THIS BAND IS ON FIRE

Shove off Lynyrd Skynyrd: Kings of Leon are the new lords of Southern rock

Kings of Leon lead singer Caleb Followill
Kings of Leon
Photo courtesy of Kings of Leon

I would never claim to have the powers of omnipotence and foresight of a Nostradamus, but after perusing some old articles I wrote about rockers Kings of Leon, I have to believe I'm at least as reliable a prophet as faux-Caribbean fortune teller Miss Cleo.

Check this out:

For (Kings of Leon's) second album "Aha Shake Heartbreak," Tennessee's Followill brothers (guitarist Caleb, bassist Jared and drummer Nathan) and their cousin (guitarist Matthew) faced a decision: Lose a little twang, move toward the rock 'n' roll mainstream and work on being this generation's version of the Black Crowes or stay rootsy and continue to be underground darlings like My Morning Jacket.

The Kings appear to have chosen national prominence, though on "Aha Shake Heartbreak" it feels like they're still trying to learn the language.

- Michael D. Clark, March 6, 2005, Houston Chronicle

Wow!!! Talk about hitting the nail on the head? What vision. What astute analysis.

(Now, before you rip me for patting myself on the back, keep in mind that I am well aware of the many band predictions that I have whiffed on over the years too. I'm just not going to republish them for the good readership of CultureMap to see.)

The Kings of Leon are now quite fluent in the language of rock 'n' roll icons. What I did get wrong, however, back when I was a wee lad of 30ish was the notion that the group's best hope was to rise to the level of the Black Crowes. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that that this little family band from Nashville would be redefining the Southern rock experience in the 21st century.

Then again, that was three years before lead singer Caleb Followill had wrapped his hiccuping nasal tenor around future No. 1 alt-rock hits "Use Somebody" and "Sex on Fire." And it was long before Kings of Leon found radio success again with more recent singles "Radioactive" and "Pyro" from the group's most recent album, Come Around Sundown.

Never did I think we would talking about Kings of Leon as a band who had sold around seven million albums around the world and had no problem filling amphitheaters as the band will do at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion on Saturday.

Even more amazing is that these four Kings have managed to pillage the rock 'n' roll kingdom with a blend of Southern rock rootsiness and arena rock flourishes and have done it all with all the bravado and hubris of a Christian folk band. I did a broad web search in an effort to track down dirt on any member of the Kings of Leon. The worst offense I could find was a story about bassist Jared Followill being briefly detained at Bonnaroo last year after driving a golf cart around with a cocktail on board.

That's it? That's the rock 'n' roll equivalent of jaywalking.

Needless to say the Kings of Leon are well on their way to equaling the success of fellow Southern power band The Black Crowes. With a few more hits (and a little more tabloid-savvy), the band might start inching closer to the kings of that genre: Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers.

I'll check back in six years and see how that prediction is working for me.

Kings of Leon

7 p.m. Saturday at Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Tickets: $36.50-$60.50

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Scary Movie

The Monkey is a horror comedy that could use a few more laughs

Photo courtesy of NEON

Theo James in The Monkey.

Horror comedies tend to be a good entry point for non-hardcore fans of the genre, as they provide for a good amount of levity amongst the carnage shown on screen. Examples like the original Scream, Shaun of the Dead, and Get Out keep the spirit of horror alive while still giving the audience plenty of laughs.

Writer/director Osgood Perkins, who wowed some genre fans with Longlegs in 2024, is back with a much different type of film in The Monkey. Based on a Stephen King short story, the film features a villain who is not a person, but rather an organ grinder monkey toy that inexplicably causes the death of someone nearby when activated.

The toy changes hands a few times in the film, but always seems to come back into the lives of twin brothers Hal and Bill (Christian Convery as a child, Theo James as an adult). No matter what they do, they cannot rid themselves of the monkey, and few in their orbit are safe from its unexplained wrath.

The high points of the short, 95-minute film are unquestionably its many kills, which are heightened to a degree that laughter is pretty much the only response if you’re willing to go along with it. The deaths seem to increase in absurdity as the film goes along, and the inventiveness of each one makes it feel like Perkins drew inspiration from the Final Destination series.

The problem for the film comes in Perkins’ storytelling outside of the violence. There’s little that’s compelling about the lives of Hal and Bill other than the tragedies they witness along the way. Their times with their mother (Tatiana Maslany), aunt and uncle (Sarah Levy and Perkins himself), and others fail to have any meaningful impact, and their own twisted relationship is too odd to be fully involving, as well.

Because of the disparity between the violent and non-violent parts of the film, the film never maintains any kind of momentum. To be fair, Perkins spends a lot of time with his main characters, but because their stories fail to inspire, it feels like the film is just twiddling its thumbs until it can get to the next over-the-top kill. The mystery of the monkey is okay, but could have been enhanced.

Despite some high-profile roles (the Divergent series, The White Lotus), James is somewhat of a blank slate as an actor, and he feels miscast here.. The dual roles can be tricky to pull off, and he never makes either twin brother pop. Maslany is given the showiest role and it’s fun to see her ham it up to a degree. The oddest casting goes to Elijah Wood, who shows up in a cameo that leaves many questions about his character going unanswered.

It’s unclear why Perkins didn’t commit fully to the comedy part of The Monkey, as the scenes that go all-in in that respect are the best ones in the film. But anytime he veers away from them, the movie gets less interesting, and ultimately the balance goes too far in the wrong direction.

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The Monkey opens in theaters on February 21.

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