Kings Of Leon have said they’ve written a Christmas song, but have warned it “it might just be too Christmassy” to share.
- Read More: Kings Of Leon – ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ review: a return to their rugged roots… sort of
During a recent appearance on Radio X, the Nashville band’s vocalist Caleb Followill sat down with his brother and bandmate Jared to shed light on a potential festive tune. “That might be happening,” Caleb teased. “There’s a song that has been written, and it might just be too Christmassy”.
When host Dan O’Connell put it to them that it was nigh on impossible to write a song that was “too Christmassy”, Caleb countered: “I mean, how many jingle bells can you put on a song?”.
O’Connell then said his “favourite rock and roll Christmas song” was Julian Casablancas‘ ‘I Wish It Was Christmas Today’, which Caleb explained actually began as a Jimmy Fallon song.
Indeed, the festive offering was first released in 2001 as part of a now-legendary SNL sketch featuring the likes of Fallon and Tracy Morgan.
“They did that on Saturday Night Live“, he said. “It was a skit, and then he did it. Anytime there’s a great Christmas song and it’s someone that you love, it always makes you feel like, ‘Okay, well maybe we could make a Christmas song.’
“But, I mean, it’s so hard. The great ones are just so great, and the bad ones are so bad!”.
Last year, Kings Of Leon shared their ninth full-length record ‘Can We Please Have Fun’. NME awarded it three stars, noting: “This is easily KOL’s most promising, liberated record for over a decade, but still surprisingly restrained in places. Can they have fun? Yes, it appears, in places, but they could have had a whole lot more.”
Frontman Caleb Followill told NME about that album’s inspiration last year. “With this record,” he explained, “I was like: ‘Alright, big boy, it’s time to be a songwriter… I wanted people to feel the passion that went into [this album] and the honest, blue-collar hard work. We live in Music City, where the man next to you in the grocery store could be wearin’ overalls and you have no idea that he wrote the biggest country song in history.”
In August, they also released the single ‘We’re Onto Something’, with guest vocals from Zach Bryan, having also contributed to his song ‘Bowery’ this summer.
The band were forced to cancel a run of UK and European shows earlier this year after Caleb was involved in a “freak accident” when he broke his foot while playing with his kids. They returned to the stage in July.
More recently, they shared a four-track EP titled ‘EP#2’, comprised of ‘All The Little Sheep’, ‘To Space’, ‘Pit To The Rind’ and ‘The Wolf’.
