There was a time long ago when Kings of Leon dressed just like even shaggier versions of you or I. But as the Followills’ profile has risen over the past few years, their pants have become increasingly tight and their sleeves equally scarce. They’ve begun wearing the sort of thing you see on the Lower East Side or in a Miracle Whip commercial (totes jks) more than you would their home in Nashville. It was inevitable then that as their appetite for corny jewelry and Dior began to grow, they’d share their sartorial vision with the world on a somewhat larger scale: with the help of Parisian boutique design studio Surface to Air, they’ve developed a line of clothing to be sold exclusively in small batches at Paris Texas in Copenhagen. Check the pieces out at that shop’s blog here. (via NME)

After spending a week M.I.A. and skipping out on the Mercury Prize ceremony, Glasvegas frontman James Allan has confirmed that he is safe and in New York. The band’s manager, Dean Cunning, confirmed that he received a phone call from Allan yesterday, although he admitted that he “didn’t even know exactly when he went missing.” Glasvegas guitarist Rab Allan added to the mystery surrounding the singer’s disappearance, claiming that the band “did this festival in Italy and came back and the last [I saw] of him was at the airport.” The band is scheduled to fly to Boston today to kick off a tour supporting Kings of Leon. Asked whether or not the band would be able to fulfill the commitment, Cumming responded, “I fucking hope so!”

If we had to guess how Mark Ronson, Pharrell and Justin Timberlake have all been using up their spare time for the last few months, home-fried Southern rock remixing wouldn’t have been it.
But even before an official Kings of Leon album was even in the mix, Timberlake and Pharrell were allegedly reworking the Tennessee-based band of brothers’ tunes. And while it’s often been more of a question as to what Pharrell’s not into than what he is, it’s still sort of fun to imagine him listening to say the seven-plus minute epic that is “Knocked Up” and decide where it could use more space drums. Drummer Nathan Followill told Billboard Ronson, Kenna, Lykke Li and Linkin Park will also contribute tracks to the album. The band also just shot footage for an upcoming live DVD in London. Neither of these projects have a slated release date.

The former makes sense, but the latter? How many people out there have been clamoring to shred their way through “Between The Bars” or “Waltz #2″? “Needle In The Hay”?

Activision has just announced that Guitar Hero 5 is ready to hit streets in September and Rolling Stone is confirming exclusively that, in conjunction with a slew of other songs and bands soon-to-be revealed via an online scavenger hunt, tracks from Kings of Leon, A Perfect Circle, The Bronx and perennial Heroes Weezer will also be included.

One of our favorite past times is yelling at bicyclists who don’t wear helmets (we have reason to), so perhaps the invention of this fine new head covering and maybe an endorsement from Franz Ferdinand could help that out. Seriously, couldn’t you kinda see Alex Kapranos wearing one?

Just in case you needed to accessorize with your new Pucci Moped on your way to the next Kings of Leon show, Danish company Yakkay unveiled a new line of helmets for those inclined to travel on two wheels. Designed to look like caps, fedoras, and even a Yeti-meets-mink fur masterpiece, you can purchase just the material to cover your own helmet, or a pre-made creation to don. Note the price tag before buying online, but we think the roads now can be stylish and safe with these guys. [via The L.A. Times blog]

Here’s your second really good reason to head down to Austin this year: Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band and the Beastie Boys have been announced as headliners for this year’s Austin City Limits Music Festival, October 2-4 in Zilker Park.

The three-day, eight-stage festival will also feature Kings of Leon, Thievery Corporation, the Dead Weather, Ghostland Observatory, Sonic Youth, Bon Iver, Passion Pit, Arctic Monkeys, the Decemberists, Girl Talk, Phoenix, School of Seven Bells and Dan Auerbach among the 130 bands and artists booked.

You can get three-day festival passes for $185 (no service fees), plus check out VIP package options, here. Headlining band Pearl Jam will also be appearing on the Austin City Limits TV show while they’re in Texas — the public television series was the inspiration for the festival eight years ago.

