Kings Of Leon’s Caleb Followill: ‘It hasn’t been the most fun the last handful of years’
“When you first start out, it’s you versus the world,” says Kings Of Leon’s frontman, Caleb Followill, speaking from his home in Nashville, Tennessee.
He remembers the comparisons – “the Southern Strokes, I think someone called us Y’all 2, like U2, which was funny” – and how each one added to the fire in their bellies to make their own name.
Now, with the release of their ninth album, Can We Please Have Fun (not a question), 25 years after the band was formed by Caleb and his brothers, Nathan and Jared, and cousin Matthew, Kings Of Leon have definitely done that.
“I feel like at this point, the thing we’re trying to do is something that inspires the next generation,” says Followill. “It’s kind of hard because people don’t really look to the grown-ups for answers. So we listen to the kids, we get inspired by what they’re doing.”
Caleb (centre background) on stage with brother Jared in the early days of Kings Of Leon. Pic: AP/ John Russell
Earlier this week, according to the Official Charts, things were looking good for Can We Please Have Fun to become the band’s seventh UK number one album, with only one teeny thing standing in their way – Taylor Swift, another artist who cut her teeth in Nashville. After topping the charts, The Tortured Poets Society is currently sitting at number two; but this is Taylor Swift, and she’s been known to climb back before.
Followill laughs. “At this point, I think everyone’s just trying to go for number two. Which, you know, that’s great too. But I love Taylor. I’m so happy for her and her success.”
Topping the charts once again would be a “kind of validation”, he says. “That’s also kind of a notch on the belt that you can show your family one day – hey, we had a number one.” Or several number ones, even. “But we don’t make records so they’ll be number one. We’ve been beat out by a lot of music that didn’t necessarily last as long as our music has.”
On stage at the British Summertime Festival in Hyde Park, London, in 2017 – the band will return once again to play later this year. Pic: Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
‘It hasn’t been the most fun the last handful of years’
It’s been 21 years since their debut, Youth And Young Manhood, and hits including Molly’s Chambers and California Waiting, which saw them embraced by the UK way before their homeland took notice.
The band have previously talked about the tolls and pressures of fame, of sibling fights, and going through the motions. Now, Followill says there is “renewed passion and this kind of fire in us that we haven’t had necessarily, in the last handful of years”.
Can We Please Have Fun, both in title and content, definitely feels like a Kings Of Leon with a new lease of life. There were other options for its name – Actual Daydream, Moving Spectacle, Suicide Machine among them, says Followill, flicking through a notebook to remind himself – but they would all have painted a different picture.
“It hasn’t been the most fun the last handful of years”, he says. “Not being in this band necessarily, just life has been kind of heavy. There’s been a lot of seriousness. I feel like maybe it’s always been that way. It just feels much more nowadays because it’s in our face with our phones and our computers.”
Their last album, 2021’s When You See Yourself, saw the band moving into the world of NFTs, a form of cryptocurrency used to hold assets such as art and music, which exploded that year. They were billed as the first music artists ever to release an album in this way; for a band rooted in good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll, it seemed a surprise move.
Pic: PR
‘It doesn’t take AI to sound like us’
Followill admits they “never truly” understood it. “Apparently it was something that was happening and maybe is still happening, I don’t know. I know it got us into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was cool. We were the first band to ever sell our music as an NFT, might be the only one, I don’t know.
“But we weren’t trying to push some new type of technology on people… it was just something that looked like that was kind of where things were headed. So, you know, why not be on the forefront of it?”
Since then, AI has become a huge issue affecting the music industry, with stars including Billie Eilish and Nicki Minaj recently calling for more protection. Followill describes himself as “kind of an old man” when it comes to his knowledge. “I am scared of it though, I think, maybe, a little bit,” he says. “I’ve seen some stuff that makes makes me a little nervous.”
He grins. “As far as music, it doesn’t take AI to sound like us, my god. We’re still learning how to play, so our skill level is still very much achievable by just human beings. It’s not going to take aliens or artificial intelligence.”
After When You See Yourself, they parted ways with their long-term record label. Rather than being a negative experience, “we felt like we were free for the first time since the very beginning”, says Followill.
On Can We Please Have Fun, they worked with producer mastermind Kid Harpoon, renowned for his collaborations with artists including Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, Calvin Harris and Florence + The Machine. Despite being industry veterans, Kings Of Leon were keen to impress.
“We had to record a little bit and then he would duck away for a couple of weeks to do some stuff he already had scheduled. But that was a pretty eye-opening experience because he would go away and then it was like, all right, let’s get a bunch of stuff that’s going to make him impressed when he gets back.”
