It's Gonna Make You Notice: The Story of Kings of Leon's 'Use Somebody'

Did you hear the one about the three sons of a preacher who one
day decided to start a rock band with their cousin and somehow
sell millions of albums, win some Grammys and have one of the
biggest crossover rock songs in recent memory?


No? Well, great! Because I’m here to tell you all about how Kings
Of Leon did just that.


Nathan, Caleb and Jared Followill were three good old southern
boys from a small suburb about 17 miles east of Nashville,
Tennessee. Their parents were Ivan, a Pentecostal church preacher
and traveling evangelist, and Betty-Ann, who ran the church
worship. At first the Followills traveled across the rural South
in a purple Oldsmobile, attending all-night church meetings, tent
revivals and healings. The family would be on the road for the
better part of the year, making it hard for them to call any
place home. But when Jared was born in 1986 they settled down
just outside of Memphis until he was about six, and then went
back on the road after Ivan began drinking and got into some
trouble. 


The boys were home-schooled by their mom and given strict rules
that prevented them from swimming with girls, playing competitive
sports and even wearing shorts, which made water activities
pretty awkward. Movies were also prohibited, the same with music
other than what they heard in church. But church music was
becoming a bigger part of their lives. Nathan would begin
drumming on stage with a band during his father’s sermons, and
Caleb followed as a singer, with hopes of becoming a pastor like
his father.


The relationship between their parents, however, was heavily
strained due to Ivan’s heavy drinking, and in 1997 they split up,
following his departure from the church. That seemed to change
everything for their three sons.


With their parents apart, the Followill brothers began to stray
from their religious upbringing. Nathan and Caleb got into
rock’n’roll, alcohol and weed, while Jared became a “little sh*t”
with a BB gun, his brothers would tell Rolling Stone. Their
cousin Matthew Followill, who lived in nearby Mississippi, was
basically welcomed into the fold as an unofficial fourth brother.


Believe it or not, but Nathan and Caleb Followill were originally
a country-singing duo called the Followill Brothers. They
performed at open-mic nights and signed a publishing deal that
helped support their weed-smoking habit. The guy that signed
them, Ken Levitan, introduced the brothers to a  songwriter
named Angelo Petraglia, and almost immediately he became an
intrinsic part of their world, tutoring them on how to write a
song.


With some guidance from the younger ears of Jared and Matthew,
Nathan and Caleb pivoted to rock’n’roll, writing a song called
“California Waiting,” which secured them a record deal with RCA,
the same label as the Strokes. There was one catch: the label
wanted to put a band together for them. In a risky act of
defiance, the Followills rejected the offer and instead they told
the execs they would bring in their young brother and cousin and
put together their own band. They told RCA to give them six weeks
to put something together.


And so in 1999 the two brothers recruited their younger sibling
Jared, who was only 14 at the time, to play bass, an instrument
he had never ever touched. At first he wasn’t happy with the
instrument assignment, thinking bass was too uncool, but he
decided to give it a shot.


They also kidnapped their cousin Matthew from Mississippi,
telling his mom that they’d bring him back after a week. Matthew
had only taken two guitar lessons, and they had to buy him a
guitar but just like they became a proper rock band. And for the
next month, the Followills locked themselves in a basement,
smoked a lot of weed and came up with some songs.


Of course, they still needed a name. Petraglia suggested going
with one that leaned into their religious connections, like Kings
Of Zion. While they turned that idea down they did come up with
something close: Kings Of Leon.


This is the story of Kings of Leon leading up to their all-time
classic 'Use Somebody' with newly unearthed audio from the band
themselves!