Austin City Limits Music Festival Line-Up
Pearl Jam
Dave Matthews Band
Beastie Boys
Kings of Leon
Ben Harper and Relentless7
Thievery Corporation
John Legend
The Dead Weather
The Levon Helm Band
Ghostland Observatory
Sonic Youth
Mos Def
Toadies
Flogging Molly
The B-52s
Lily Allen
Citizen Cope
Arctic Monkeys
The Decemberists
Coheed and Cambria
Andrew Bird
Girl Talk
STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9)
Phoenix
Bassnectar
Bon Iver
!!!
The Avett Brothers
The Airborne Toxic Event
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Clutch
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Grizzly Bear
Heartless Bastards
Passion Pit
White Lies
Dan Auerbach
The Walkmen
The Scabs
Reckless Kelly
Devotchka
Blitzen Trapper
The Virgins
Here We Go Magic
Eek-A-Mouse
K’ Naan
Asleep at the Wheel
Dr. Dog
The Raveonettes
The Knux
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
State Radio
Los Amigos Invisibles
The Felice Brothers
Federico Aubele
Raul Malo
Daniel Johnston
Poi Dog Pondering
Brett Dennen
Rodriguez
Henry Butler
Preservation Hall
Sam Roberts Band
The Greencards
Sara Watkins
Walter “Wolfman” Washington
David Garza
John Vanderslice
Zac Brown Band
Todd Snider
School of Seven Bells
The Dodos
Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3
Alberta Cross
Deer Tick
Bell X1
Alela Diane
The Wood Brothers
The Parlor Mob
Rebirth Brass Band
Marva Wright
Terri Hendrix
L.A.X.
Lisa Hannigan
The Low Anthem
Sons of Bill
Suckers
Sarah Jaffe
Cotton Jones
The Henry Clay People
Papa Mali
Jypsi
Vince Mira
Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights
Mimicking Birds
Jeffrey Steele
Jonell Mosser
Leatherbag
Keith Gattis
Damien Horne
Sarah Siskind
Dexateens
Nelo
Danny Brooks
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
The Soul Stirrers
The Durdens
Palm School Elementary
The Gospel Silvertones
Diaconos
Quinn Sullivan
Ralph’s World
Q Brothers
Milkshake
Telephone Company
Loose Cannons
Lunch Money

At last, the Lollapalooza rumors are put to rest — Depeche Mode, Tool, The Killers, Beastie Boys, Kings of Leon and (of course) Jane’s Addiction will be headlining this year’s festival, along with an impressive cast of supporting bands, Lollapalooza organizers confirmed today.

More than 100 bands/artists/DJs will take the Lolla stage this year, including TV on the Radio, Vampire Weekend, Andrew Bird, Animal Collective, Arctic Monkeys, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Crystal Castles, Los Campesinos! and Passion Pit. This year’s event will also introduce “Perry’s”, a nightclub style stage featuring dance and electronic music. The DJs set to spin include MSTRKRFT, Bassnectar, DeadMau5, Animal Collective and Bloody Beetroots.

After selling out last year for the first time since Lollapalooza took roots in Chicago, ticket sales don’t seem to be lagging. Early bird discount passes went on sale at the end of March for $195. Regular priced tickets are $205, and of course if you’re not like the rest of us, worrying about saving $10 on a $200 concert ticket, you can always check out the VIP options at Lollapalooza.com.

Lollapalooza 2009
Depeche Mode
Tool
The Killers
Jane’s Addiction
Beastie Boys
Kings of Leon
Lou Reed
Ben Harper and Relentless 7
Thievery Corporation
Snoop Dogg
Rise Against
Andrew Bird
TV on the Radio
Vampire Weekend
The Decemberists
Neko Case
STS9 (Sound Tribe Sector 9)
Animal Collective
Band of Horses
Of Montreal
Arctic Monkeys
Coheed and Cambria
Ben Folds
Fleet Foxes
Silversun Pickups
Kaiser Chiefs
Crystal Castles
Bon Iver
Santigold
Atmosphere
Dan Auberbach
Cold War Kids
Deerhunter
Lykke Li
Robert Earl Keen
Peter Bjorn and John
Heartless Bastards
Gomez
Glasvegas
Federico Aubele
Dan Deacon
Passion Pit
The Raveonettes
The Gaslight Anthem
The Airborne Toxic Event
White Lies
Ra Ra Riot
No Age
Asher Roth
Los Campesinos!
Bat For Lashes
Chairlift
Gang Gang Dance
The Virgins
Amazing Baby
Portugal. The Man
The Knux
Ida Maria
Delta Spirit
Friendly Fires
Manchester Orchestra
Constantines
Ezra Furman & The Harpoons
Hockey
Miike Snow
Alberta Cross
Hey Champ
Sam Roberts Band
The Henry Clay People
Davy Knowles and Back Door Slam
Cage the Elephant
Living Things
The Low Anthem
Blind Pilot
Langhorne Slim
Other Lives
The Builders and The Butchers
Eric Church
Joe Pug
Kevin Devine
The Green Cards
Carney
Thenewno2

Featured performers at Perry’s
Bassnectar
MSTRKRFT
Simian Mobile Disco
DeadMau5
Boys Noise
KiD CuDi
Crookers
A-Trak
Hercules and Love Affair (DJ Set)
The Bloody Beetroots (DJ Set)
LA Riots
Kaskade
The Glitch Mob
Hollywood Holt
Rye Rye
He Say, She Say
Car Stereo (Wars)
Dark Wave Disco
Moneypenny
Yello Fever
Animal Collective (DJ Set)

Have you ever thought “Man, I like Vampire Weekend, but I wish they added a bit more electro to their Afro-beat”? Well, that’s what we’re here for. Meet Cartridge, four dudes from Denmark who mix funky bass grooves, ethereal vocals, traditional pop and oh, yeah — those lovely synth notes.

