Published : Aug. 11, 2013 - 20:33
Kings of Leon at the 2012 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. ( MCT)
Rock group Kings of Leon are getting less serious with age, as the band prepares to bring “young and fun” new music on Friday to their fans across the world in a quirky collaboration with comedian Fred Armisen.
Kings of Leon, formed by Followill brothers Caleb, Nathan, Jared and cousin Matthew, are marking a decade in the music industry since their debut album “Youth & Young Manhood” was released in 2003.
After a hiatus in 2012, Kings of Leon are back on the road to support their upcoming sixth studio album “Mechanical Bull,” due out in September.
Matthew Followill, the band‘s guitarist, said the new album will see the rockers embracing a lighter sound, set by the lead single “Supersoaker.” The new album also marks a milestone in the band members’ own lives as they have all become family men in recent years, getting married and becoming parents.
“It ended up being a lot more young and fun-sounding than the other albums. We’re not so serious this time,” Followill told Reuters of “Mechanical Bull.”
“We’re still the same people, we just have kids and it was really awesome. It made us almost have more fun in life and not take things so seriously, we just had a little more fun with things.”
Formed in Nashville, Tennessee, Kings of Leon have steadily risen into the spotlight over the last ten years, breaking into the mainstream music charts with 2008’s “Only By The Night,” which featured hit singles “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody.”
The band have picked up Grammy awards for their now trademark fusion of Southern blues and roots rock music, and Followill said they were experimenting with taking their sound in new directions on “Mechanical Bull.”
“We have one song (‘Don’t Matter’) that’s the hardest rocking song that we’ve ever done, and it’s the fastest, so that’s new for us. We also have some steel guitar on this album and we have some strings at the end of one song, a quartet,” he said. (Reuters)