'People Want You To Be Debaucherous': Why Kings Of Leon Are Stronger After 'Spiral'

Kings Of Leon have returned after five years with brand new album, When You See Yourself, which is arguably the US rock outfit's strongest album in recent years. 

However, while the band - made up of brothers Caleb, Jared and Nathan Followill and cousin Matthew Followill - are now on the same page once again, there was a period where it was possible Kings Of Leon could have called it quits due to tension, infighting and simply too much partying.

The major turning point came in 2011, when frontman Caleb Followill cut short a concert in Dallas, telling the crowd, "I'm gonna go backstage and I'm gonna vomit" only to not return leaving his bandmates on stage without their singer. 

Just days after the concert, bassist Jared Followill tweeted, "There are internal sicknesses and problems that have needed to be addressed... I can't lie" and "There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade."

Appearing on a new episode of The Green Room With Neil Griffiths podcast to promote When You See Yourself, Jared Followill reflected on that period of the band.

"Being in a 'rock band', people kinda want you to be a little bit debaucherous... that basically just enables you to kinda do whatever you want and just get extremely wild," Followill told host Neil Griffiths.

"And then you're exposed to these situations where everybody is doing that, but you're exposed to it more. So you're doing them kinda like every other night and things can just start to spiral... that's why a lot of that stuff has taken down a lot of great artists because it's encouraged."

He continued, "We never really had a thing to where we said like, 'OK we're not drinking anymore... we better stop drinking.' 

"We probably discussed things like, just basically you gotta be able to function, you know? This is a big deal for all of us. This is our livelihood. A lot of people around us, all of their their livelihoods as well and a lot of people are riding on this.

"So, we just kinda got together... you kinda talk things out and try to figure out what's the best way to make everything work. And we found little things and little shortcuts here and there and it just got better and better and better, until now we're just boring."

Followill said that the relationships between the brothers and bandmates are now "definitely better than it ever has been" and that the new record proves that.

"I do think it's a reflection on the journey we've taken and it feels very much where we need to be," he said.

"That doesn't necessarily mean that I think that it's the best album or anything like that, but I think that it's the best album for us."

Listen to the full The Green Room podcast with Followill on Spotify, Apple Podcasts (below) or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts.

When You See Yourself is out now.

Check out all previous episodes of The Green Room here and hear more about other Handshake podcasts below.

• That Sucks!  - fortnightly musings about the worst of your favourite things
• The Take With Willie Mason - join ex-Australian and NSW rugby league Willie Mason talking all things sports
• Rewind With Steve Bell - looking back on the classic albums that shaped the careers of Australian and international acts