Inspired by their unusual upbringing, the sons of traveling preacher who enlisted the three brothers in worship bands across the deep south, Nathan and Caleb began to write casual guitar riffs gaining a reputation among local record labels.
Signed by RCA records, the company demanded that the brothers spilt up and replace Matthew, then only 10 years old, on guitar. The brothers refused "kidnapping" their cousin Matthew from his hometown in Mississippi in order for him to join the band. According to Caleb "they told his mother that he was only going to be staying for a week but never allowed him to return home" - instead KOL wrote and recorded the Holy Roller Novocaine EP (2003) practising in their basement constantly.
Despite Jared being only 16 years old and unable to play the bass (literally he hadn't learned how) the release of Holy Roller Novocaine gave the Kings of Leon a significant amount of exposure, receiving a 4/5 star rating from Rolling Stone magazine. From this EP KOL formed the primary songs for their first album, Youth and Young Manhood (late 2003), which became a sensation in the UK with the NME declaring it "one of the best debut albums of the last 10 years". Amazingly however, the album flopped in the United States with lukewarm reviews and disinterested audiences - it was not until KOL's third album Because of the Times (2007) that American audiences woke up and smelt the coffee.
It was Only by the Night (2008), Kings of Leon's fourth album that rocketed them to international fame with Sex on Fire, Use Somebody & Notion to name but three of the smash hits. KOL subsequently won Best International Band and Best International Album at the Brit Awards in 2009, playing a massive sold out gig at the O2 arena to the British fans who propelled them into becoming the famous band in the world in under ten years. Crucially however, the band's fifth album, Come Around Sundown (2010), was a floundered both in the US and here in the UK prompting the band to enter a hiatus - there has been no word from Kings of Leon since, are we to see them again? You bet!
