A Conversation with Nathan Followill (continued)

PM: Where does it feel like the band is the biggest, Nathan, is it the UK, or is it home?

NF: I would say we're a little bigger over there. But it's getting close. America is getting really close. I think we're playing for 28,000 in three nights in London. We couldn't do that anywhere in America, I don't think. We're to the point now where we can play for a couple thousand kids in any city in the world, not just America, but in the world. And that's all any band could ever ask for, is to sell enough records to keep making records, and to sell enough tickets to make enough money to keep touring.

PM: Absolutely. Do you, or does the band, have any feeling, pro or con, about hip-hop or rap?

NF: I like the beat, for sure. No, we like all kinds of music. So I'm sure there are a couple of Jay-Z songs we dig out there.

PM: What about country?

NF: Oh, I'm a country freak. I probably listen to that more than anything. The band will kill me for saying that, but--

PM: [laughs]

NF: --I listen to country more than any other, especially on the road. That's another comfort thing. And to hear country music while you're in Germany, oh, my Lord, amazing.

PM: You know if you're in a room in Germany and you start singing "Country Roads," people lose their frickin' minds.

NF: Yeah.

[laughter]

PM: Yeah, it's unbelievable. You can be in any room in Germany and start whistling that song, people will just start walking over to you and start singing it. It's unbelievable.

NF: Yeah.

PM: So are you happier on or off the road?

NF: When I'm home, I'm happier on the road. When I'm on the road, I'm happier home. There's no happy medium. That's a double-edged sword right there. We love to play shows, we love to tour. And luckily for us we've kind of figured out a way to keep our sanity on the road.

PM: Yeah, tricky.

NF: Yeah, I mean, it's great. Stay at a decent hotel, and treat yourself to a decent meal every night. I've played golf on the most beautiful courses all over the world on off days. You got to keep your sanity on the road. You got to do whatever you got to do to keep it fun and interesting.

PM: It's unreal. So you guys have toured with some of the hugest acts in history already. Is there somebody you'd like to share a bill or a tour with that's not happened yet?

NF: I don't know. We've got a couple big ones that are wanting to do stuff, but we don't know if we're going to do it or not. I don't know, man, if there could be another band that we'd want to play with--I mean, shit, I have no idea. Like Buck Owens, if he was alive.

PM: [laughs] That's funny. What about non-musical things? Is there something personally that you'd like to try that you've not had the time or the wherewithal to attempt yet?

NF: Man, I don't know. I pretty much do everything that I want to do. I don't know. I'd like to climb a mountain with somebody, like for real.

PM: Wow. So now a huge tour begins for you guys in England, behind this already well-received third record. What's the feeling in the band and inside yourself as you get ready to do that?

NF: Here we go again. Oh, Lord. We're excited. I mean, we did this record--we started it last April. It came out a year and one day after we started it. So we've been sitting on it for a while--it's kind of like sitting on a big old bag of popcorn that sits on the bus, and you're just holding your breath. And it's out there now, and it's being well received, from what we're hearing. So man, that's great, we're so thrilled that people are enjoying the fruits of our labor.

PM: Yeah, and enjoying the new direction. And four stars in the Rolling Stone, et cetera. And everybody is giving it the thumbs up. It's very nice of you, Nathan, to give me some time today. You guys are busy guys, and I look forward to seeing the band live, soon. And maybe if I see you around town, I'll come over and introduce myself.

NF: Yeah, for sure, man.

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photo thanks: Bored with seeing mostly group shots of Kings of Leon, I decided to make a separate illustration for each member of the band. These little composites were built with parts of photos lifted from far and wide. I'm sorry there isn't a good way to credit the photographers (sometimes the pictures appeared uncredited where I found them, sometimes I've only used a detail from somebody's shot). But I wanted to mention a couple of sources: Daniel Boud at boudist.com (he makes it look like there's a party wherever he happens to be); I'm sure I got something from stereogum.com but then couldn't find it again (but that's an interesting spot); generous indeed was writer/photographer Alice Barkwell--she writes a regular column called Go Ask Alice for Playgrounds Magazine , an entertainment tabloid out of Columbus, GA (I was delighted to read Alice's interview with Lily Tomlin in their current issue) and I found her photographs at soundaffects.net.

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