Cartridge is Mathias Wullum Nielsen, Thomas Hjorth Vesterbaek, Alex Phumoon Thomsen and Niels Fibaek Bertel. We mentioned they were Danish, right? We’ve got their latest single, “The Woods”, for you to check out. It’s out digitally now, and you can get the 7″ single (with a bonus track!) May 9. It’s tearin’ up the charts in Europe, and we can see why.

They’ll be playing Rock-A-Field in Luxembourg June 28 alongside Kings of Leon, Franz Ferdinand, The Ting Tings and others. And as always, you can check out more tracks on their MySpace.

Cartridge – “The Woods”

If speaking ill of the dead is taboo, where do we land on speaking ill of dead legendary rock stars? Brandon Flowers is about to find out, as comments The Killers‘ lead singer made about the grunge movement and its revered leader, Kurt Cobain, were published today and are already making waves across the web.

Today’s NME Daily Gossip found this little gem in UK tabloid The Daily Star: “I don’t mean it in a bad way, but I think Kurt Cobain and grunge took the fun out of rock ’n roll,” Flowers said. “Everything’s changing, though, and it’s starting to become a lot more playful and brighter.”

To add insult to injury, Flowers’ comments come almost 15 years to the day after Cobain’s tragic suicide — he took his own life April 5, 1994. Flowers also took some time out from his busy schedule to slag off Americans in general: “Everywhere but America our new album Day & Age has grabbed people. Review wise, Sam’s Town got slapped around but did really well in America. We’re learning that they like the guitar Killers, whereas you guys in the UK and the rest of the world have got this more melodic pop-orientated album. Kings Of Leon filled that guitar spot nicely in America but they don’t have a song like ‘Human’.”

Funny, aren’t Kings Of Leon bigger in the UK too?

Arctic Monkeys are the first headliners to be announced to headline this year’sReading and Leeds Festivals. The rest of the line up will be announced later tonight, but the rumor mills are flying with possible bands to fill in the three headlining slots.

NME posted the news, but it has since been retracted with a note stating they will have the official line-up at 7pm (BST). So like, in two hours we’ll know the rest. But for now, among those rumored are Radiohead, Kings of Leon and The Offspring.

Arctic Monkeys will be kicking off the festival on August 28 at Leeds and will also play on August 29 at Reading. The Reading and Leeds festivals will also be part of the UK’s newly endorsed secondary ticketing program, which allows fans to buy and re-sell tickets in a secure environment, via Viagogo. Festival reps hope that this new ticket selling process will help reduce ticket fraud, after last year’s ticketing controversy at the Reading and Leeds Festivals. Tickets go on sale tonight after the rest of this year’s lineup is announced. 

UPDATE The full line up for this years Reading and Leeds Festival has been revealed by NME.com. As rumored, both Radiohead and Kings of Leon will be headlining along with the Arctic Monkeys. Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bloc Party, and Vampire Weekend are among the other artists that are on the bill for this year’s festival as well. 

Reading And Leeds Festival line up 

Kings Of Leon
Kaiser Chiefs
Placebo
Fall Out Boy
Funeral For A Friend 
Deftones
Arctic Monkeys 
The Prodigy
Maximo Park
Ian Brown
Courteeners
Radiohead
Bloc Party 
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Vampire Weekend
Brand New
The Gossip 
GlasvegasAFI
Friendly Fires
Florence and the Machine
Gallows
Jamie T
The Gaslight Anthem
White Lies

Last night’s BRIT Awards saw Kings of Leon follow up their first Grammy with their first (two) BRITs, while Grammy darlings Coldplay were totally snubbed in favor of alt/indie/prog rockers Elbow.

Soul singer Duffy was the big winner of the night, taking home the award for British Female Solo Artist, Best British Breakthrough Act and Best Album for Rockferry.

Next in line with the most awards was, ironically, the very un-British Kings of Leon, who took home the BRITs for International Group and International Album for Only By The Night. American Katy Perry also got a little English love, winning the award for International Female Solo Artist. The male equivalent went to Kanye West.

But the biggest upset of the night (at least by our standards) was the award for Best British Group. The nominees were Radiohead, Coldplay, Girls Aloud, Take That and Elbow. Particularly with Radiohead and Coldplay having released two of the year’s most critically acclaimed albums in In Rainbows and Viva La Vida respectively, it’s a bit surprising (and refreshing, might we add) to see Elbow come out on top.

