Singer Caleb Followill of Kings of Leon, performs at the Roskilde Festival on July 3, 2011.
We’ve been down this rocky road before.
The history of rock ‘n’ roll is littered with “creative differences,” often massaged with phrases that are employed to throw fans off the scent that something, to rip off that well known front-man William Shakespeare, is rotten in the state of Denmark (or in this case, a group).
The latest to be affected by “heat exhaustion and dehydration” is the Kings of Leon. Those words were spoken by lead singer Caleb Followill, who left the stage during a show in Dallas, Texas a few days ago. Sure enough, it’s led to the cancellation of their U.S. tour and has the media and fans speculating that the end is nigh for the hugely popular, Grammy Award-winning group.
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Indeed, Followill’s brother Jared, who is the band’s bassist, tweeted that they have “internal sicknesses & problems” that go beyond dehydration. “I can’t lie,” he wrote. “There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade.” In a separate tweet, the drummer Nathan Followill (he’s the other brother in the band) said, “Not so good morning 4 me today. Ashamed & embarrassed by last night’s fiasco.”
The official statement from the group said that they were “devastated, but in order to give their fans the shows they deserve, they need to take this break.” As things stand, Kings of Leon are due to return in Vancouver, Canada, on September 28 but there are no plans to reschedule the canceled shows.
The band hail from Tennessee and are all related to one another. They’ve released five albums, of which Only by the Night, with monster singles “Sex On Fire” and “Use Somebody” truly put them on the world stage. Most recent effort, Come Around Sundown, wasn’t perceived to have eclipsed what had come before. And it’s been remarked that their recent live shows and the documentary Talihina Sky portrayed a band struggling to deal with their popularity (to say nothing of an alleged drinking problem.)
Perhaps most telling is the inevitability of internal issues that often arises when brothers are in bands. Going back many years, and The Kinks (Davies brothers) and Creedence Clearwater Revival (the Fogertys) showed how fractious relations can literally be.
More recently, Noel and Liam Gallagher’s prolonged and intense dislike for each other eventually brought a nasty end to Oasis. Their paean to brotherly “love” came via arguably their career highlight, “Acquiesce,” which told us, “I hope that I can say / The things I wish I’d said.”
But if the Kings of Leon do split up, don’t be shocked by a reunion tour at some point. After all, going back to “Acquiesce,” that chorus may just ring true: “Because we need each other / We believe in one another.” (via BBC)
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Glen Levy is an Executive Producer at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @glenjl. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.