The Kings of Leon may have ditched the sunny climes of Los Angeles (or their native Nashville) to work on the follow-up to their breakout album, Only by the Night, but that doesn't mean the new album is shaping up to be a dour affair. Far from it, in fact.

"[This is] the first time we'd ever recorded in New York City, and we thought we'd come out with a little more darker record, because we had done all our records either in Nashville or L.A., where it's a little more chilled out, not as much hustle and bustle," KOL drummer Nathan Followill told MTV Radio during a Bonnaroo conference call Tuesday. "And I'll be damned if we didn't go in there and make a fun record! It's got songs that are beachy, it's got songs that are a little more like our [debut full-length] Youth and Young Manhood days. ... We're super excited."

Followill said the new album is nearly finished and that he and the rest of the Kings are now putting the finishing touches on it back in Nashville. There's still no title or release date (or song titles: "We haven't even named 'em all yet, to be honest"), but there's a pretty good chance the band's fans will get a sneak peek of some of the new material on KOL's upcoming tour, which kicks off June 5 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and includes a headlining slot at the 2010 Bonnaroo festival, set for June 10-13 in Manchester, Tennessee.

"The record's coming along great, man. It'll be tough to not play the whole thing at Bonnaroo," Followill laughed. "We're going to try to be very selective of what we play, but there will definitely be some new tunes, for sure. ... Anytime you're coming into a tour after a new record, especially one that's not even out yet, it's pretty tough to not play the whole thing, so our set list at Bonnaroo, I think it'll be a lot of oldies, a lot of goodies and probably a few more new ones than people are expecting for us."  -MTV.com