While Kings of Leon stop by a host of pavilions, amphitheaters, and Verizon Wireless Centers across the U.S. this summer — on a much-deserved victory lap celebrating the breakthrough success of their fourth album, Only by the Night — the Followill boys aren’t sticking solely to familiar tunes. As Spin reported from Saturday’s tour opener in Atlantic City, frontman Caleb Followill first announced the live debut of their new tunes: “You don’t know these songs. But one day you will.” The band then played “Immortals,” “Mary,” and “a song about being from the south.”

KoL kept the new tunes in the setlist on the following night in Saratoga Springs, and this time an audience member caught some nice footage. Watch tour openers the Whigs join the Kings for a song possibly called “Southbound” (a sub-par recording of “Mary” has hit the Internets, as well) below:

No wonder the Kings of Leon have been pounding away in the studio (as per Nathan Followill’s Twitter page at least) for their follow-up to 2008’s multi-platinum Only by the Night, as there’s less than a month to go until they embark on an American tour that scatters across the summer and into September. One of the biggest rock bands in the country going on an amphitheater tour isn’t big news, but what if I told you that Built to Spill (one of our personal favorite bands of all time) and the Black Keys (one of the best live bands around) are joining KoL for different legs of the tour? Yeah…

From early July until August, Built to Spill will open for the Followill boys, while Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney will be KoL’s September tour mates. Check out the full schedule and list of openers (Whigs, the Stills, and the Features, as well) below:

We told you last month about a project for Haitian earthquake relief helmed by Little Joy’s Binki Shapiro called “Crafts for a Cause,” in which over three dozen musicians, actors, and artists have added original designs to various items to be auctioned off for charity. At that time, we only knew of a handful of items, including Conor Oberst’s painted Fender Strat, Mars Volta’s Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s skateboard design, a t-shirt by Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, and more. Well, the auction will go live tomorrow morning (Mar. 15) at 8AM EDT here, and the lineup of contributors has grown to an epic proportion in the past few weeks.

Not only have actors Drew Barrymore, Aziz Ansari, Natalie Portman, Amy Poehler, Rashida Jones and Paul Schneider joined the effort, but musicians of the likes of Daft Punk, Kings of Leon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cat Power, and more have made contributions, as well.

Though all the artists involved have given one-of-a-kind pieces to the cause, I’d say Ed Droste donated the most exciting item by far:

This is a Taylor acoustic guitar with electrical output, signed by Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste. It was given to him by his parents on his 15th birthday, and is the guitar he learned to play on.

It was used as the primary guitar on the Sorry For the Delay EP, Horn of Plenty and both Ed and Daniel Rossen played it on Yellow House. Grizzly Bear also toured with it for years.

For more info, as well as a slew of photos of the auction’s contributors in action, go here. And more importantly, place your bids thataway tomorrow morning.

You knew this was coming, right? Well perhaps you put it out of your mind (as I did), but the inevitable song licensing/school chorus tycoons behind Kidz Bop have gotten all of this year’s biggest chart-toppers to sign along the dotted line for the forthcoming 17th volume of “songs sung by kids for kidz.”

Sure, Kelly Clarkson covered “Use Somebody” already, as did Nickelback, but I’m calling it: Kings of Leon’s breakthrough hit is officially up for grabs at this point. In a weird way, I almost prefer the Kidz Bop version over the previously mentioned two, but that’s just choosing the lesser of three evils, I suppose.

And then there’s the inevitable Kidz cover of Death Cab’s Owl City’s “Fireflies” and Death Cab For Cutie’s New Moon anthem “Meet Me On The Equinox.” Twee as ugh…

Stream all this stuff here if you dare, but be forewarned: only the penitent man kid, shall pass.

Sure, the Kings of Leon have made the cover of Rolling Stone, won a Grammy award, headlined a bunch of massive festivals, and been covered by Nickelback, but they haven’t made it until now: KOL have teamed up with French designers Surface to Air and a shop in Copenhagen called Paris Texas to release a limited edition clothing line.

I’ll bet you thought the Followill boys just rolled out of bed with a vintage-looking western shirt, leather jacket, and tattered jeans, but those threads are actually carefully chosen by these rockers-turned-fashion icons.

Paris Texas’ official blog has photos of the new KOL gear. Check it out here or below:

Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill is apparently an equal-opportunity crowd-basher, as he has now followed up comments made earlier in the year about American audiences being inferior to those in the UK (“Kiddy pop or hip-hop, that’s pretty much what America is”) with criticism, via Twitter, of a huge UK festival crowd.

“Reading? What the fuck?” Followill tweeted (via NME) following the Kings’ headlining set at the Reading Festival last night. “Zero love for the kings. I know it was cold but holy shit, y’all were frozen. I can only hope Leeds is in better form.”

I thought rock bands were supposed to make the crowd go wild, not the other way around.

It’s inexplicable to me why Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill would make a public comment on American taste in popular music, as his band has been one of the most successful rock acts in the States for the past year, but here’s the quote:

“Most music gets ignored in the States unless it’s hip-hop or Hannah Montana or Disney music like the Jonas Brothers,” Followill said, according to Contact Music. “Kiddy pop or hip-hop, that’s pretty much what America is.”

“The U.K. is more open to all kinds of music. The fans are just insane in the U.K. - they are music lovers. You have kids going to shows to see the bands, not going to a show to be seen there.”

His comments kind of echo recent statements from The Killers’ Brandon Flowers, whose band’s latest record struggled to break in America. In the past, Flowers has blamed America for not being receptive to guitar-driven rock music, when that’s what his band was playing, and for being too obsessed with older rock bands, when The Killers were pushing a more modern dance sound.

I’m not sure either of these international rock stars should be engaging in a debate over which side of the pond has better music fans. Either way, maybe Kanye could teach them about some of his newfound humility.

Rolling Stone cover boys Caleb and Nathan Followill of Kings of Leon were interviewed at KROQ’s Weenie Roast concert recently by an openly drunk rep for the radio station. Normally, that kind of debauchery would suit the Kings well, but this time things got a bit awkward (watch here).

“I’m hammered by the way, you guys,” the interviewer says. “I didn’t mean to be, but for some reason I am, so I hope you forgive me.” Caleb and Nathan are cool with that, as they had just finished saying that they recorded their recent smash Only by the Night while drunk “98% of the time.”

But then things get a little uncool: “Like, this album’s really good, but before that, like, you guys were great,” she says. “So I wish that people don’t judge you by this album ‘cause before you were great.”

“Thank you,” Caleb replies politely.

“Yeah, this album’s just different,” she says, trying to fix the possible Freudian slip, “but before it was amazing too.”

Prince might want to second-guess his decision to reject big Guitar Hero bucks after he hears about their latest round of featured players. Even though it isn’t due out until after the summer, Guitar Hero 5 buzz has already begun and it’s only going to get louder once word gets out that the White Stripes, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash’s estate, Vampire Weekend, and Kings of Leon have signed along the dotted line.

USA Today Game Hunters’ Mike Snider reports that the new Guitar Hero features the bands listed above and more. “We have a lot of new indie artists as well and Iron Maiden as more classic rock or heavy metal,” Guitar Hero project director Brian Bright said. “We’ve been trying to get the White Stripes and they have finally come around.”

I think Jack White signing over “Blue Orchid” to Guitar Hero is a kind of tipping point for bands wanting to cash in, but keep their indie cred. It’s only a matter of time until we get Guitar Hero: Bon Iver Acoustic Edition.