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By Andy Smith, Editor and Jonathan Marx, Phographer
2007.05
Like prodigal renegades armed with loud guitars, gifted voices, and gritty lyrics, they emerged from the back of a barn and rambled into the weeds of a music industry in perpetual identity crisis.
The ferocious Followill brothers are worth following, a fast rising flame that has blazed a straight shot from the backwoods of Tennessee to front and center, on tour and on the stage of sold-out clubs in America, and by the end of the year, their first arena tour of the UK. On the first Saturday in June, the tour in support of the best-selling “Because of the Times” found its way to Asheville, North Carolina.
As the opening song of their current set proves, the Kings Of Leon are “an ornery curse” of modern roots rock. “Black Thumbnail” begins it brutally with a cold-hearted confirmation of the front-man’s mojo. The song’s a boot-kick in the balls of fake beauty; at the show, it commences an 80-minute testimonial that this band’s early detractors simply got it wrong. There’s no denying Caleb’s raunchy growl, “Don’t leave no smell on me.”
The mess of folk up front started in on some sweet and sloppy ritual, something not unlike dancing and not quite moshing and full of fists in the air, screams to the sky, and beautiful women speaking in tongues.
Not to disappoint the die-hards who’d been drowning themselves in beer through two opening bands (including fellow Tenneseeans, the impressive, up-and-coming Features), the brothers kept things blessedly bad and nasty with a tight “Taper Jean Girl.”
For some, the show surely peaked early when Caleb grabbed the acoustic guitar for the Kings at their most mellow and eternally anthemic. Without a doubt, evidence of the band’s tingly and intoxicating maturity, “Fans” will fill halls with fans. It’s self-loving litany for those of us who do this rock thing as a religion, who get healed by each riff and are always hungry for more as soon as the show ends.
(Photo credit: jonathanmarxprophoto.com)
But as the sound gets grander, the Leons’ lyrics can still keep things dirty and down low. By dipping their sticky fingers into the back catalog fairly early in the set, these dirty mouthed boys of the new south reminded us that hip-hop has not cornered the market on postmodern pornographic quatrains. Here, the Kings kept things below the belt as they pleased the crowd with so many lines unforgettable and irrepressible, ripping their own drunken impotence on “Soft” and simply praising the pussy by describing what it does to a man’s “pistol” and how a girl can bring him to his knees on “Molly’s Chambers.”
Such a soft and juicy center of the set might have made the rest of the night a little anti-climatic, but not for this band of brothers. Building their power from a basic rock formula and feeling it feed the crowd whose energy in turn feeds them, the show continued to roar and breeze through more songs to please, including the always addictive “Bucket” and the on-the-money “On Call.”
(Photo credit: jonathanmarxprophoto.com)
Having been mentored over the last couple of years when touring with the likes of Pearl Jam, U2, and Bob Dylan, the Kings do not shy away from acknowledging how much such an apprenticeship has now made them the masters of the rock craft.
Towards the night’s end, the influence of these big names with their even bigger sounds and ideas bore its fruit on “McFearless,” where Matthew wears the Edge influence so vividly while Caleb almost begs the world to back off the bullshit to hear him howl, “It’s my role/It’s my soul/It’s my show.” Sadly, it’s a show that inevitably had to end with Caleb’s gratitude expressed succinctly and with a smile.
(Photo credit: jonathanmarxprophoto.com)
While in Asheville, they played for hundreds in a packed Orange Peel. But in less than two weeks, the band will return to the region for a main stage set at Bonnaroo where they’ll greet the thousands of their budding fan base.
And here’s how the Kings of Leon keep growing: as much as the stripped-down live show offers evidence of their archetypal bad boy aesthetic, there’s something else going on as well, the baring of a sweet soul and impure purity that keeps them passionate about their music, their fans, and their future.
For more information on Kings of Leon, visit
http://www.kingsofleon.com. "Because of the Times" was released by by RCA on April 3, 2007.
