KOOKS frontman Luke Pritchard knows how to write a banger, with You Don’t Love Me, Ooh La and Naive from their 2006 debut album becoming some of the biggest songs of the Noughties.
Today, the indie group are back with new single Never Know, from their seventh album Never/Know, out on May 9.
The 11-track record is a return to form, with the poetic romanticism of Sunny Babe and the rockier Compass Will Fracture and Tough At The Top so good I put them on repeat.
A cover of Wings’s Arrow Through Me is also masterful.
“It’s the best record we’ve done for ages,” Luke tells me as we meet at The Groucho Club in central London.
“I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Tough At The Top has a heavy Polics influence — they’re one of my favourite bands.
“Chinatown’s a bit like a later Sting. Compass Will Fracture is garage rock — I wanted to recapture the moment I first heard The White Stripes.”
He adds: “With us, it’s like how cheesy things come cool. It’s like when Rihanna’s Anti album came out, it was so influential and had that big cheesy Santana sample on it. It became cool again.
“We had a moment of people thinking we’re kind of cheesy but then the fashion comes back around again.”
Last night Luke and his bandmates Hugh Harris and Alexis Nunez put on an indie club night at Notting Hill Arts Club to celebrate Never/Know.
They will be announcing their upcoming tour in the UK and US later this year, and Luke adds: “Not to toot our own trumpet but we sold out our last US tour and we hadn’t played America for four years.
“Social media has made us global now. Naive was the 66th most played song on Spotify last month. They’ve upped the size of the shows for the next US tour. It’s crazy.”
Album tracks Echo Chamber and Let You Go are indie heartbreak classics and I tell Luke I can imagine Gen Z teens making them anthems for their break-ups.
“I’ve always been more emotional and that was what set us apart,” Luke explains as he opens up about coming up alongside bands such as Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys in the Noughties.
Looking across at him it’s clear Luke has found his happy place with his wife Ellie and their gorgeous sons Julian and Wesley.
His Instagram features Reels of them dancing, and a laughing Luke adds: “Julian loves female power pop — his favourite song is Coconuts by Kim Petras.
“Wesley loves Bhangra. I play guitar to them a lot, they love Sunny Baby. Julian sings along and if he hears it he’ll say, ‘Daddy’s song’.”
With us, it’s like how cheesy things come cool
Luke Pritchard
Touring this time around is going to be a far different affair for Luke, who has previously hit the road with Noel and Liam Gallagher and Sir Mick Jagger.
“Charlie Watts [the late Rolling Stones drummer] told me a story about this fight when I was on tour with them,” Luke says.
“One of the girlfriends was getting into it and Charlie was about to have a fight, turned around and all the other Stones had run off.
“And Mick burst into our dressing room when we were naked.”
Of Liam, Luke adds: “I first played with him at five shows in Australia and he was in the best form.
“I hadn’t seen him for ten years and I was like, ‘He’s a rock star’. He had this swagger.”
With the full Glastonbury line-up yet to be announced, I wonder if The Kooks will be adding a slot to their string of shows this year.
Coyly, Luke replies: “We’re always talking about it. It’s always shrouded in mystery. You never know, there’s always a possibility.”
That would be my summer made.
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