy series The Mighty Boosh, Vince Noir (played by Noel Fielding) uses a copy of A-Ha Shake Heartbreak as a mirror to signal a rescue ship, when he and his friend Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) end up marooned on a desert island.
“I just watched it!” chuckles Nathan. “I’m not sure of the hairdresser guy’s name on the show (Nathan is referring to Fielding – PN), but we just hung out with him at an awards show in London. He came up to us, all freaking out and telling us how much of a fan he was. We actually hadn’t seen an episode of The Mighty Boosh, but Matthew saw how fun he was and went and watched one, and now I’ve seen it too. Man, they are hilarious!”
Aside from U2 and Dylan, another major league act Kings Of Leon have supported are Pearl Jam, with whom they played several dates in Australia in November.
“Me and Caleb have been friends with Eddie for quite a while now,” says Nathan. “We’d been trying to figure out a way that we could tour together. Eddie’s a big surfer, he loves summer weather, so what better place to go than Australia? He said to us, ‘I’m gonna teach you boys to surf.’ We said, ‘Hell no, we ain’t gettin’ in that water with sharks, you’re crazy! The day you teach us to surf is the day we teach you to play golf.’ Eddie hates golf!
“Anyway, we finished the tour in Hawaii and ended up staying there two weeks with Eddie. He taught us how to surf, and I’ll be damned if we’re not addicted to it now!”
Have Kings Of Leon made lots of friends in other bands since they’ve broken through into the limelight?
“What’s funny about that whole thing is that a lot of these people we meet, who we should be scared to meet, they’re scared to meet us!” responds Nathan. “These are people who are Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers, who I would never have guessed in a million years would know who we are, much less would sit there and talk to us for half-an-hour about our first two albums, and how much they love them and what their favourite songs are.”
What people of that ilk have the band met?
“Uh, let’s see…” says Nathan, turning a bit coy. “A couple of members of the Rolling Stones, a couple of members of Zeppelin… you know, the usual!”
I mention that the Stones are playing Slane this summer.
“That’s cool man,” says Nathan. “I saw them play in Memphis and it was great, they put on a hell of a show. It makes us feel good when other musicians are into our group. We haven’t sold a quarter of the records of other huge bands, and yet, of the fans that we do have, 40% of them are famous people who… I mean, other bands would kill to have two of them as fans, you know? We feel quite fortunate.”
Have the band seen much of The White Stripes since they moved to Nashville?
“We’re supposed to have dinner when I get back to Tennessee,” responds Nathan. “I hang out with The Raconteurs quite a bit, they live in Nashville too. Jack has a wife and a new baby, so he stays in most of the time. But yeah, I think we have a dinner appointment coming up pretty soon. I think it’s just with Jack and his wife, but maybe Meg will come around too!”
What are Kings Of Leon’s ambitions for Because Of The Times?
“We don’t really put much stock in how big we are, or how big we could get,” proffers Nathan. “We take it in our stride, one day at a time. If we get big, that’s great, we’ll buy my mom a new car. If we don’t get any bigger, she’ll have to drive the one we bought her a couple of years ago for the rest of her life!”
Because Of The Times is out now on Columbia. Kings Of Leon play Oxegen on July 7.