By Andy Smith, Editor and Jonathan Marx, Phographer
2007.05
Like prodigal renegades armed with loud guitars, gifted voices, and gritty lyrics, they emerged from the back of a barn and rambled into the weeds of a music industry in perpetual identity crisis.
The ferocious Followill brothers are worth following, a fast rising flame that has blazed a straight shot from the backwoods of Tennessee to front and center, on tour and on the stage of sold-out clubs in America, and by the end of the year, their first arena tour of the UK. On the first Saturday in June, the tour in support of the best-selling “Because of the Times” found its way to Asheville, North Carolina.
As the opening song of their current set proves, the Kings Of Leon are “an ornery curse” of modern roots rock. “Black Thumbnail” begins it brutally with a cold-hearted confirmation of the front-man’s mojo. The song’s a boot-kick in the balls of fake beauty; at the show, it commences an 80-minute testimonial that this band’s early detractors simply got it wrong. There’s no denying Caleb’s raunchy growl, “Don’t leave no smell on me.”
The mess of folk up front started in on some sweet and sloppy ritual, something not unlike dancing and not quite moshing and full of fists in the air, screams to the sky, and beautiful women speaking in tongues.
Not to disappoint the die-hards who’d been drowning themselves in beer through two opening bands (including fellow Tenneseeans, the impressive, up-and-coming Features), the brothers kept things blessedly bad and nasty with a tight “Taper Jean Girl.”
For some, the show surely peaked early when Caleb grabbed the acoustic guitar for the Kings at their most mellow and eternally anthemic. Without a doubt, evidence of the band’s tingly and intoxicating maturity, “Fans” will fill halls with fans. It’s self-loving litany for those of us who do this rock thing as a religion, who get healed by each riff and are always hungry for more as soon as the show ends.
(Photo credit: jonathanmarxprophoto.com)
But as the sound gets grander, the Leons’ lyrics can still keep things dirty and down low. By dipping their sticky fingers into the back catalog fairly early in the set, these dirty mouthed boys of the new south reminded us that hip-hop has not cornered the market on postmodern pornographic quatrains. Here, the Kings kept things below the belt as they pleased the crowd with so many lines unforgettable and irrepressible, ripping their own drunken impotence on “Soft” and simply praising the pussy by describing what it does to a man’s “pistol” and how a girl can bring him to his knees on “Molly’s Chambers.”
Such a soft and juicy center of the set might have made the rest of the night a little anti-climatic, but not for this band of brothers. Building their power from a basic rock formula and feeling it feed the crowd whose energy in turn feeds them, the show continued to roar and breeze through more songs to please, including the always addictive “Bucket” and the on-the-money “On Call.”
(Photo credit: jonathanmarxprophoto.com)
Having been mentored over the last couple of years when touring with the likes of Pearl Jam, U2, and Bob Dylan, the Kings do not shy away from acknowledging how much such an apprenticeship has now made them the masters of the rock craft.
Towards the night’s end, the influence of these big names with their even bigger sounds and ideas bore its fruit on “McFearless,” where Matthew wears the Edge influence so vividly while Caleb almost begs the world to back off the bullshit to hear him howl, “It’s my role/It’s my soul/It’s my show.” Sadly, it’s a show that inevitably had to end with Caleb’s gratitude expressed succinctly and with a smile.
(Photo credit: jonathanmarxprophoto.com)
While in Asheville, they played for hundreds in a packed Orange Peel. But in less than two weeks, the band will return to the region for a main stage set at Bonnaroo where they’ll greet the thousands of their budding fan base.
And here’s how the Kings of Leon keep growing: as much as the stripped-down live show offers evidence of their archetypal bad boy aesthetic, there’s something else going on as well, the baring of a sweet soul and impure purity that keeps them passionate about their music, their fans, and their future.
For more information on Kings of Leon, visit
http://www.kingsofleon.com. "Because of the Times" was released by by RCA on April 3, 2007.
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