Nashville rockers Kings of Leon recently opened up about the turmoil the band had been going through since they broke into the mainstream with 2008’s Only By The Night, indicating that the rock & roll lifestyle began to take its toll on the health of the band and its members.
The band famously cancelled their 2011 tour for Only By The Night‘s 2010 follow-up Come Around Sundown mid-run, after a calamitous Dallas performance during which lead singer Caleb Followill ran offstage to vomit and never returned.
The brothers Followill — Caleb, Nathan and Jared — and their cousin Matthew, took time off to reflect on the impact that alcohol and partying was having on their band and have since lightened their party schedule.
In an interview with UK’s Metro newspaper, frontman Caleb explained the decision to cut back, saying “We were tired and we’d keep working. Finally, your body says, ‘You’re done’. It’s great for your health and your brain to stop being in a rock ‘n’ roll band for five minutes.”
Drummer Nathan Followill elaborated, saying “When you’re young and cocky, older bands tell you, ‘Take it easy, so you can have longevity’. And we were like, ‘You’re just jealous of our work ethic and ’cause we can tour so long and party so hard’. Eventually, we realised we should take stock.”
The success of Only By The Night, which yielded the #1 hit single Sex On Fire, exacerbated the problems of the band, guitarist Matt Followill explained “Making Come Around Sundown was just not fun. We were in a tiny studio in New York, there was too much alcohol around all day. I’m just glad we made it back together.”
Bassist Jared Followill continued, saying “There was definitely an internal struggle. Yyou couldn’t even say ‘radio airplay’ without Caleb getting angry. We’d been called sell-outs after Sex On Fire. He didn’t want people to think that was all we’d tried to do.”
The band’s sixth studio album, Mechanical Bull, was released yesterday and the band will soon be heading Down Under for an exclusive one-night-only performance at Sydney Harbour in November.
(Via Contactmusic.com)