You can check out the full list of winners here.

In the wake of the ever increasing pool of festivals and the possible merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, the idea of paying $200 to see live music during a recession resulted in our pockets slapping us back into reality. But to be fair, the Sasquatch Festival — presented by Live Nation and tickets sold by Ticketmaster — is one of the cheaper weekend-long festivals and the line-up could quite possibly be the best yet.

Of course, this has left us all wondering at what point does the festival circuit become too congested, leaving them all a bit redundant and watered down? Those who remember the 90s will remember that Lollapalooza took time off for this very reason. But we digress, the Sasquatch Festival will take place May 23-25 at The Gorge in Quincy, WA and features the just-announced-today-union of Nine Inch Nails and Jane’s Addiction as the festival headliners. But the rest of the line-up is what excites us and looks like this:

Kings of Leon, Ben Harper & Relentless7, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Erykah Badu, The Decemberists, Fleet Foxes, TV On The Radio, Animal Collective, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Santigold, Of Montreal, Explosions In The Sky, Devotchka, Peter Bjorn & John, Gogol Bordello, M. Ward, The Avett Brothers, Doves, Calexico, Grizzly Bear, M83, Girl Talk, The Gaslight Anthem, The Walkmen, Chromeo (dj set), Deadmau5, Mugison, Sun Kil Moon, Airborne Toxic Event, Blitzen Trapper, Shearwater, BLK JKS, The Wrens, Tobacco, Monotonix, King Khan & The Shrines, St. Vincent, Passion Pit, John Vanderslice, Bishop Allen, Blind Pilot, AA Bondy, Black Moth Super Rainbow, The Knux, Ra Ra Riot, The Dodos, Beach House, Arthur & Yu, The Submarines, Owl City, Viva Voce, James Pants, Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band, The Builders & The Butchers, The Dutchess & The Duke, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, Dent May & His Magnificent Ukelele, Fences, School of Seven Bells, Death Vessel, Horse Feathers, Hockey, Point Juncture, WA, The Pica Beats, Loch Lomond, Vince Mira & more to come.

And the comedy line up includes:
Zach Galifiankas, Demetri Martin, Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Todd Barry, Jon Benjamin, God’s Pottery, People’s Republic of Komedy & more.

Ok, got that? Now, as for tickets, beginning on February 28 (on sale weekend only), a discounted 3-day festival pass will be available until March 1 at midnight at $154.50 for the entire weekend with single tickets costing $56.50. Beginning March 2 a 3-day pass will run you $199.50 and a single ticket $66.50 and if you wait until the last minute (and tickets are still available), starting May 11 the weekend pass is $229.50 and single tickets will be $76.50.

Oh, and Ticketmaster will have all your ticketing needs. Go figure.

Coldplay might have topped the BRITs nominations list with four nods, but our choice for best week ever goes to blues man Seasick Steve. He not only became the oldest artist ever nominated for a BRIT award this week, but also announced he’s getting ready to work with Jack White.

Seasick Steve made the announcement at the BRITs nomination party. Of course, he also admitted that prior to being nominated he’d actually never heard of the BRITs. At 67 years old he takes the cake for oldest ever nominee, shortlisted in the Best International Male category. Poor Steve is up against Beck, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Neil Diamond. But apparently he tests well with the British, and has for a while now — he won the 2007 MOJO award for best breakthrough act — so we have our fingers crossed.

Other than Steve, Coldplay pulled a Grammy repeat, scoring four nominations. They tied with soul songstress Duffy (whose album beat them out for best-seller in the UK in 2008) at the top of the heap, with Adele, Elbow and Scouting for Girls close behind at three nods each.

Radiohead, Girls Aloud, Estelle and the Ting Tings grabbed two noms each, with Radiohead and the Ting Tings competing against Coldplay and Elbow for best British album.

The nominees for both the best international group and best international album awards are AC/DC, Fleet Foxes, the Killers, Kings of Leon and MGMT. The best international female category (the counterpart to Seasick Steve’s nomination bunch) features Beyonce, Gabriella Cilmi, Katy Perry, Pink and Santogold.

The BRITs are also bringing back the award for best producer, last given at the ceremony in 1998. The nominees — Bernard Butler, Brian Eno and Steve Mac — will find out their fate a little sooner than everyone else, as the award will be presented at the Music Producers Guild Awards on Feb. 12.

The rest of them will be handed out on February 18 in London. The only artist who can count on taking home a trophy is Florence and the Machine, who is the winner of the 2009 Critics’ Choice award, chosen annually by a media panel. Well, her and the Pet Shop Boys, who will be recognized in the outstanding contribution to music category. You can check out the full list of nominations here.

U2, the Pet Shop Boys, Kings Of Leon, Duffy and Girls Aloud will perform at the awards ceremony.