i walk the streets with a frown the size of a playground merry-go-round

[hardparade]

HANNAH. littledivinity. HANNAHHHHH. I have things in this post here that are relevant to your interests. I was going to email them to you, but I thought other people might be interested too. BUT YOU WILL BE THE MOST INTERESTED, SO I HAD TO GET YOUR ATTENTION. DID IT WORK?

Right, so I know I haven't mentioned Kings of Leon in forever, but they had a big article in Q magazine a while ago, and it's definitely worth mentioning. I couldn't be bothered reading it at first, and then I remembered that Q is the magazine that's given us the most incestuous material to work with for Caleb and Nathan, and so I thought I'd check it out. AND ALL OF A SUDDEN I'M REMINDED WHY I LOVE THEM/SHIP IT SO MUCH.

First of all, we know that Arizona (link to lyrics) is about a prostitute that Caleb randomly fell in love with because she was too pretty to be a prostitute or something. BUT DID WE KNOW THAT NATHAN HAD SEX WITH THAT PROSTITUTE? I DON'T THINK WE DID.

Isn't 'Arizona' about a prostitute?
That's actually a terrible story during our heyday. Me and Nathan decided to have some fun. There was talk of a brothel in the desert somewhere. It's not a lavish tale about being with a prostitute. It broke my heart when I walked in and saw this really pretty girl. She could've been doing anything with her life. Something must've happened to her to make her think all she could do was sell herself. I ended up leaving without having sex.

What happened before you left?
I did go in with a girl but I couldn't perform. He [Nathan] was with the girl that broke my heart. I barely got my boots off. It had killed the vibe of the night for me. That was the saddest thing I've ever seen. Still is.

Where was this?
I don't know. I was pretty high that night; cocaine, a little ecstasy. We were on tour with U2. As soon as I got home that was one of the first things I wrote about. I didn't know that prostitutes still existed in that way. It was like the Wild West. I was thinking about how many hideous people - and I don't just mean looks - have taken advantage of these girls. It sounds like a contradiction 'cause of the life that we led but it just broke my heart.

Did you talk to her?
Yes, but I didn't want to embarrass myself. I literally wanted to say "Grab your things, get out of here." I wanted to put her on a bus somewhere. Who knows? She might be gone now.

...SERIOUSLY. In the past, littledivinity and I regularly questioned whether or not we were reading too much into things by making every Kings of Leon song about Nathan in some way. But then an interview like this comes along. Also re: him not being able to get it up, I always figured that's what the line 'too drunk to remember/too drunk to...' meant.

Did you and Caleb fight a lot when you were boys?
Nathan: Not really, no. Me and Caleb were two peas in pod. It was always us fighting everybody else.

Did your relationship change when you began playing as Kings of Leon?
Nathan: It got a little more heated after the band started and people then had roles. (...) It doesn't matter how much you fight, though. We're always going to love each other. Caleb's my best friend.

But the bond you two have must be pretty strong...
Nathan: No one could touch that. But still, the reality was that I got a girlfriend and there was going to be someone else that was occupying my time as well as him. That was a tough pill for him to swallow. Now he has a relationship and totally gets it. It's natural to move on and fall in love. We would've killed each other by now if we hadn't got women.

Does anyone else think it's a little odd that they talk about their relationship and relationships with women like they're on the same level? Like, no one ever questions that. I do like this interviewer, though, they're totally prying the way I would. But yeah, it's always spoken about like Jessie and Lily are replacements for each other, not like it's a totally different kind of relationship. THAT'S NOT NORMAL FOR BROTHERS, RIGHT?

When did you grow your first ever moustache?
Caleb: I had a moustache growing in 2002. Nathan reamed me. He was like, "Oh, it looks fucking terrible, shave that stupid thing off," so I shaved it. With God as my witness, two weeks later he came downstairs and had a moustache. I said, "What the fuck are you doing?" He was like, "What, man?" "Dude, I just had that fucking moustache!" Anyway, so I grew a beard and he still kept struggling with his little moustache. I grow a much better moustache.

Who do you think you are closest to in the band?
Caleb: I don't know. We're all really close in different ways. Me and Nathan just had so much of our lives together. We always had houses together and everything we did was hand-in-hand, so me and him definitely have the most history.

Idk, the first one just made me lol. (And I also like how apparently, if Nathan tells Caleb to do something, he just does it.) The second one...*sigh* I love that he starts out like he's not going to say Nathan right away, and then he just has to. And god, everything they did was 'hand-in-hand'. ♥

Then there's this whole depressing bit about the drugs:

What was the pattern?
Caleb: We would wake up in the middle of the day at about 2 or 3 o'clock, have a soundcheck at 4. At 5 we would go to dinner. Me and Nathan would drink two bottles of wine - one apiece - at dinner. Walk to the venue, drink a third bottle of wine while we were getting ready to go on. We would drink a fourth bottle onstage and then when we came off we'd immediately do a shot of tequila and do our first line. Then we would drink beers, shoot tequila and do, like, so much cocaine you can't imagine.

