August 15, 2008 15:20

Kings Of Leon slam bootleggers

Band say bootlegging stops them playing new material

Photo Gallery: Kings Of Leon

Kings Of Leon have slammed fans who bootleg their gigs and release live show recordings online, saying it holds them back from playing as much new material live as they would like to.

Guitarist Matthew Followill told BBC 6music that ideally his band would like to play more new material sooner than they have, but fears that recordings of unreleased material may be posted online made them hold back.

Kings Of Leon played a show at the London Brixton Academy last night (August 14), playing some songs from their forthcoming new album, 'Only By The Night'.

"It's difficult when you make a new record and you wanna play all the new songs live," he said. "But with technology these days, there'll be someone out there with a recorder and it kinda spoils it for us."

"You don't wanna play too many new songs because otherwise they'll be on YouTube or something," he continued. "So we have to pick and choose. If it was up to us we'd play all the new songs because they're so fun to play."

Keep checking NME.COM for the latest news, pictures, videos and blogs live from both V Festival Chelmsford and V Festival Staffordshire all weekend.