Kings Of Leon embedding themselves in "Temple"

Kings of Leon are steady rolling out videos from their 2013 album "Mechanical Bull." This time, the band of brothers strip away the drama and the actors and keeps it simple with a straightforward performance video that they have just released for their song "Temple," the second official and third overall taken from the rock band's sixth studio album, "Mechanical Bull," the band's first album in three years sees the Tennessee rockers attempting to rediscover their early spark, but falling frustratingly short. The yearning "Temple," which sits neatly in the middle of the 11-track release, is perhaps the best thing they've written in five years, and certainly the most effortless.
Self-assured, conventional, and damned if it's not pretty effective, Kings of Leon's "Temple" neatly sums up the strengths of "Mechanical Bull." This song about taking a shot in the head for a prospective lover, was penned in a South African hotel room. "Obviously things changed when we got in the studio, like the intro, but it felt like a '90s song to me," frontman Caleb Followill told Billboard magazine. "That's when we were listening to a lot of music, and still when we play it, we crack up the whole time, this the most radio friendly song..." According to drummer Nathan Followill, the breakdown in the song is the band's ode to Irish rockers Thin Lizzy.
Kings of Leon's confident throwback "Temple" Video. In fact, much of the Paul Greenhouse-directed vintage-style visuals mix with a no-frills performance of "Mechanical Bull" standout, which they've already given on both Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Saturday Night Live. But the song has a "by Mennen" catchiness that the unshowy presentation only boosts. And the lyric about how Caleb would "take one to the temple" is more than a reference to Kings of Leon embedding themselves in some cranial pleasure zone.
Largely washed with a vintage effect, the video was filmed half on nice modern cameras, and half on and old-fashioned hand-held Super 8 camera that makes Instagram filters shiver in their boots to posterize their footage into blurry oblivion. The new clip also serves as a nice homage to the band's hometown of Nashville and is made up of shots of the band playing the song in front of the sign on the album cover giving Caleb plenty of screen time to tell us rather over-romantically that he'd "take one in the temple" for us. Together, they evoke both the reason the Followill clan do this and the old-fashioned pride in craft with which they do it.

Kings of Leon tell the tale in "Beautiful War"

Kings of Leon have continued the current trend of arty and thoughtful music videos with their new single, "Beautiful War," a cut off their latest sixth album, "Mechanical Bull." Kings of Leon weren't kidding when they named their album: A mechanical bull figures prominently at the center of the band's new dramatic video, starring 'Tron: Legacy' actor Garrett Hedlund as a hot-tempered cowboy who supposedly struggling with his inner demons whilst trying to defend his pride, after a violent altercation at a dive bar, winds up in jail.
Described by the Guardian as "a slow-grower about love and fighting," the atmospheric ballad about two lovers kissing and making up after falling out was originally penned by frontman Caleb Followill the same weekend as 2008 hit single "Use Somebody" and recorded by him while drunk in the studio. The vocalist recalled on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio One show that he didn't remember the session, but producer Angelo Petraglia played it back for him the next day and encouraged him to flesh it out.
If Kings of Leon's new album "Mechanical Bull" find the Tennessee rockers settling into focused professionalism, their recent promotional efforts have cannily shown a willingness to expand the group's horizons. The gang from 'It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia' did their strange, brilliant thing in an album promotional video. Now comes the video for arena-rock anthem "Beautiful War," and it turns out to be a pretty gripping short film. The song itself rings out and roars like an "Old Hickory Joshua Tree," while the evocative new clip, is a gripping western tale of a professional bull rider, star-crossed lovers and a life behind bars, certainly makes fighting look, well, not unattractive.
The clip was modeled on 1970s Westerns and was inspired by the '80s John Travolta film "Urban Cowboy." is just one part of an epic, nearly seven-minute story that chronicles two men and a woman who go out for a drink at a country bar and the repercussions of jealousy. Its themes of grand personal tragedy, certainly seems to be aiming for that. There are scenes of dancing, fighting brothers, a long walk of shame for an inmate dressed in a black-and-white cowboy outfit and, quite literally, a mechanical bull. It all adds up to a story that's both improbable and touching, and at the end of the clip, the clichéd warden character, who acts as an overseer à la Caesar, claps in approval.

Kings Of Leon head back to 50s in "Supersoaker"

Grammy-winning rockers Kings of Leon, who have Oklahoma City and Talihina ties, have unveiled the artistic music video for their new song, "Supersoaker," the lead single off rock band's upcoming sixth studio album, "Mechanical Bull," due on September 24th. The new video sees the Followill brothers, Caleb, Jared, Matthew and Nathan, all smiles and rock out with their guitars in an American diner set in the 50s-esque as a love story is played out through several characters, providing for truly vintage visuals.
"Mechanical Bull" is very much a comeback record, after their 2008 breakout "Only By The Night" was followed by the disappointingly heavy-handed "Come Around Sundown." Nathan recently told MTV News and revealing details of their upcoming album: "[Fans] like the energetic direction [the new tracks are] going in, which is like our earlier stuff; going into this record we knew we wanted to have fun and make songs that are fun to play on stage." The video is a back-to-basics affair and, yes, they're having fun again. It carries a decidedly looser, back-to-the-drawing-board vibe, with the Kings of Leon boys goofing around during a performance and actually appearing to enjoy themselves.
A Super Soaker is a powerful water gun that revolutionized water fights forever. Traditional squirt guns were no match for these pump-action monsters, and the arms race made it the top selling toy of 1991. In this soulful rocker, drummer Nathan uses it as a metaphor for the havoc he wreaks in matters of love, and explained it "is a lot more melodic and a little more sing-along-y, if that's even a word." The slightly more adrenaline-fueled "Supersoaker" finds the band in soulful territory, with frontman Caleb's signature vocals as he moaning over anthemic guitar bursts and funky rhythms.
The band has definitely moved on from the "Southern Strokes" tag, this song actually does sound a lot like the Strokes, and the video reminds me of them too. Shot with vintage filters, the Instagram-in-motion-looking clip features retro milkshake joints full of sailors and dames, among other neat visuals. Uncharacteristically, Kings of Leon have gone old-school and actually enjoying their day jobs as they show up at what appears to be a 50's sock hop, plug in, and play. More often than not, they stare directly into the camera, and, in-between the occasional crack up, throw themselves headlong into their latest stomper.