Was this all four of you?
Caleb: There were points when it was, but in the end it was just me and Nathan. Then you take pills to go to sleep at night and muscle relaxers and all these things. You wake up the next day in a blur and you feel so shitty that you have to do it all over again. Nathan would spend so many nights not sleeping because he knew that if someone wasn't watching me I'd probably not make it through the night. He'd wake me up and make sure I threw up in a trashcan. He kept me alive a lot of times. I've done it for him too.

And now?
Caleb: I haven't touched cocaine since New Year's Eve...2005, I think.

Did you know then that it would be the last time you did cocaine?
Caleb: The next morning, when I woke up, I knew it was. I wanted to kill myself. We [Caleb and Nathan] had spread a line of cocaine from one corner of the table to the other, handed each other a dollar and said quit when you need to. It was a big fucking table, at least 10 foot. That was the last one. We wanted to go back to a normal life.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT SECOND BIT. NATHAN WOULDN'T SLEEP BECAUSE HE'D BE WORRYING ABOUT CALEB. HE KEPT HIM ALIVE A LOT OF TIMES. It's not even just the fact that that happened, but the way Caleb talks about it. So much love. And I wonder if it's significant that they stopped doing cocaine/had that last disastrous time a couple of months after moving into the farmhouse together? It's also interesting that it was Nate and Caleb who were drinking the most and doing the most drugs, and that Caleb kinda tries to gloss over that. They had more to try to escape from than Matt and Jared did, maybe?

Speaking of Jared...

How would you describe the relationship that Caleb and Nathan have with each other?
Jared: Phew. Caleb and Nathan are very...if I could describe it in one word I'd say weird, in the sense that it's not normal and I don't understand it. They will be best friends and worst enemies. We definitely have a weird, dysfunctional family. It's something to do with being Southern, I would imagine.

Lol. ♥ Oh, Jared. I love his discomfort with their relationship and the way he makes jokes to try cover it up, saying their whole family is weird so it's not a big deal, etc. Also, I put that quote there because it's vaguely amusing and softens the blow of this next one.

Caleb: (...) I see bands that die too young and because they die too young they become bigger than what they are. I've considered dying young so that the other guys...

What, killing yourself?
Caleb: Yeah, sure. So the other guys end up being big.

I think that's the booze talking.
Caleb: No. Maybe. Then again, my religious background...

I don't think you've ever thought about killing yourself.
Caleb: You don't think I've ever thought about killing myself? Good.

Caleb. Caaaaaaleb. I'D FORGOTTEN WHAT IT FELT LIKE TO DESPERATELY WANT TO GIVE CALEB FOLLOWILL A HUG, YOU GUYS. ;_;


The rest of the interview is less interesting (/things I've read before), but if you want to read it in its entirety, the scans I found are here.

I WISH I COULD FORM THE MASSES OF VAGUELY-LINKED FICLETS I HAVE INTO AN ACTUAL STORY.

In other news, I feel like Formspringing tonight. I totally forgot it existed until yesterday and now I feel like answering questions. :) You know the drill - ask me anything!

Comments

[littledivinity.livejournal.com]

What? WHAT? WHAT?!!!?!!?!??!!?!?!?!?! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?


I CAN'T EVEN PROCESS THIS. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY.

Jesus fucking Christ. This morning has been a fucking tidal wave of FEELINGS.

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

I LOVE HOW WE ARE RIGHT ABOUT SO MANY THINGS. I mean, we never came up with any specific personal canon for the Arizona thing, but we did work out when it would have been, and assumed Nathan was involved in some important way.

And UGHHH ALL THE STUFF ABOUT BEING BEST FRIENDS AND KEEPING EACH OTHER ALIVE AND. Caleb is always so ridiculously open about his love for Nate and it's so nice to see it the other way around sometimes. ♥

[littledivinity.livejournal.com]

I think my most favourite thing is how Jared still doesn't know quite how to hand their brotherhood. It's just...it's actually really intriguing, to read how he ALWAYS says they're weird, but that's just their family/being Southern.

It's like...I don't know.

WE'RE ALWAYS RIGHT, IS THE POINT.

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

YES. And like, it's so interesting, because on the one hand, it could be him still being totally uncomfortable with it and in denial because it's something he just doesn't want to think about, and so when it IS brought up he's like "lol idk they're just weird". But it could also be that he's kinda trying to downplay it for THEIR sake, so people don't read too much into it, or something.

♥ Jaaared.

[thisissirius.livejournal.com]

Speaking of Jared...

LOLOL ILJARED ;_; ♥

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

IKR ISN'T HE THE BEST.

[expastic.livejournal.com]

THE STORE WHERE I WORK KEEPS ADDING KOL SONGS TO THE SOUNDTRACK AND I'M LIKE BAWWWWW, JENNY.

;D

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

AWW. That's so sweet. AND AWESOME OF YOUR WORK. How is it going?? You haven't posted in aaaages. *nags*

[prunesquallormd.livejournal.com]

Have I ever told you before how much I love the way your mind works?
I'm not even a fan of Kings of Leon, but hell, if there's any sort of incestuous vibe going on there at all, count me in :D

[likecharity.livejournal.com]

♥

THEY ARE PRETTY CRAZILY INCESTUOUS.