Kings Of Leon: Southern-boogie-garage-punk-bluesers

Good times for rock are here again! Just days after it was announced that Rock genre outsold Pop crap in 2002 – 31 per cent to 30.3% – for the first time in over five years, on the day the freshly released Yeah Yeah Yeahs debut album’s quality nearly reached the hyped-up level, a live show by Kings Of Leon took place in London, ahead of the band’s album, due out later this spring.

Kings Of Leon played a gig that certainly confirmed the Rock’s revitalisation and we ain’t talking Metal, that’ll always be around in its half-cult/semi-mainstream way. This is Rock, the time-honoured style that was brilliantly served by Credence Clearwater Revival, Flying Burrito Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd as well as Thin Lizzy… Added to the KoL’s mix is a sprinkling of MC5 to make this garage’d-up Southern boogie.

The three-brothers-and-a-cousin (all surnamed Followill) outfit are based in Nashville but you’d hardly know it. Sure, there is a smidgen of country in their sound – but then, isn’t rock just a cross–breeding of blues and C’n’W? – that is so eclectic you’d need a couple of A4 pages to list them all. (A sign of superiority as too few influences equip any act for mere ‘cloning’.)

Looking like they were hanging around San Francisco in the ‘Flower Power’ year, shaggy hairdos and a beard, dressed down like their heroes, on no-décor stage in this smallish venue, there is precious little talk from singer/guitarist Caleb. The band simply turbo-charges through their setlist, meaning that all songs remain title-less, a series of tracks that range from a dirty, f**ked up blues to a pop-rock jewel that is ‘Molly’s Chambers’ from their ‘Holly Roller Novocaine’ EP.

The band’s sonus operandi appears to be a quiet, melodic intro quickly bursting out as a rolling feel-good cut that invades every nerve, such as ‘Wasted Time’; after minimal-but-melodious start it segues into a heaving rocker that digs hooks all over it! ‘California Waiting’ toys with the surf-idiom while keeping its spirit at a steady rock pace. They slow it down to a ballady vibe on ‘Wicker Chair’ and end their 45-minute set (including two-song encore) with a blistering track that appears to summarise the KoL’s entire musical philosophy of incorporating pop, rock, country, improvs, fusion, prog, beer-kegs, chewing-tobacco… One of their songs is, appropriately, entitled ‘Red Morning Light’.

The KoL’s wide musical expression is a result of their upbringing in the deep South where they learnt to play blues and gospel around their preacher man/father’s church that evolved into this genuine item. The quartet was discovered by the same man who brought you The Strokes but are completely different proposition, rolling out sleazy, raw rock, bluesy rockabilly and countrified-boogie…

Although the members remained static throughout the show they finally reshuffled theit generous tresses during the last encore to join our ‘headbanging’ that’s been ongoing from the KoL’s first note!

As a lady-babe standing next commented, it was almost an occasion to pass a giga-spliff around!