Kings of Leon tour Rock Hall, NFT exhibit before draft gig

Kings of Leon’s rock and roll journey has taken them from an NFT to the NFL.

One of rock’s biggest acts, the band visited the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on Thursday to see a new exhibit featuring their venture into cryptocurrency before they opened the NFL draft with their first live show in more than a year.

“I hope we don’t look too excited to be up there,” said lead singer Caleb Followill.

“I hope we don’t play a song a linebacker doesn’t like and he decides to come out and take us out,” joked drummer Nathan Followill.

In March, Kings of Leon — brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill and their cousin, Matthew — made history by releasing its eighth studio album, “When You See Yourself” as a non-fungible token or NFT, a digital form of currency that can only be used in its own ecosystem.

Sound confusing?

Well, even the band wasn’t sure what it was getting into with its pioneering move.

“We had to study up a little bit, and it’s still a little beyond me,” Caleb said before the band toured the hall. “We didn’t know that much about it, but we were happy to be introduced to it.”

Nathan Followill had some familiarity with cryptocurrency, but wasn’t quite up to date on NFTs or all their possibilities.

“I think it’s the way of the future, not only for music but you’re seeing sport cards in the form of NFTs, artists putting their work through NFT,” he said. “So not just for music, but for art and I think it will definitely have a place.”

The band is giving a “significant” portion of proceeds from the NFTs to Live Nation’s Crew Nation fund, a charity that supports workers in the music industry hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Greg Harris, the Rock Hall’s president and CEO, applauded the band’s willingness to try something...