Kings of Leon’s Caleb Followill | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #694

This Past Weekend #694 - Caleb Followill brings the Kings of Leon origin stories, and Theo somehow turns a revival into a fitness business. 1. Seven offers from nine label meetings is a pretty good New York trip. Caleb says Nashville kept shutting the door, but seven of the nine labels they met in New York offered deals. Earlier, his future stepdad had put up about $1,000 so the brothers could leave their restaurant jobs and pursue music. Caleb says they paid it back by the end of the month. 2. Matthew's audition happened over the phone. Caleb recalls asking his cousin to play something, hearing a Thin Lizzy solo and immediately telling him to come join the band. Matthew told his mom he was just visiting for the weekend. Apparently that became a very long weekend. 3. Their UK success sounds like visiting another life. Caleb remembers hearing two or three songs from their small EP on the drive to the London hotel. Back in Nashville, they could find themselves on British magazine covers while people in restaurants still snickered at their bell-bottoms. 4. Bob Dylan's entrance comes with a smell before a sight. Caleb says he smelled a cigarette behind him in the dressing room, turned around and found Dylan asking about their last song. A compliment from Dylan, then goodbye hugs at the end of the tour - not a bad opening-band experience. 5. The sound-check story is one of the most revealing moments. Caleb describes periods when the band felt distant from one another. He would start playing something, the bass would join, then the drums, until they were making music together again. The way he tells it, writing could become their way back into the room together. 6. Caleb says he went roughly ten years without much stage banter beyond thanking the crowd and introducing Kings of Leon. Now he wants to connect and find out how the crowd is doing. That change says more about enjoying the job again than another sales figure would. 7. The revival discussion produces an entire imaginary fitness business: "carbs for Christ," a personal trainer who is also a preacher, and an evangelist with a ropes course. Much later, Caleb brings the calorie joke back during the serious conversation about prayer. A surprisingly well-travelled callback. 8. The old-poster conversation has a perfect budget version. Caleb remembers Kathy Ireland on the wall. Theo says they had Kathy Scotland: not as good-looking, but a good attitude. That's a very Theo way to explain the household finances. 9. Still the same family setup, according to Caleb: him, two brothers and a cousin. Nathan is the protective older brother, Jared brings the big heart and laughs, and Matthew gets the cousin jokes. Useful context for all the earlier talk about why going solo never really felt like the point. Guest context: Kings of Leon's promoter identifies O My Beloved as their tenth studio album, released on the same day as this episode. Caleb's own recollections supply the offer counts above; those aren't independently audited business records. We found no basis to call this a particular numbered lifetime TPW appearance. Conversation timestamps 00:35 - Drone dog-washing and the opening banter 04:15 - Louisiana accents put pressure on the listener 07:26 - Growing up with a travelling evangelist 20:56 - "Carbs for Christ" and the prayer-workout idea 30:09 - A church payment in Disney World tickets 38:42 - The road toward Nashville and music 44:04 - The early financial help 45:45 - Nine label meetings, seven offers 47:43 - Recruiting Matthew over the phone 51:25 - Hearing their songs in London 59:05 - Touring with Bob Dylan 1:12:01 - Isolation and reconnecting at sound check 1:16:25 - A different relationship with the audience 1:31:07 - The old-poster conversation 1:32:35 - The same family lineup 1:40:25 - The calorie callback Which story wins for you: the phone audition, the London radio ride, or Bob Dylan appearing in the dressing room?