Welcome to Chicago. Have you had a chance to explore the city?

CYLE BARNES: We got pretty drunk last night. We kinda just wandered around and went to a of couple bars. It was fun.

ALEX ADMIRAL COLLIER: We got here at 9 o’clock and went out to Delilah’s, did that for a little bit and woke up this morning and went shopping. That was actually something we’ve never done before in a place, we normally don’t get to go out.

Your new album is titled “Dear Bo Jackson“. What’s the connection?

SAMUEL WILLIAMS: It’s mostly because of how good he was at football and baseball. People just call him an athlete but he was also f-cking awesome. Just a legend. We don’t really want to be labeled as a rock band or a Southern rock band, just a band will do. That’s the major connection.

You’ve been playing together since you were 14 in Jackson, Mississippi. Where did the band name came from?

CYLE: We had a show that one of our friends got us and we didn’t have a name yet. We had been a band for, how long? A couple of nights? Cain had a street sign in his room where we had been practicing and it just said “Week’s Place”. We were on the phone and they had to make a poster for the show so we were like, “The Weeks?” 

What do you remember most about your first performance?

CYLE: I was going to a dance that night. Keep in mind we were 14 or 15 at the time and it was a real dive bar we were supposed to play at. We were in a party bus with a giant group of people, we had been drinking and I had to make this whole group of people reroute to drop me off at this sh-tty bar called Dynasty Dons. I was like, “Alright. Well, sorry date and everyone else. Go have fun, I’m going to play this and I’ll show up later,” and I played it.

Where were you when you heard your song on the radio for the first time?

SAMUEL: I still haven’t heard us on the f-cking radio! I get people telling me all of the time, “Oh my God! You were just on the radio,”  but I always miss it.

CAIN BARNES: I don’t remember the first time but the best time was when all of my aunts were in town and they were helping us move into our new spot. I went in the car with my girlfriend and “Brother in the Night” comes on the radio and I called Cyle and was telling everyone to get in the car. They were all freaking out because their kids were on the radio so that was cool.

How is it being on tour with Kings of Leon after idolizing their music for years?

CYLE: You’re going so much that you don’t even really think about it until you actually get some time off and you’re like, “Okay, we did a lot of sh-t recently.”

SAMUEL: You start b-tching about the tiniest little things and you realize that it’s not so bad.

CAIN: There is a lot more work involved than I ever expected.

When you signed with their label Serpents and Snakes how did you celebrate?

SAMUEL: I think we just got tattoos. We got a bunch of bro tats. I don’t remember which one it was though.

CAIN: Thirteen, because that’s when we signed. It was Friday the 13th.

Has there been anything that has caught you off guard in this new chapter?

SAMUEL: I think specifically with the Kings, their fans love the Kings of Leon so much. If the Kings is your favorite band you don’t give a sh-t about anything else. It’s awesome but it’s a little strange. Especially being over there in Europe because I’m used to walking through a bar and going anywhere I want to. Somebody might look at me and think my hair is too long but that’s it. It was so weird to have to start thinking, “Oh wait, can we go through the front door?” I don’t want to have to f-cking stop 20 times.

CYLE: Not that we don’t appreciate it but sometimes you’re on your way to do something else.

Do you ever get sick of each other?

CAIN: Yes but we are always together. We don’t really know what it’s like to not be with these people.

SAMUEL: I think our relationship is better when we are fighting. When we fight it’s more fun on stage.

Who is the messiest?

EVERYONE: Cain maybe?

CAIN: How come all of you mother f-ckers automatically pick me?! I was going to say you, Samuel. You’re a nasty bastard.

Most romantic of the group when it comes to the ladies?

CAIN: I don’t know about most romantic but most flirtatious I’d have to say Admiral. Admiral, what’s your soundtrack of choice for the background of a date?

ADMIRAL: Earth, Wind & Fire, dude.

SAMUEL: I need you to curate my next first date!

Have any pre-show rituals?

CYLE: Not really. When you don’t get yourself psyched up and then you walk up on stage you are kind of surprised and that gives you a little bit of energy. Plus we don’t normally play at places like House of Blues, normally we’re in a sh-tty bar. It’s really weird to see a band over in the corner huddling up, getting ready for a 20 person club with two people there.

What about before your show at The O2 Arena in London?

SAMUEL: That one I felt like we should have had a pre-show ritual. We actually talked about that. We were like, “Guys, we need to figure something out here. We need like a song or a dance.”

CYLE: We did a big group hug before we walked on stage but it was f-cking insane. I mean, we had never played in a place that big before.

One thing you always have stocked on the road?

DAMIEN BONE: Beer and water. That’s about it.

If you could have a drink with anyone, who would it be?

CYLE: I would drink with Charles Bukowski and we’d just drink a lot of whatever there is. It doesn’t really matter what it is. It wouldn’t be a happy thing, it would be sad. There’d be a fight probably but it would be a whole lot of fun. I’d definitely like to do that. Do you got one, Damien?

DAMIEN: I don’t know. Of all time? 

CAIN: Batman?

DAMIEN: Yeah, Batman. We’d drink just a beer I think.

CAIN: Mine would be Levon Helm and we would probably drink moonshine. Moonshine for sure.

SAMUEL: I’ll get heavy. An old-fashioned with RFK. Suck it, have fun with Batman.

ADMIRAL: I’m having Moscow mules with Quincy Jones … We were hanging out with the Kings and our tour managers in Berlin and I introduced them to the Moscow mule and they loved them so much that they all stole their copper mugs.

CYLE: This was a lot more fun than most of the interviews we do. Thanks for the beer! Can I finish mine?

KIRSTEN MICCOLI PHOTOGRAPHY