Depressingly Beautiful
Music by Kings of Leon
“Nothing can ever make me cry... some sort of a defense mechansim i have created for myself. But whenever i listen to Kings of Leon it makes me so fucking nostalgic and broken at the same time its kind of hard to explain. No band on Earth can make me feel like this and that is something. Thank you KoL”
- gabortomanek3180
This story hasn't been shared, yet, on the 'Stack: About 2-3 Christmas weeks ago (2021 or '22), I started up a conversation with a handsome gentleman in his 30s at the coffee urns at a N. Austin (TX) Panera Bread (where I do some of my best writing)! Masks were no longer required, so the dampanic was mostly over.
He looked "hip" enough for me to ask him my "stock" question when I'm trying to push my FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE biz card on someone: "What kind of music do you listen to?" "Oh, a little bit of everything, I reckon," was his reply. I handed him my card, and told him I write about a lot of music and artists. He was kind, and took it. "What do you do?" I asked.
"I'm in a band." "Oh, really," figuring he was in one of the several thousand local cover bands that play 6th Street nightly, helping make Austin "The Live Music Capital of the World." "What's the name of your band?" "Kings of Leon."
Never a fan (nor really heard their music), I DID know they are/were huge, and even Grammy-winning about a decade before! Nevertheless, I dropped my jaw in genuine surprise, and quickly remembered the unusual familial situation I'd heard they had: "Aren't there a couple of brothers in that band....a, uh, Followill?" He said, "Yep...Hi, I'm Jared Followill; I'm the bass player! We're 3 brothers."
I think they're from Oklahoma, and his wife and/or other family-type members lived in Austin. "I'm visiting here for the holidays," he explained. We exchanged e-mails, as I had asked him for an interview, perhaps via e-mail, but nothing came of it. He was neat, clean-shaven, well-mannered, and quite the handsome prince (for a bass player)!😁When I started Googling pix of him, I could see how more rock-star hirsute he used to be!
Anyway, a fun story, and a cool brush with a 21st-century rock star!
The haunting guitar and his voice gets me every time. Amazing album…