Red Light Knights Play Followill The Leader

I love the Kings of Leon. I love Caleb Followill’s sick hound vocal. I love the road-trip guitar. I love their Shiner Bock roots rock. I love that they misbehave and seem to relish being rock stars. Alongside the Rockfather Mr. White, the Kings of Leon inhabit my musical Mt. Rushmore. Their last record Because of the Times has been in my Jeep’s 6-disc changer for the balance of the year.

I’ve been accused of having a one-track mind; it’s always been this way. When I collected baseball cards I very quickly worked my way up to over 900 Rickey Henderson cards. When I had a crush on Kim Cattrall in the movie Mannequin I actually went to the public library and looked at articles about her on the microfiche machine. How creepy is that?

With Carlos Gomez fast becoming the new Rickey Henderson for the Twins, and Cattrall on the red carpet as Sex in the City hits the big screen it seemed an apropos time to share my latest discovery as a result of having a one-track mind.

It’s hard to dig too deep into the Kings of Leon. The brothers from Tennessee only have 3 albums, and they don’t toss a lot of scraps to the fan base to keep you interested. Even their website will go through big stretches of inactivity. But a few months ago I did manage to find a thread on a Kings of Leon discussion board about a Followill cousin who also had a band—Red Light Knights.

ALAS! A ROGUE COUSIN! For a major Kings of Leon fan this was huge, huge news.

At the time all I could find was a very shoddy Red Light Knight’s MySpace page with a few tracks and a description of their sound as “slappin dicks on cabinets.” But recently when I looked again the Red Light Knights’ self-titled debut popped up on iTunes. Best I can tell the band (from Bethany, OK) has yet to press a physical album, so much to my chagrin I did the download.

In a nutshell, if you like Kings of Leon you’ll like Red Light Knights. And if you love Kings of Leon (like me), you’ll like Red Light Knights.

Red Light Knights do little to expand the genre. Lead singer Tyson Followill is a dead ringer for first cousin Caleb Followill’s howl. The plodding guitar is there as well courtesy of Bee Jay. But the Red Light Knights lack the melodic appeal of Kings of Leon. Nothing here is stadium ready like say “Ragoo” or “Fans.” A song like “Razor” is eerily reminiscent of “Molly’s Chambers” but the hook won’t get stuck in your mouth.

The closest Red Light Knights get to their own open air single is “3 Way Highway.” This one builds slowly to a nice swirling chorus and would be the song I would play if trying to convince you to give the Red Light Knights a chance. “3 Way Highway” sounds like a Kings of Leon rarity you stole from a movie soundtrack or B-side import single. At their best the Kings of Leon have a healthy does of “the woods” in their sound, and this gem sounds like the song you’d want playing as you pulled a choice girl away from the parking lot keg party to someplace dark. It’s very rock & roll and Tyson Followill works the vocal like the heavy bag grinding through as the track ebbs and flows. Really good stuff here.

While only eight tracks, the Red Light Knights debut has already started to grow on me. “But Maybe for Me” has more get-up and melody than most, and some off the leash guitar work towards the end. I find myself filling in the off “tee oh tee oh” chant vocal on “When the Crazy Attacks” and I can only imagine the more aggressive “Pearl” would kill live. Even the song titles like “Rodeo Clown” and “Show Girl” remind of Kings of Leon, and in the case of “Show Girl,” the familiar groove is there too.

The entire Red Light Knights record will sound great driving around with hair in your eyes and sunflower seeds in your cheek, but it mostly sounds good because it reminds you of Kings of Leon not because of anything Red Light Knights have added.

Unlike the emo and singer-songwriter genres, Kings of Leon’s brand of southern rock is far from a crowded affair. There’s ample room for another band that sounds like them—in the case of the Red Light Knights precisely like them. In a weird way it makes sense that blood runs thick on this distinct sound. For Kings of Leon fans, Red Light Knights will be a genetic match for a cupboard you’re still trying to fill.