Kings of Leon Return Home In 'Back Down South'

American rock band Kings of Leon have just released a new music video for their song "Back Down South." Directed by Casey McGrath, the video intersperses footage of the band playing outside for a group of local teenagers and members of the 'Use Somebody' band fan club with short clips depicting the fans making their way to the concert. The slide guitar-driven track is the fourth single lifted from the Southern rockers' critically wayward fifth studio album "Come Around Sundown" which debuted at No.2 on Billboard Hot 200 when it was released in the U.S. last October via RCA.
Frontman Caleb Followill discussed with the NME about this gently-paced acoustic country tribute to the band's southern roots: "That song came from Matt messing around on a little lap steel. He played the melody to me and the first lyrics that came to mind were 'Come on down and dance, if you get the chance.' I think because we recorded the album in New York, we somehow rediscovered a bit of our country side, whereas if we'd been in Nashville, where you're surrounded by country music, that would've never happened But we were like, let's get a bit of fiddle on there, let's have the pizza delivery guy in the studio singing the chorus with us. We wanted it to have that kind of rootsy feel."
The four-piece southern-rock band return to a familiar refrain and pay homage to their Southern roots and wayward youths in new video. It's a chilled-out summer breeze of a song with some plaintive fiddle and the Followill brothers singing "I'm gonna go back down south now" over and over again through the chorus. As great as "Sex On Fire" and "Use Somebody" are, it's wonderful to see what these boys can do when they write songs that aim to just fill the living room rather than fill the arena. The men of Kings Of Leon traveled below the Mason-Dixon line and hit the back woods of Tennessee to capture the nostalgia and down home feel of the south.
The clip was shot in May an hour south of Nashville, it is a simple, traditional, embeddable, and perfectly captures the spirit of the song as an homage to the south lifestyle, and the warm feeling of returning home with their melancholy vocals. It features the band performing live outdoors in a rural setting in front of their fans club local teenagers. The live footage is interspersed with vignettes depicting teenagers in the American south who all converge at an outdoor party the band is hosting. Staying true to the song, the video gives a mood of celebratory, reflective and nostalgic. It's a dusty, sun-drenched look at Kings Of Leon as good-old Southern boys instead of one of the biggest rock acts in America.

Kings Of Leon 'Use Somebody' have a cuddle with

It's New Year's Eve, and I would like to pick up the one song that I've missed on my blog, and also the one of songs we couldn't get enough of: "Use Somebody" by the moody, soul-searching rock band, Kings Of Leon. Fans (and bands such as Paramore) made cover after creative cover of this tune on YouTube. In the video for "Use Somebody," the Kings of Leon family mixes a sentimental rock tune with some candid tour footage with performance of their somewhat epic rock shows. It's a breakout hit for the boys from Tennessee.
The U2-esque hit track "Use Somebody" is the fourth track and the second single from the band's fourth studio album "Only by the Night." The best 80s guitar-driven power ballad is a too-cool hipster's cry for comfort. "Use Somebody," which led to what drummer Nathan describes as a "surreal and drunken" trip to the podium to collect an award for "Record of the Year" from Ringo Starr. The single was a huge success in the U.S., where it topped multiple airplay formats, and won three awards at the 2010 Grammies. Frontman Caleb wrote this song on tour in Glasgow, and he credited the writing of the song to the City of Glasgow, and the audience at the SECC on that night. Caleb told the story of the song is about longing for somebody to have a cuddle with while feeling lonely on the road. He said on his band's website: "It's about being far from home."
The Followill boys, who take a wistful view of life on the road in this Sophie Muller-directed clip for "Use Somebody." The video cuts from a close-up of Caleb pouring his heart out to shots of the band playing for live audiences, practicing at rehearsal, hanging out shooting pool, and heating things up between Caleb and one lucky groupie lady (Caleb's model girlfriend Lily Aldridge). The video takes us backstage with the Followill boys and up close with Caleb, who looks like he's been up all night crying. There are brief makeout scenes too, and maybe the pro shot concert footage will convince you to leave the digicam at home if you see these guys live. The video definitely does the tune justice.
The brothers, Caleb, Nathan, Jared, and Matthew Followill continue to follow their own muse and refuse to play it safe is especially impressive coming as they are on the heels of Kings of Leon's most successful album to date, "Only By The Night," which catapulted the band into the mainstream. Any other band would feel pressure going into the studio, but Kings of Leon aren't like any other band. "The funny thing is that 'Only by the Night' was the first album we approached with the attitude of not trying to make a popular record," Nathan says. Truth be told, there isn't very much going on beneath the stadium rock bluster, but Kings of Leon are doing the stadium rock bluster so well at the moment that few are likely to care.