7. Kings Of LeonAha Shake Heartbreak
They’re one of my favourite bands. When I get asked who my favourite band is, I have to think of a band where I consistently like their music, and I could listen to any of their songs and like it. Kings Of Leon came at the right time for me, a little after The Streets. This album came out while I was leaving school and going to college, which was the beginning of a sort of wild time in my life, and they were right for that. First of all, I think Caleb Followill has got one of the greatest voices I’ve ever heard in my life. There’s a texture and quality to his voice that I find breathtaking. When you hear it raw, when you see him singing, it’s like it comes from a different place. There’s a great sexual raw energy to Kings Of Leon that I really love. They’re a great rock & roll band. They’ve got an incredible tale, as well as great songs. And like a lot of great bands, you can tell who they listen to, but they don’t sound like them. So it’s not derivative. People say the same about The Strokes: "Oh, they sound old." Well, who do they sound like? With Kings Of Leon, they sound like country music, but what country music do they sound like? Because if it’s around, play it to me. At the point that I heard this album, to me they were the coolest people on the planet. They looked like aliens from outer space. They looked like real rock stars. There’s that weird, wild, young sexual attitude to them that I really latched onto. The first album was wild and raw, but this was the one where they crystallised it a bit. Jared the bassist was 18 when the first one came out, but the bass playing on this one is very accomplished. And it was very quick after the first album, which I’m still amazed about. It just popped up a year later and I was like, "What?! How did they pull that out of the bag?" Because everyone thought they were a one-hit wonder.
