Beloved bearded brethren Kings Of Leon have returned with a stunningly different new album. We caught up with them ahead of the release of Because Of The Times and captured an unusually intimate live set.

The band has a new edge and confidence in themselves and their music. The sound is bigger, more diverse and pushed to the limits. "We weren't scared to try anything" said drummer Nathan Followill. "Every song showed us something we had inside ourselves that we didn't know existed."

All the songs for the session are from Because Of The Times, the name taken from a preachers' conference they used to be taken to as children. After playing live with the likes of Bob Dylan, U2 and Pearl Jam, working their songs to crowds and venues on that scale had got into their blood. They'd simply got better at doing everything over the past year or so and were more than ready to get stuck into making the new album.

Recording it close to home helped also, so moving from their porch, where they set up and wrote a lot of the songs to try them out in the big wide spaces, wasn't much hassle. Producers Nathan Johns and Angelo Patraglia created the perfect balance of driving the band and encouraging them to let their (considerable) hair down.

After the band had belted through six songs and carefully mixed them, Caleb and Matthew sat down to explain that the combination of their improving musicianship and belief in the new songs all came together at just the right time. They're hoping for a big hit with Because Of The Times but as you'll see from this session, it more a probability than a possibility, these guys are on fire.

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