Exclusive:
Beloved Noughties band The Kooks spoke to The Mirror after wowing fans at an exclusive London club night ahead of their release of their new album
The Kooks sealed their return with a sell-out crowd gig at an exclusive Notting Hill party on Thursday night, ahead of the release of their first single in three years.
The band thrilled fans with a rundown of some of their biggest hits before unveiling latest single Never Know, weeks before their seventh album Never/Know drops on May 9.
Frontman Luke Pritchard looked stylish in a black vest, boots and jeans as he led singalongs of the band’s biggest hits from Naive to She Moves in Her Own Way. Speaking exclusively to the Mirror at the bash, Luke told how thrilling it is for the to be back on stage playing new material alongside some of their beloved classics.
“It’s amazing to be seven albums in and it still feels fresh and exciting. It’s very cool. And I’m not just saying this, I do still love singing the old songs. I maybe don’t like rehearsing them particularly or when it comes on in a bar I’m a bit like… but when you play to a crowd and feel that energy then my inner Liam Gallagher comes out. The response is incredible. How could you not love that?”
It comes after Luke revealed he had a bizarre bust-up with fellow frontman Liam – over Ace of Base. Luke told how the Oasis star poured a glass of wine over his head at a posh London private members’ club after he revealed he’d covered one of the Swedish group’s songs.
He said: “Both the Gallaghers liked the Kooks but we were at Shoreditch House with Oasis once and I told Liam we’d just covered Ace of Base ‘All That She Wants’. He was like “you f*cking what? You covered that sh*te?”.
“I said “Liam, it’s a great song”. He got up and chucked a glass of wine over us and I didn’t see him for a decade”.
Like Oasis, group Ace of Base sold millions in the mid-1990s. Their album The Sign came out the same year as Definitely Maybe, in 1994.
Despite his run-in with Liam, Luke admits he still joined thousands of fans vying for tickets in the online sales for the Gallagher’s reunion tour this summer. “I tried and I gave up sadly. I’m a bit of a technophobe. I believe in my soul they will be back for more gigs though.”
Luke was speaking as The Kooks are themselves back with a new album Never/Know. The singer, who is married and has a son with singer Ellie Rose, said the inspiration behind the new record came to him after doing a lot of meditating. Luke said: “I started questioning why I worry about certain things and assessing what’s really important. I was in love – probably for the first time in my life. I really understood love for the first time and when you have that connection, nothing else matters. You could die tomorrow. The whole album circles to that for sure… Don’t tell the accountant. “
He added that being a dad also influenced the new record. “We’re told how bad everything is at the moment; ‘everything’s sh*t – the world’s sh*t’. And I was like, I’m just going to refuse to not let these be the best years of life, because I’ve got a young family. It’s about me getting to a balanced life.
“The new album is back to the roots of the band. We were trying to find our identity again. We had done several albums with big producers who I wrote the tracks with but I felt like I lost myself a little bit with my writing.
“I needed to find my identity and the band’s identity again. So I went off on my own in a little room and wrote some songs like I did when I was 17/18. And in doing that I got back to the core of the Kooks.”
The Kooks broke onto the music scene in 2006 with their debut album selling over 2 million copies. The record was a defining moment for indie music in the 2000s, their first releases set the sound of a moment in time. There are few songs as defining of the 2000s as ‘Naïve’, but the band were never a one-hit wonder – their follow-up record, Konk, hit number one as one of four top 10 albums. The Kooks never stopped evolving, transitioning from indie rock to synthpop and krautrock influences.
While their original fans remain, they’ve layered on a fervent Gen Z following, headlining festivals and selling out shows worldwide. Social media has made them a generations’ new favourite band again, introducing their unmistakable Brit-pop joy to fresh ears.
Speaking about their ever-widening fan base, Luke said: “It’s difficult to think of yourself as an inspiration for other people. We’ve gone through ups and downs and it’s incredible to have this younger audience with us now. I’ve seen people referencing us and that’s the coolest thing that can happen to you as a songwriter.”