Winning Grammys in 2010. Pic: AP
Strip clubs to stadiums
Last week, they performed at a ranch in Nashville to mark the album’s release – “a real barn, no air conditioning, there was a peacock in the rafters screaming the whole time, a dog in the room”, is how Followill describes it.
It’s not the strangest setting they’ve ever found themselves in. That title would probably go to their first ever UK gig, in High Wycombe, at a pub that also doubled up as a lap-dancing venue.
“I remember we were backstage for soundcheck and we kept commenting on the potent smell of lotion,” Followill recalls. “It smelled like floral lotion everywhere.” After drawing small crowds in the US, that first UK show “was insanity, with probably only 100 people, but we had been playing in America to five people. So it was this crazy thing”.
The band went on to fill arenas and stadiums, headlining Glastonbury in 2008. They play London’s Hyde Park – “which always feels like a homecoming” – once again this summer. Last year, they played at Wrexham’s Racecourse Ground; a stage that at one time might also have been added to their unlikely venues list, but following its Hollywood takeover is now a huge celebrity draw.
Kings Of Leon headlined Glastonbury in 2008. Pic: Reuters/Luke MacGregor
It felt like the whole town was there to see them, Followill says. “We were playing the show… but I feel like it was almost they were supporting just whatever was going to be happening at the club that night.
“The kind of fairytale story of Wrexham and what’s happened, it’s worldwide. Americans don’t necessarily know what it means with the different leagues and how you can get relegated and all that stuff. But we do know what an underdog story is and how special it is when you see someone work their way up.”
With celebrity football buy-outs becoming all the rage – Will Ferrell being among the latest, investing in Leeds – would Kings Of Leon ever consider it?
“We don’t have that kind of money,” says Followill. “Maybe darts. Can you sponsor a darts player?”
Read more:
‘I wouldn’t dare call it soccer’: Ryan Reynolds on Wrexham takeover
Reynolds and McElhenney unveil plans to expand Wrexham ground
They can add darts to the list of ambitions Kings Of Leon still have to tick off. Followill says there are “a lot of big lofty things I probably won’t say” because at one point they felt “ridiculous”; now, so many years in and still going, maybe less so.
The singer says he doesn’t look back on what the band has achieved “as much as I could or should, at times”. He sees reflection as something that comes when there is no longer “a lot left in the tank… and I feel like I still have a lot”.
But the reminders are all around. “My daughter came downstairs in a Kings Of Leon T-shirt… and it’s an old T-shirt too. It’s like, wow.” These moments, he says, are “like a splash of water in the face… it definitely has surpassed anything we ever dreamed of”.
And seeing crowds singing his songs back at him never gets old.
“It’s more than just singing. Sometimes you look at people and they’re not just singing the song… it means so much to them, it’s like they are screaming it back at you. Whenever that happens, that is always just confirmation that you’re doing what you’re meant to be doing.”
Kings Of Leon’s Can We Please Have Fun is out now. The band play BST Hyde Park on 30 June
Stock markets around the world fell on Thursday after Donald Trump announced sweeping tariffs – with some economists now fearing a recession.
The US president announced tariffs for almost every country – including 10% rates on imports from the UK – on Wednesday evening, sending financial markets reeling.
While the UK’s FTSE 100 closed down 1.55% and the continent’s STOXX Europe 600 index was down 2.67% as of 5.30pm, it was American traders who were hit the most.
Trump tariffs latest: US stock markets tumble
All three of the US’s major markets opened to sharp losses on Thursday morning.
The S&P 500 is set for its worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. File pic: AP
By 8.30pm UK time (3.30pm EST), The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3.7%, the S&P 500 opened with a drop of 4.4%, and the Nasdaq composite was down 5.6%.
Compared to their values when Donald Trump was inaugurated, the three markets were down around 5.6%, 8.7% and 14.4%, respectively, according to LSEG.
Worst one-day losses since COVID
As Wall Street trading ended at 9pm in the UK, two indexes had suffered their worst one-day losses since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The S&P 500 fell 4.85%, the Nasdaq dropped 6%, and the Dow Jones fell 4%.
It marks Nasdaq’s biggest daily percentage drop since March 2020 at the start of COVID, and the largest drop for the Dow Jones since June 2020.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
The latest numbers on tariffs
‘Trust in President Trump’
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CNN earlier in the day that Mr Trump was “doubling down on his proven economic formula from his first term”.
