Kings of Leon have admitted that both age and more experience have helped them tackle political issues on their new album.

The record, entitled 'Only By The Night', is due to be released on September 22nd and is the follow-up to 2007's 'Because of the Times'.

Speaking about the lyrics on the new album, frontman Caleb Followill said: "The older you get the more you realise that you have to take a stand and have to believe in something and I think we're on the right path.

“I just think we're a little more political at this point.”

Followill went on to explain that the band hadn't touched political issues in the past because “for a while it was the cool thing for American bands to do”. “A lot of people revived their careers that way,” he added.

"We let that pass over and now we can actually write or sing about something if we have a belief about it and we're doing it on our terms and not because its the cool thing to do.

“Truth is Bush is still in their, the war is still going on,” he told XFM.

Kings of Leon previewed new material, believed to be from the new album, during their headlining performance at the Glastonbury Festival last Friday (June 27th).

(by Jason Gregory)