Kings Of Leon took some time to catch up with KROQ's Nicole Alvarez, discussing their tumultuous past interview, as well as the band's brand new album, Can We Please Have Fun, upcoming tour dates, and much more.

After first touching on Kings Of Leon's first KROQ interview together (which may have been one of Nicole's most embarrassing life moments that she now holds near and dear to her heart), Caleb was gracious enough to admit "That was kind of part of the thing in the beginning, right? You kind of had to tick all the boxes, I guess. But also, I feel like that time back then it was a lot crazier. Not just who all of us were collectively, but I feel like there was a -- I don't know -- I feel like people just take care of themselves a little better these days, but it was fun while it lasted.”

Now with their latest album on shelves, Kings Of Leon’s music, Caleb believes, is “always an evolution, so you're always gonna kind of maybe try to say something that you feel like you either tried to say before, but it came out the wrong way -- or just adding to that story. Musically, you're always developing your craft and getting better at it. Sometimes that can be a good thing, sometimes that can be a bad thing because sometimes the music can become more of a thing and then the song kind of gets lost.” He adds, “I feel like for this album, I did want to kind of go back to the old days where the story of the song meant so much to me.”

The album’s title, Caleb explains, came from “a little book of ideas… and that was one that I had in there amongst a bunch of other things. I read a bunch of what I thought were potential album titles, and when I said, ‘Can We Please Have Fun,’ Jared was like, ‘Yeah, I like that one.’ We went along and I didn't really think that was gonna end up being the title, but I felt like the more the album came together, it felt like it was a bigger statement than just us wanting to enjoy ourselves in the process of making an album, it seemed like the whole world has kind of been feeling that way.”

“Oddly enough,” he continues, “even having a title like that, that made us feel like, ‘is that too risky to ask for fun?’ Even that felt like, ‘Oh, I don't know… are people gonna get mad?’ You know? That's the case in the world these days. So, I think that's why it's important to ask that question.”

As family members and band members, “I think that we made a point of it to stay on the same page, this [album],” says Jared. “Caleb got us this book, so we were reading the same thing. We were passing around playlists listening to the same music trying to all get locked in and it happened. It was weird, tons of synchronicity and just that we're all on the same vibration.”

“Last night we played a concert… it was in a barn. It was really cool, but it was only like a few hundred people, kind of an intimate affair. I mean, people could see it on TV, but it was intimate to us,” says Caleb.

“While we're performing, I was looking around the room and [saw] so many familiar faces from throughout our career, there were people that [were] there from the very beginning, and then there were our children up there singing the songs," he recalls. "It was like this whole full-circle thing that was just pretty special. To me, at times, it feels like we just started. But then times like that you go, ‘Oh yeah, we've been doing this for a little while,’ and people were singing songs from the new record like they had been out for 20 years. I mean, screaming the words back to us. I was like, ‘Man, that's something that if you're lucky, you get to feel that as a young band, you know? To have people interested in your music and passionate about it and they'll scream it... it does make me feel like we have a chance to be around for a long time if we want to.”

Don't miss Nicole Alvarez's full interview with Kings Of Leon above, and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.

Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Nicole Alvarez

Kings Of Leon took some time to catch up with KROQ's Nicole Alvarez, discussing their tumultuous past interview, as well as the band's brand new album, Can We Please Have Fun, upcoming tour dates, and much more.
After first touching on Kings Of Leon's first KROQ interview together (which may have been one of Nicole's most embarrassing life moments that she now holds near and dear to her heart), Caleb was gracious enough to admit "That was kind of part of the thing in the beginning, right? You kind of had to tick all the boxes, I guess. But also, I feel like that time back then it was a lot crazier. Not just who all of us were collectively, but I feel like there was a -- I don't know -- I feel like people just take care of themselves a little better these days, but it was fun while it lasted.”
Now with their latest album on shelves, Kings Of Leon’s music, Caleb believes, is “always an evolution, so you're always gonna kind of maybe try to say something that you feel like you either tried to say before, but it came out the wrong way -- or just adding to that story. Musically, you're always developing your craft and getting better at it. Sometimes that can be a good thing, sometimes that can be a bad thing because sometimes the music can become more of a thing and then the song kind of gets lost.” He adds, “I feel like for this album, I did want to kind of go back to the old days where the story of the song meant so much to me.”
The album’s title, Caleb explains, came from “a little book of ideas… and that was one that I had in there amongst a bunch of other things. I read a bunch of what I thought were potential album titles, and when I said, ‘Can We Please Have Fun,’ Jared was like, ‘Yeah, I like that one.’ We went along and I didn't really think that was gonna end up being the title, but I felt like the more the album came together, it felt like it was a bigger statement than just us wanting to enjoy ourselves in the process of making an album, it seemed like the whole world has kind of been feeling that way.”
“Oddly enough,” he continues, “even having a title like that, that made us feel like, ‘is that too risky to ask for fun?’ Even that felt like, ‘Oh, I don't know… are people gonna get mad?’ You know? That's the case in the world these days. So, I think that's why it's important to ask that question.”
As family members and band members, “I think that we made a point of it to stay on the same page, this [album],” says Jared. “Caleb got us this book, so we were reading the same thing. We were passing around playlists listening to the same music trying to all get locked in and it happened. It was weird, tons of synchronicity and just that we're all on the same vibration.”
“Last night we played a concert… it was in a barn. It was really cool, but it was only like a few hundred people, kind of an intimate affair. I mean, people could see it on TV, but it was intimate to us,” says Caleb.
“While we're performing, I was looking around the room and [saw] so many familiar faces from throughout our career, there were people that [were] there from the very beginning, and then there were our children up there singing the songs," he recalls. "It was like this whole full-circle thing that was just pretty special. To me, at times, it feels like we just started. But then times like that you go, ‘Oh yeah, we've been doing this for a little while,’ and people were singing songs from the new record like they had been out for 20 years. I mean, screaming the words back to us. I was like, ‘Man, that's something that if you're lucky, you get to feel that as a young band, you know? To have people interested in your music and passionate about it and they'll scream it... it does make me feel like we have a chance to be around for a long time if we want to.”
Don't miss Nicole Alvarez's full interview with Kings Of Leon above, and stay tuned for more conversations with your favorite artists right here on Audacy.
Words by Joe Cingrana Interview by Nicole Alvarez

Listen to the latest audio from KROQ on-demand.

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