“To anyone on Wall Street this morning, I would say trust in President Trump,” she told the broadcaster, adding: “This is indeed a national emergency… and it’s about time we have a president who actually does something about it.”
Later, the US president told reporters as he left the White House that “I think it’s going very well,” adding: “The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country is going to boom.”
He later said on Air Force One that the UK is “happy” with its tariff – the lowest possible levy of 10% – and added he would be open to negotiations if other countries “offer something phenomenal”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?
Economist warns of ‘spiral of doom’
The turbulence in the markets from Mr Trump’s tariffs “just left everybody in shock”, Garrett Melson, portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions in Boston, told Reuters.
He added that the economy could go into recession as a result, saying that “a lot of the pain, will probably most acutely be felt in the US and that certainly would weigh on broader global growth as well”.
Meanwhile, chief investment officer at St James’s Place Justin Onuekwusi said that international retaliation is likely, even as “it’s clear countries will think about how to retaliate in a politically astute way”.
He warned: “Significant retaliation could lead to a tariff ‘spiral of doom’ that could be the growth shock that drags us into recession.”
Read more:
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?
Tariffs about something more than economics: power
It comes as the UK government published a long list of US products that could be subject to reciprocal tariffs – including golf clubs and golf balls.
Running to more than 400 pages, the list is part of a four-week-long consultation with British businesses and suggests whiskey, jeans, livestock, and chemical components.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday that the US president had launched a “new era” for global trade and that the UK will respond with “cool and calm heads”.
It also comes as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a 25% tariff on all American-imported vehicles that are not compliant with the US-Mexico-Canada trade deal.
He added: “The 80-year period when the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over. This is a tragedy.”
Tanking stock markets, collapsing world orders, devastating trade wars; economists with their hair ablaze are scrambling to keep up.
But as we try to make sense of Donald Trumps’s tariff tsunami, economic theory only goes so far. In the end this surely is about something more primal.
Power.
Understanding that may be crucial to how the world responds.
Yes, economics helps explain the impact. The world’s economy has after all shifted on its axis, the way it’s been run for decades turned on its head.
Instead of driving world trade, America is creating a trade war. We will all feel the impact.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
PM will ‘fight’ for deal with US
Donald Trump says he is settling scores, righting wrongs. America has been raped, looted and pillaged by the world trading system.
But don’t be distracted by the hyperbole – and if you think this is about economics alone, you may be missing the point.
Above all, tariffs give Donald Trump power. They strike fear into allies and enemies, from governments to corporations.
This is a president who runs his presidency like a medieval emperor or mafia don.
It is one reason why since his election we have seen what one statesman called a conga line of sycophants make their way to the White House, from world leaders to titans of industry.
The conga line will grow longer as they now redouble their efforts hoping to special treatment from Trump’s tariffs. Sir Keir Starmer among them.
President Trump’s using similar tactics at home, deploying presidential power to extract concessions and deter dissent in corporate America, academia and the US media. Those who offer favours are spared punishment.
His critics say he seeks a form power for the executive or presidential branch of government that the founding fathers deliberately sought to prevent.
Whether or not that is true, the same playbook of divide and rule through intimidation can now be applied internationally. Thanks to tariffs
Each country will seek exceptions but on Trump’s terms. Those who retaliate may meet escalation.
This is the unforgiving calculus for governments including our own plotting their next moves.
The temptation will be to give Trump whatever he wants to spare their economies, but there is a jeopardy that compounds the longer this goes on.
Read more:
Do Trump’s numbers on tariffs really add up?
Trump hits island home only to penguins with 10% tariffs
Could America’s traditional allies turn to China? Pic: AP
Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian prime minister who coined the conga line comparison, put it this way: “Pretty much all the international leaders I have seen that have sucked up to Trump have been run over. The reality is if you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”
Trading partners may be able to mitigate the impact of these tariffs through negotiation, but that may only encourage this unorthodox president to demand ever more?
Ultimately the world will need a more reliable superpower than that.
In the hands of such a president, America cannot be counted on.
When it comes to security, stability and prosperity, allies will need to fend for themselves.
And they will need new friends. If Washington can’t be relied on, Beijing beckons.
America First will, more and more, mean America on its own.
Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.
The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.
She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.
Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles
He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.
“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”
Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”
Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.
Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.
Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.
“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”
The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.
Nicolas Cage added that “I always liked Val and am sad to hear of his passing”.
“I thought he was a genius actor,” he said. “I enjoyed working with him on Bad Lieutenant and I admired his commitment and sense of humor.
“He should have won the Oscar for The Doors.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports12 months agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway