The first time that Kings of Leon rolled into Vancouver back into 2003, they were touted as being on the frontlines of a Southern rock revival that also gave us the likes of the Drive-By Truckers. If you were lucky like us, you earned bragging rights by catching them rip up a sweaty Richard’s on Richards. The band was not only good, it was fucking loud with a capital L. Fast forward a decade and a half and Richard’s is gone, but Kings of Leon are still kicking around, having long ago graduated to rock star status, which explains the group headlining Rogers Arena tonight. If you’re going to bring something to throw appreciatively at the stage, forget flowers or B.C. bud, and instead spring for a $10.79 bottle of Cote D’azur Sel Gris at the Gourmet Warehouse.

WINGING IT.  Although the Followill brothers had a strict upbringing—their United Pentacostal preacher father, Ivan, didn’t allow them to watch movies, wear short pants, or listen to any music other than church music—rock ‘n’ roll came naturally to the boys. According to Nathan, at the time of the band’s conception, “Jared had never picked up a bass, Caleb had never picked up a guitar and Matt had taken two guitar lessons,” as he told Reuters. He credits the band’s musical aptitude to a combo of "boredom and stupidity."  “When we signed the deal [with RCA, as singers] it was just me and Caleb,” Nathan recalled. “The label said, ‘We’re gonna put you a band together,’ and we were like, ‘We don’t want to be Evan & Jaron. We’re gonna buy our little brother a bass, he’s a freshman in high school. Caleb will teach himself to play guitar. Our cousin played guitar when he was 10. I’ll play the drums, I played in church when I was little.’ They said, ‘All right, we’ll come down in one month and see you guys.'” Four weeks later, after locking themselves in a basement with an ounce of marijuana, the four-piece had written “Molly’s Chambers”, “California Waiting”, “Wicker Chari”, and “Holy Roller Novocain.”

THE MEANING OF SEX.  After starting out as a post-Americana cult favourite in the early ’00s, Kings of Leon finally went stratospheric with the 2009 smash “Sex on Fire”. (Which, for some reason, always brings to mind the Gun Club—thanks to Jeffrey Lee Pierce’s songs “Sex Beat” and “Jack on Fire”.) Initially, everyone assumed that the breakthrough was about well, sex, that having everything to do with lyrics such as “Soft lips are open”, “Head while I’m driving”, and “I could just taste it”. While they may have just been trying to throw fans off the scent (or get the ever-annoying cameramen of TMZ.com to piss off) the band’s members told TMZ, when harassed at the Los Angeles airport before a plane ride to England in 2009, that the track was actually about sexually transmitted diseases. It’s more likely that the initial assumptions were correct. The hit is thought to be about singer Caleb Followill's then-girlfriend (and now-wife) Lily Aldridge, with early lyrics including references to “Snatch on Fire” and “Cocks on Fire”. (Not to get your mind racing with dirty thoughts, but Caleb isn’t exactly hard on the eyes, and you might have seen Aldridge on the cover of Sports Illustrated). While we’re talking sex, you might also be interested to know that the favourite position of drummer Nathan Followill is, according to Rolling Stone, “reverse cowgirl, with a braid”. We can only hope he’s talking about the hair on his partner’s head.

DON’T FEAR THE ROOSTER.  Before Caleb Followill settled down with Aldridge, he was, by his own admission, a mess. With a self-destructive alter ego dubbed “the Rooster” by the rest of the band, Caleb spent a lot of time guzzling down whisky and beating on his brothers. After his father retired from his work as a preacher, the singer felt disillusioned, and as if it was impossible to be a perfect man. “I said to myself, ‘I have to go the opposite way’,” he told Rolling Stone. “I couldn’t be a sober person. When I started getting fucked up, I got fucked up. I thought I was going to hell. I had nightmares about money and girls. The sky would open up and the Lord would take my soul. I had so many insecurities that stemmed from putting my faith into things that ended up breaking my heart.”

PASS THE FUCKING SALT.  Who cares about the clichéd perks of stardom: sex, drugs, booze, and private planes. The thing that makes us really wish that we could trade places with Caleb Followill is the fact that his celebrity status earned him a place at the judge’s table on Iron Chef. In an episode aired in 2010, the singer found himself offering his culinary opinions on a veal-centered battle between Iron Chef Michael Symon and Marc Vetri. As dynamic as Followill is on stage, he didn’t exactly make anyone forget Jeffrey Steingarten as a food critic. (That said, he came off better than other guest judges like Bonecrusher, who only seemed capable of yelling out “That’s good” during his appearance on Iron Chef). Keeping things low-key, Followill half-mumbled such assessments as “Maybe could have used a little bit of salt” and “when I smelled the Parmesan, I thought it was going to be a little saltier than it was.” Clearly the man likes his salt, for which—high blood pressure be damned—we can completely relate to. 

BAND ON THE RUN.  On the road since their late teens, the Kings of Leon boys are no stranger to gruelling world tours. It’s rare that the four-piece cancels a show—but the ones they’ve called off are down to some unlikely reasons. In 2010, during a show in St. Louis, the band left the stage after pigeons pooped on bassist Jared Followill. Claiming that the incident was a toxic health hazard, the group retired to their dressing room. A year later, Kings of Leon cancelled a large portion of its summer tour after singer Caleb Followill left the stage to vomit, and decided to seek help for his alcohol addiction. In 2014, drummer Nathan Followill was injured after a crazed fan jumped in from of their tour bus in Boston. Nathan was treated for broken ribs after the vehicle stopped abruptly, and the band cancelled 11 shows. The band’s final member, Matthew Followill, however, has a clean slate if he decides to call time on a few performances.