Twenty-five years into their career, Kings of Leon sounds like a band that has a deep appreciation and gratitude for holding the group (and the family) together and having the opportunity to build upon their remarkable body of work.

The new album is Can We Please Have Fun and it was a pleasure to check the heads of half of the Followill clan: lead singer and rhythm guitarist Caleb Followill, and bassist and occasional keyboardist Jared Followill.

The fellas revealed a number of interesting tidbits about the record such as the distinctive guitar sound on lead single “Mustang” being the result of producer Kid Harpoon unplugging the amp and recording through an earbud!

What’s more, the chorus of that song came from Caleb interacting with his children as opposed to a horse, a car, or any number of off-base interpretations that have been floated. Caleb gives some insight into the band’s collective mindset when describing how these songs came to life with no agenda other than satisfying their creative impulses.

When I complimented Can We Please Have Fun as a proper album, as opposed to a collection of unrelated songs, Jared makes plain the pride they take in crafting song cycles held together by a sonic through line. Plus we tossed around terms like minimalism and punk, celebrated the power of radio, and hailed the power of the intentionally mispronounced lyric as in Ballerina Radio.